March 15, 1934
In the "Ike" Hoover series of reminiscences of the White House now current in the SEP he describes Teddy Roosevelt as apparently taking a profound interest in all the multitudinous details of domesticity which his wife loaded on him at all times. This was evidence of his affection solely, for his actual interest in such matters was exactly nothing.Got my first close-up of a well established legal sanctorum when I dropped in casually at Holingsworth's. What a needle in a haystack a search in their sumptious library must be. Jim bubbled over with his final analyses, as usual. We discussed Morgan and his relative importance of character. Jim also professed to possess that enviable and evasive quality - disinterestedness, in his usual modest manner. Purity Oats went under because character never predominated.
David Harum didn't suffer much distortion in the movies, because Will Rogers can always do the whimsical to perfection. Characterizations were excellent, but the plot succumbed to moral perversion when the hero gained financial and romantic success by winning a race bet. But singing to the balky horse suited Will to a tee.
Pal's proprietary instincts are becoming acute. When the children leave the scotter or Irish mail out on the sidewalk, Pal proceeds to guard them. He loiters around them for hours at a time, and if an unauthorized boy attempts to use them, he barks and nips at them, and doesn't mean maybe. This has attracted the interest of many of the neighborhood boys, who deliberately attempt to annoy the purp. But I have warned them not to worry him too much, for he looks viscious enough to eat a juicy calf.
