a delightful time. Through the boyhood years I would on occasion put on some of Mother's old things and I remember particularly a lovely pair of shoes of vin- tage 1912. They were high laced with probably thirty pairs of eyelets, had extremely pointed, highly pol- ished toes, Louis heels and soft uppers. On one par- ticular Saturday Mother was doing some cleaning in the storeroom with my help. She let me put the shoes on and parade about as she continued with her work. What fun that was.

Mother made no obvious effort to accentuate the feminine in me even though many times she remarked how much she wished I had been a girl. I can recall only one exception to this. Mother loved to play the piano and sing and I to listen. One time while play- ing she suggested that it would be fun if she dressed up in some of Dad's clothes and she would dress me as a girl. I recall my reaction was an outburst of tears and cries of refusal.

As I grew into my teens my interest in women's clothes heightened, but on a very secretive basis. I sang for nearly a year in a boys choir. It was planned to put on a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta in which some of the boys would take girls parts. I resigned from the choir rather than appear in public so dressed, much as I wanted to. But at home I found a corset which had gone into the rag bag. By taking in the excess full- ness with safety pins, I managed to effect a satisfac- tion in fit. In those days a Sunday afternoon automo- bile ride was "de riguer". My brother was away at college and so as to be alone at home I would protest that I didn't want to go along on the ride. As soon as Mother and Dad were well on their way, I would rush to their bedroom and dress, usually in some of Mother's older clothes. She was extremely fastidious and neat so I had to be very careful that everything was folded and put back exactly as I had found it. I remember one time when they came back home in about twenty minutes having forgotten something. I beat a hasty retreat to my closet and as rapidly as pos- sible undressed back into my boys clothes. Fortunately I had no make-up on. I emerged in about five minutes

3.