1938

Canea, Crete,

7 Feb., 1938Dear Mr. Hill,

I have been in Canea ever since leaving Athens, and find it a very pleasant place for a prolonged stay. It is very animated and picturesque; the mountains behind it are magnificent, and one can be moderately comfortable. The inhabitants are among the most attractive I have found anywhere in Greece.

There has been a wild storm at sea for several days, which is only now subsiding, as a consequence of which no boats have arrived for several days. If there is a boat tomorrow or Wednesday for Heraklion I will take it, to spend a week working in the museum there and visiting nearby sites. The weather is so unsettled that I have given up the idea of going to Gournia.

I will return to Athens from Heraklion, probably on the 16th, when my time for getting a permis de séjour expires, and hope to find you there. As things stand now I would like to return to Cyprus the end of the month or a little before. I will of course want to see you, to discuss plans and to tell you more of what we did during our last stay there. I also want to ask your advice on the matter of my fellowship at Pennsylvania.

I just recieved a long letter from Dean Crosby of that institution, in which he said among other things: "On rereading my former letter to you, I discover that I did not say anything about the fact that it seemed to be your hope to spend only half a year with us. If that is still your hope, it might affect very vitally the attitude of the Council in considering your application for a fellowship. Furthermore, the stipend you would recieve would presumably be no more than 500 dollars for the half year that you would be in residence. I regret to report that we have at present no fellowships available for pre-doctoral candidates the stipend of which exceeds 600 dollars a year. You understand, of course, that stipend is over and above tuition charges. I am very much interested in your case, and will gladly do anything in my power to assist you."

"Please give my very cordial greetings to Mr. Hill when you see him."

I had gathered from my former letter from him and from one from Mr. Jayne that there would be no trouble about my wish to divide the year between Cyprus and Philadelphia, so that it is something of a shock to see that difficulty rearing its ugly head again. The other and more serious matter is that of the stipend. Of course 500 or even 600 dollars would be totally insufficient in my case. I saw that this was their maximum fellowship folder, and mentioned the fact to George. When they sent me the letter, I said that there was no reason to worry about that, and expressed the belief that the museum was prepared to sponsor something better. I didn't press the matter any further, assuming that some such arrangement was being made. If I hadn't thought so I wouldn't have even bothered to fill in the blanks but would have tried my luck at some other institution with a better endowment. But now this letter certainly leads one to believe that nothing of the sort is planned.

I would like very much to show you the letter and ask your advice as to what to do next, what to write to Jayne. I just wonder if he really was planning to do something about it, or whether he hoped to when he spoke to yet got around to it, and has not