224 EAST FIFTY THIRD STREET
NEW YORK 22, NEW YORK
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Dear Mrs. Eichhornc
Ho# are jour teeming days? ^ave you a moment for
me? Toady me - today a man went around the earth in
space, and all 1 did was take the E train on the Independent
subway Line to the Uth st. stop, put in 8 hours at
nothing worth the mention, and came hack via the same
train, I!m a year older than last Tear at this time, but
little else in me has changed* However a new President is
in office - the youngest ever and a Catholic, Molly kcGee
has died, and Clark Gable, a crop of new African nations
have joined the UN, and. New York has had it's worst winter
since the l80G's. A nd we lost Qramp ana Aunt Louise.
The enclosed nauseates me, but I send it to you
because you1 re the only person I can think of who wouldn't
think Ifm a clod for passing on such a piece of balderdash.
Jfc may even amuse you, and in spite of my scorn - I hope
it brings you luck, ^eally, the things people do in
the name of religion! tfsing prayer as a success gimmick -
it strikes me as the crassest materialism; iMorman Vincent
Peale carried a few steps further out. And the p;al who
sent it is one of my best pals from URA days, now living
in Holland - a real swell person. But 1 guess she sends it
on just as I send it to you - unwilling to break the chain
that's been started.
Enclosed also the photos I send I'd send you in the
last letter. I'm ashamed of them, but they do show the
apartment through wide-angle lense. Have you done prints
from my negs yet? And did you ever find that lost neg?
Ibn has written us both very happy letters lately - sounds
contented in her new set-up. ^e're so glad she's found the
haven at last.
Mary write* that her blood shows SH factor, which
causes us some sadness. I guess it isn't tragic, but it
could limit her capacity to have a big family couldn't it?
Darn it. Tell us if you know anything else about what it
means in terms of her future.
How is Linda doing - as her s enior year enters the
last stretch? And do you have her next year fairly well
in mind? Is it Portland U or something quite different?
Has her dramatic interest been developing, or just simmering
on a back-burner? Remembering this year in our lives, I
realize how crucial it could be for her. For you at that time,
the word crucial sounds almost weak as a descriptionI For
me, less so, but still, 1 was deciding, quietly, a lot of
things about life - and after an interlude at the Art Museum,
it was the next summer that I went to ^ackinac, was invited
on the road and decided to do so rather than go to college.
And little did I know this decision would lead to 11 years
of work with MRA on 2 continents. I suppose it's only on
hindsight that those days seem dramatic in terms of decisions
made in our lives. Actually, we just vvent step by step,
making choices, rightly or wrongly as each situation arose.
God, how much of it I'd do differently if I had it to live
over! It torments me, the thought that the clock only goes
in one direction - and there's no turning back the hands,
except in memory - and even it serves poorly - being unreliable
and distorted by emotion, and impermanent as a record.
Uncle Mallace appreciated the photos you sent for
his birthday - and needless to say, 1 admired them greatly,
■fou have a great gift Ruth - I kid you not - and it must be
developed to the hilt. 5Tou have, an artist's eye, a strong
sense of basic, human values and a craftsman's hand.
■*■ have spoken. Probably the one thing^^
I can do. Much love,- "^^tg^^c^