Yes, does remember springtime in the South. Has gotten over her loneliness. Won't get to Mexico after all. W. S. C. [Stout #225]
Has been out with a priest visiting his Indian missions. Some Mexicans came and played for her, and a young man as beautiful as Antinous sang. W. [Stout #228]
[Note by Sergeant indicates that Edith Lewis asked her to withhold this letter from the library.] So much has happened, no time to write. The beautiful young man she met when riding to the missions with the priest is named Julio, pronounced hu-lio. Has been camping in canyons with Tooker and doing some pretty daring climbing. Went down a cliff using hand-holds. Spent a day in the Painted Desert with Julio and could hardly get over it. Now the Grand Canyon. Wonderful how unspoiled it is, not a single souvenir shop. New Mexico is wonderful but expensive. Elsie would love it, but her money would go and she would take up with a sweetheart who would take all her attention. Has been asked to a Mexican dance when back in Winslow, and then if she can tear herself away from Julio will go to Albuquerque with Douglass. Didn't mean to go on and on about Julio—it's just that he's so fascinating. People would be fighting over him as an artist's model in New York. W. S. C. [Stout #229]
The expanse of the country, along with the cost of hiring horses, has worn her out. Will start for Red Cloud on Sunday [June 2]. W. [Stout #230]
Likes the old part of Albuquerque. Has had a wonderful time. W. S. C. [Stout #231]
Sorry she has discovered that book of bad poetry. She shouldn't waste good money buying a copy. W. S. C. [Stout #232]
Got away from the desert, but may yet go back and get Julio. Sorry to hear she is no better. Would like to go to France with her. Knows she will like Avignon. A good place to work. Enclosing a translation of a serenade Julio sang to her, which is not proper for a woman to sing to anyone but her lover or her husband. ["Serenata Mejicana," which ends "The heart of night is still—/ Beloved, sleep!"] W. S. C. [Stout #236]
Hopes to hear she is better. Is going to the Bohemian area to see the wheat harvest next week. Leaving for Pittsburgh in about two weeks. Will work on a story to be called "The White Mulberry Tree" that will alarm Ferris Greenslet. [Enclosure: poem "Prairie Spring"] W. S. C. [Stout #239]
Enjoyed her long letter. Hopes voyage will be restful. Enjoyed reading her paper about France in Scribner's. Glad to be back from the West; feeling worn out by its vastness. Couldn't exchange all of civilization for Julio. Reading vol. 9 of Michelet with Isabelle. W. [Stout #241]
Spent two weeks in New York getting the winter's work set. Promised the magazine two stories before Christmas. Wants to lengthen the Swedish story and merge it with the other to make a two-part pastoral. British edition of Alexander looks much better than the American. Has been reading Balzac and the disgusting Idiot by Dostoevsky. Thought the first two parts of Creative Evolution [ Bergson ] were splendid. Everyone seems to be celebrating "The Bohemian Girl" except a reader who thought it immoral. W. S. C. [Stout #242]