WASHINGTON, Wednesday—I went up to New York City on Monday afternoon to attend a meeting and to see one or two people. My evening was a joy because Martha Gellhorn Hemingway, just returned from the Caribbean, was in New York City and came to dinner with me.

She was full of vivid impressions and interesting, as always, about what she had seen. The pleasure of seeing a friend whom you love after a long separation is particularly satisfactory now, when all of life seems precarious and the urgency for moments of happiness greater than ever.

Yesterday morning, I took the 9:00 o'clock train to Saybrook, Conn., where Miss Esther Lape met me. As in all small places, news travels fast and I was given a very warm welcome by a gentleman at the station. When Miss Lape brought me back in the afternoon to take the train which goes straight through to Washington, she evidently knew where I was going and on what train.

It is always a joy to see Miss Lape and Miss Read. In addition, the country in beautiful autumn colors was alluring. The air was soft and the gentle breeze seemed to whisper, "Stay with me now for soon I shall forget my gentleness and bring you boisterous winter winds."

The China Aid Council, which has joined with the American Committee for Chinese War Orphans, has just sent me a little booklet about the children of China. Long years of war mean thousands of war orphans and child refugees. The cost of living has gone up very much in China. Even though they are under Madame Chiang's protection and in schools organized by Madame Sun Yat Sen, her sister, it is difficult to raise enough money for decent shelter, food and clothing. In many places, we are being asked to go without meat two days a week. The children of China go without it for days on end.

The first effort is to make these children healthy for the future. Many of them will have to undergo long periods of medical treatment and will have to build up with nutritious food. Their education is not neglected, so they ought to become good citizens of the world of the future, if we are able to help in their present support. One particularly difficult problem is the children of the Northwest guerrilla territories, where constant warfare goes on.