CHAPTER I. Ostend, September. A NEAT little volume, containing blank pages, is staring me
in the face, and I am about to commence a diary. I have always heard it is an idiotic thing to
do, and I scarcely know what has prompted me to do it, unless it is that yearning for a
confidant which I suppose comes sooner or later even to the hardest hearted and most
unlikely people. I certainly have no friend whom I should care to make the recipient of my
private doings and sayings. Women are proverbially untrustworthy, and men too …

Set of clippings of Alice Dunbar-Nelson's column," As in a Looking Glass," published in The
Washington Eagle. Note: this folder contains photocopies of originals. Originals are in
extremely fragile condition and are stored in mapcase. Originals may be consulted only with
the permission of a librarian.