WASHINGTON, Sunday—Christening the "Yankee Clipper" Friday afternoon was a really thrilling experience. It looked like such a giant aeroplane that I longed to fly in it, but I had promised to be home to greet some 500 young ladies Senator Truman had asked me to receive, so I could only stay through the exercises held on the ground. The ship was well christened, however, before I left and I was well spattered with the waters from the seven seas, which I understand were contained in the bottle.

Nobody seemed to have remembered that the tide does flow in and out, and before very long the broadcasting companies were moving their equipment out of reach of the water. One poor gentleman had no more line and had to stay put, so he had a chair in front of him on which he placed his feet. As the tide rose, it came nearer and nearer to his heels and he looked more and more like a gentleman who would have to wade away from an island consisting of two chairs and a table on which was his broadcasting equipment. When I left he was still sitting and I wondered whether it was a choice of getting wet to the knees or waiting until the tide receded.

The annual stunt party was given by the Washington newspaper women Friday night and I think it was the best of these shows which I have had the pleasure of attending. The distinguished guests were many and represented a variety of fields, including writers, sculptors, dramatists, poets and even an explorer and scientist! The skit was most entertaining and went off with more snap than usual.

When I met the President yesterday morning at 8:30, I expected to see some signs of a very bad sunburn which he acquired on his first day in the open, but instead he looked well tanned and very healthy. I am rather sorry that he has returned to such cold, gray weather, for I have a feeling that one feels it more after having had a certain amount of sunshine and warmth.

We all had breakfast together and then went to church for the service which the President always has on the anniversary of his inauguration. This is a rather solemn little service attended only by invited guests, restricted largely to officials and personal friends. It has always seemed to me that it must give one a very strange and solemn feeling to be prayed for by name in a service of this kind, and yet I think it must also give one a sense of confidence when the last benediction is spoken.

We are off tonight on a lecture trip and I will tell you tomorrow the last things which happened before our departure.