Has just returned from a long trip in the desert and found his letters. Sorry to hear Mrs. McClure is ill. How can he do magazine work here when she is abroad? Sounds as though finances are another worry. Hopes the problem will be short-term. Did he find prospects for a magazine in London? Hard to believe, with his ability and experience, his career will end. Will do anything she can to help. He can write to her in Red Cloud, though she may be in Colorado or Wyoming for several months. Willa Cather [Stout #233]
Postcards from London are plenty. Has moved into the ideal apartment at no. 5 Bank Street. But wishes she [Cather] were in London. W. S. C. [Stout #244]
Has been working well. Expects to be in Pittsburgh until Christmas. Jack doing well at school; sees him often. War occupies all conversation. A friend from Belgium, Mme Flahant, is in New York and says her family members in Brussels are starving. The Belgian Relief Committee in London says that only the U.S. can sustain Belgium through the winter. Germans allow no food in that comes through England or France. Will donate to the relief fund instead of sending Christmas presents. America will have to answer to history if it fails Belgium. Willie [Stout #289]
Do not send any more mail to 1180 Murray Hill Avenue, Pittsburgh. Delete that address from their records. Willa S. Cather [Stout #354]
True, the story suggests Lillian Nordica, though there are only two specifics that resemble her life, the shipwreck and the dispute over the will. Yes, her last husband, George Young, is still alive. Let her know by mail if he is going to be in town, as she has had her telephone disconnected. P.S.: Truly doesn't see how Young could object to the story. Willa S. Cather [Stout #358]
Glad he is back from London. Has been socializing with Fremstad and with the Hambourgs lately, so not much writing. W. S. C. [Stout #386]
Sent fifty pages of the manuscript by registered mail today. Please send his impressions. Hopes for proofs of the drawings soon. W. S. C. [Stout #403]
Please don't send any more mail to Hambourgs' address in Toronto. They have closed the house and are moving to Paris. Willa Cather [Stout #556]
Ideas in Boyd's editorial "A Revaluation," which proposed definitions of the novel, need to be stated more clearly. A true artist of literature knows his or her material sufficiently well to write literally, but does not write literally because art is metaphorical or suggestive. Details in writing are there to create effects and serve the end of the literary structure. [Stout #581]
Sorry to be so slow to reply, but mail has been displaced since returning from Bread Loaf. Sent his copy of Youth and the Bright Medusa before she left Vermont, though. No, seldom gives lectures. Willa Cather [Stout #613]
