Stilwell was always writing things down. In addition to diary, letters, essays and sketches, he wrote what he called “Random Notes” or “Odds and Ends” on sheets or scraps of paper dealing with thoughts, dreams, stray ideas, jokes, anecdotes, remarks, quotations or anything that was passing through his constantly ticking mind. A characteristic scrap, verbatim and in entirety, reads, Henri Fabre’s insect study History of the eel History of the bowler hat What to do with Waterloo Tall men and tall houses least furnished in upper stories—Bacon Well’s “outline of the arts” “Fix Bayonets”
