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#2310: Willa Cather to Elizabeth Cather and Margaret Cather, July 14 [1930]

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My Dear Twinnies1;

Naughty Elizabeth5, who has not written to me! Nice Margaret3 who did! Yesterday I climbed up to the tower of Notre Dame again and spent the morning among my old friends, the gargoyles. The slary stairway is a circular one of white stone, and winds round and round a central column of white stone. It is very dark, lit only here and there by a slit in walls, and only there can one realize the great strength and thickness of the walls of Notre Dame and the huge blocks of cut stone of which they are built, stone fitted into stone with no cement.

Today is the anniversary of the taking of the Bastille in the Revolution, the greatest holiday of the year, and the people are dancing in the street before every little café. Late last night Jan6 and Isabelle7 drove in about in a taxi to see the dancers in all the little streets in the poor part of the city2. Tonight we8 are all going to dine together at a gay restaurant—a lovely place where I went to lunch three days ago with Yehudi Menuhin9 the wonderful boy–violinist from San Francisco10, and his family. He has two little sisters11 of aged nine and seven who are almost as gifted and quite as handsome as he. They were in Paris only one day and we had a very exciting. The one aged 7½ last winter wrote me a dear little letter about the "Archbishop"12! All three have golden hair and skins like cream and roses—simply fairy–tale children. Their parents13 are nice, too, especially the mother.

I am enclosing a check for Virginia14, to help with her college expenses, and I'm awfully pleased that she got the scholarship15.

With my dearest love to you all Willa Cather

How awful that they translate "Notre Dame de Paris" the Hunchback of Notre Dame16!

Miss Margaret Cather3 1225 South Centre St. Casper4 Wyoming U. S. A. PARIS 115 R. DES SAINTS–PERES2 16 VII 1930 1130 Via "Île–de–France"