Miles Franklin pocket diary, 1911, Part 1

ENGAGEMENTS OCTOBER 1911

SUN. 29 Morning Stayed in bed till 12.30 Slept a lot exhausted. Window broke

Afternoon Had dinner & went to office & worked till 5.

Evening Took laundry to Illinois street Talked with Ellen Schmidt in Editha's room

MON. 30 Morning Got to the office early & worked like a horse all day getting out

Afternoon Report of Pittsburg & Report of Muscatine Lunched at Randolph got home 5.35 too tired

Evening to enjoy dinner or sleep

TUE. 31 Morning Got to office at 9. Lunched at Randolph Inn Mrs Robins

Afternoon came in at one & we went over Life & Labor stuff

Evening Got home at 6 quite exhausted Flopped into bed after supper

WED. 1 NOVEMBER 41° - 24° Morning Got to office early. Mrs Robins came in at 10.30. I went to other office & Thence with Mrs Robins to Grand Pacific Hotel

Afternoon NOVEMBER where we luncheoned with Miss Peck & Mrs Potter & talked in parlor till 3.30. Back to office home at

Evening 6. Walked feeling fine went to bed early

THU. 2 Morning Went to Hugo Oldenborg at 10 Mrs Robins at one to lunch with Mrs Lane from England

Afternoon & Miss Phelps. Back to the office and worked Consulted Dr Young

Evening Went to bed after supper very tired.

FRI. 3 Morning Got to office early. Mary Anderson came in at 11.30 & we went to lunch together at Randolph Inn

Afternoon Worked during afternoon on proceedings. Mrs Robins came in.

Evening " [ditto mark]

SAT. 4 Morning Went to office first thence to Mrs Robins to write Muscatine story & other L&L. stuff. Lunched with Mr & Mrs R & returned to office

Afternoon to read proofs & get final matter ready for printer. Consulted Mr Langille about story. Got home after six after

Evening consulting Dr Van Hoesen - very tired Went to bed early Made perfume sachets.

ENGAGEMENTS NOVEMBER 1911

SUN. 5 Morning Stayed in bed till ten. Got up & revised "In the B. of Cupid" - Very cold in my room.

Afternoon Had dinner, fin ished revision of story & had a sleep - feeling poorly

Evening had supper - took laundry to 10 E. Illinois St. Read Tribune & went to bed

MON. 6 Morning Got to office at 9.15 Worked on odds & ends for L. & Labor. Lunch at one at Randolph

Afternoon & walked to bank. didn't accomplish much.

Evening Wen to bed early tired

TUE. 7 Morning Got to office at 9. Read proofs went to 331 S. La Salle at 12 to see Mrs Robins Went with Zelie to din-ner at Eat Shop & then to Mrs Shütze's

Afternoon photographic exhibition & then to Hugo Oldenborg & back to office to measure L. & L. stuff & got home very tired.

Evening Sewed a few odds & ends & went to bed depressed.

WED. 8 Morning Got to office at 8.15. Worked on "Proceedings. Had a good days run at

Afternoon them. Went to [Glennon?] & K. & met Mrs Robins & Miss Peck & went home to Mrs Potter's for dinner. Miss Kapp came too.

Evening Went to bed late & cold.

THU. 9 Morning Got to office at 9 and went to other office & had lunch with Zelie at Eat Shop Got Mrs Robins flowers for Mrs Pankhurst

Afternoon and went to Mrs P.s lecture in Studebaker Walked home after

Evening Wrote a few lines & went to bed

FRI. 10 Morning Got to office early. Mrs R. Ringrose from Calif. called with her niece. Went to lunch at one.

Afternoon Made up dummy of Life & Labor in 3 hrs. Then went to Dr Van H. but she wasn't in. Went home via Agnes.

Evening Had dinner in a hurry & went to Stenographers meeting

SAT. 11 74° - 26° Morning Went to Dr Van Hoesen & thence to office. Olive & Zelie came in. Lunched with Mrs Kapp at Randolph

Afternoon Stayed in office till three and then went home & had a sleep Very warm like summer

Evening Went to bed at 11.45. Terrible gale, thunder & rain turning to a fine powdering of snow

ENGAGEMENTS NOVEMBER 1911

SUN. 12 21-12° Morning Stayed in bed till ten got up & perished in my room. First snow & terrible cutting wind.

Afternoon Went to League meeting Miss Burns sang. Miss Haley spoke. Editha & I went home with The Pages and had supper

Evening Very cold coming home. somewhere about 11. Nearly froze in my room.

MON. 13 Morning Worked on Proceedings & lunched at Randolph Inn Put on Fur Cloak.

Afternoon Edwin Wright came in and I went to Mrs Robins for dinner at 5 o'clock

Evening Stayed with Mrs Robins till 9 o'clock

TUE. 14 Morning Went to Saul at 9 to work on Dec. no. Miss Henry came in & then we went to lunch

Afternoon together. Called on Dr Van Hoesen after work but she wasn't there. Editha came into my room & talked after dinner

Evening Washed head and went to bed

WED. 15 33 - 22° Morning Went to Saul at 8 and Dr Van Hoesen at nine Zelie came in and un-burdened her soul till 12. Went to lunch with Anna at Randolph

Afternoon Zelie took me to see "The Concert" at Blackstone Theatre & I went home direct. Miss H. called me up twice during dinner

Evening After dinner Editha & I went around with our washing & called at Mulcahey's and brought home a chair with a great deal of fun.

