But mothers typewriter had the same style of letters, so she erased the "Jacks" and the "he's" quite well and the changes passed O.K. I liked my new school made nice girl friends, went to their homes, and was allowed to bring them home. I never had the least regret about my change of gender.

I

But when I was twelve I worried mother again. had come home and reported something that we girls thought was very funny. One older boy when he star- ted to answer a question would perhaps start with a high almost squeaky voice then in the middle of a sentence it would go deeper then perhaps change back to a squeak. I could not understand why mother seem- ed upset till she explained that nearly all boys voices changed at about that age, some not much, some a lot. So I asked would mine get funny too like that boys, and she said there was sure to be some change perhaps not that much, but Mill Elliott would be sure to notice it unless we happened to be away on a long holiday, and there was not much chance of that at the right time. So I was worried too.

But even that worked out. Every summer we had gone to Mrs. Taylors cottage for a couple of weeks. This year Miss Elliott had decided to go to Europe for July, and Mrs. Taylor was taking Harold for a long visit to relatives in California that he had never seen and then down into Mexico. So it was decided to close up the house and we would stay in the cottage for at least all of July. I got right back in with my old girl friends, and now was old enough to dance with boys at parties, so looked forward to a wonderful time.

The beach was restricted but still there was trouble with drunken car loads driving through making a noise at nights and throwing out empty bottles and cans on the beach and into the water. There was a large flat rock a few yards away out in the water and about even with high water. We girls used to stand on it to watch others in swimming. One afternoon I was standing waiting for my special friend, Irene, catch up with me so we could go in and dress I slipped off the edge. Some drunken fool had thrown a bottle at the rock and it smased in the water. My thigh came

21.