THU. 16 Morning Came down early Zelie came in again

Afternoon [blank]

Evening [blank]

FRI. 17 Morning Miss Henry & I went to Infant Mortality business at La Salle & took Dr McMurdy to lunch

Afternoon Very disgusted with Continuation Schools discussion. Went home at 4 o'clock Pauline Newman came in

Evening Went to bed early

SAT. 18 Morning Came down at 9 Miss Henry & I went out to lunch with Miss Tunnell at Field's at

Afternoon 12.30. Came back to office & went home at 4 o'clock Zelie came in.

Evening Wrote a little on Net of Circumstance & went to bed

ENGAGEMENTS NOVEMBER 1911

SUN. 19 Morning Stay in bed till 11.30 Got up & wrote a little till dinner

Afternoon Wrote desultorily some of the time in Editha's room

Evening Went out with Editha to call on the Arnolds

MON. 20 35 - 28 Morning Went to Dr Van Hoesen & got to office at 10. Went to Mrs Robins for lunch at 12. Returned to other office with her at 2 &

Afternoon got back to Unity Bldg. at 3. Magdalen Dalloz came in. Pauline Newman failed to come but Miss Henry went home with me. I

Evening was too tired to endure her. I crawled to bed at 9 o'clock & Miss Phelps took her to the cars.

TUE. 21 35 -28 Morning Lovely, lovely morning! Magdalen Dalloz came in at 12.30 & I took her & Zelie to lunch at Mrs Clark's. Miss Henry

Afternoon also in party. Thence I went round to bank & got back to the office to find Mrs Robins there. She stayed till late

Evening Went to bed tired & disprited & not able to do a scrap of work.

WED. 22 Morning Got to the office at 9.30 went to meet Mrs Robins at other office at 10.30 & wrote letters for her. Took Pauline Newman to lunch at

Afternoon Eat Shop and came back to work at 127 N. Dearborn

Evening Went to bed feeling as if Life had become a deadly cul de sac & I wished it was all over. Took hot bath

THU. 23 39° - 24° Morning Went to Hugo Oldenborg at 9 o'clock & had a treatment Thence to office & worked on proceedings

Afternoon Anne & I had lunch at Ionia Lunch Club. I went home at 4 o'clock to rest a little.

Evening Came to office at 7 & went with M. Dalloz & Miss Henry to party at Mrs Robins in honor of Miss Henry. Took M. Dalloz home with me. Miss Phelps had one of her outbursts on the way home

FRI. 24 Morning Brought Magdalen Dalloz down with me & got to office at nine. Went to lunch at one with Miss Henry to Alpha Club on Lake St.

Afternoon Went home at four and slept an hour Felt somewhat better & not so terribly depressed

Evening Wrote for nearly an hour on The Net of Circumstance & went to bed at ten.

SAT. 25 Morning Went to office first then to Mrs Robins by mistake & returned to her at other office. Had lunch with her at Merkle's

Afternoon Called on Miss Ruth White in St. Luke's hospital & home via office.

Evening At six o'clock Editha & I went to Kimball Cafe for Single Tax Banquet. Which was jolly & lasted till 11.45. We had to move from La Salle as first planned owing to "Color line"

ENGAGEMENTS NOVEMBER 1911

SUN. 26 Morning Slept till 12.30 & then arose & had dinner

Afternoon Wrote a little & slept Not feeling very well

Evening Wrote a little & went for laundry & went to bed at 10.

MON. 27 Morning Worked in office. Lunch at Ouilmette.

Afternoon Mrs Newsham ill. Went to see her and stayed with the girls

Evening till after supper. Came home & retired.

TUE. 28 Morning Went to Mrs Robins for final lap on the "Proceedings"

Afternoon Worked all day on Proceedings

Evening Spent the night with Mrs Robins

WED. 29 Morning Breakfast at Mrs Robins & worked on Proceedings till we had an early lunch

Afternoon Came to 127 N. Dearborn & wrote letters. Pauline, Editha and Mrs Robins came in Got home very tired & sleepy.

Evening Wrote for an hour and retired.

THU. 30 Morning Got up at 8 o'clock. Had breakfast and wrote on Net of Circumstance. Very cold in my room

Afternoon Had dinner at 2 and returned to writing but it was so cold I had to go to bed. In evening went for laundry

Evening Visited in Editha's room and washed head. Wrote a little. Went to bed at 10.30

FRI. 1 DECEMBER Morning Got to office at nine. Lunched at Randolph Inn alone Suffering pain in neck

Afternoon DECEMBER Worked on Proceedings. Mrs Potter called. Mrs Robins, Miss Pischel, also to discuss suffrage bazaar.

Evening Went to bed immediately after supper with pain in neck. Editha brought me hot water bottle.

SAT. 2 Morning Got to office first & then went to Thurbers, other office bank & back to 127 Dearborn.

Afternoon Worked in office till 5.30 Typed Business of Cupid.

Evening Wrote a very little & retired