Is off on a hunting trip with Roscoe through South Dakota to Laramie, Wyoming. Having a lot of fun. Douglass has been hired as a cashier on the B&M Railroad. Was having lots of parties at home. Hates having to live away. Never reads newspapers these days. Willa Cather [Stout #51]
So glad she liked the stories. They now seem distant and ill tempered. But appreciates the good words. Here, can forget the present and its troubles. Returning tomorrow. Willa Cather [Stout #199]
Appreciated message from the ship and hopes she is enjoying Paris. Leaves for Bowdoin College tomorrow to give an address, then on to Mary Jewett's house in South Berwick, Maine. Then to Wellesley, Massachusetts, to visit Mary Virginia [where she attended Dana Hall]. Leaves for Arizona May 30. Is about halfway through proofs. Willa [Stout #782]
With Edith Lewis, is sailing in a few days. Glad to receive her letter from South Africa. Her visit to the cave interesting. As for herself, prefers to stay on the surface. Surprising that she found Lucy Gayheart so far from New York. Isabelle asked that they leave Paris without saying goodbye, and will do so. She is very ill. Must get home and get back to work, to keep a sense of reality. Sorry not to be in Paris for Yehudi's first European recital. Willa Cather [Stout #1276]
Has just returned from Williamstown, from an inn she had heard was pleasant. Enjoyed the stay, though weather not very good. Enjoyed the college students and escaped recognition except by a professor from Shepherdstown, Virginia, near Winchester, who wrote that he had recognized her accent. Had thought it was gone long ago. Has gained back from 110 to 115 pounds. Nerves needed a rest, and solitude was good. P.S.: Christmas will be happy only if there are victories in Africa. Willa Cather [Stout #1601]
Thanks for sending her retelling of the story of Thorgils and Thorfinn [Bulletin of St. Ansgar's Scandinavian Catholic League of New York no. 41, Feb. 1943: 1–6; summarizes the medieval Icelandic Floamanna Saga, about hardships endured by early settlers of Greenland and the hero Thorgils's miraculous suckling of his orphaned infant]. Has read it twice. The courage and trials of the early Norse explorers seemed to exceed anything in human experience. Wonders why God lets the long battle in Africa go on. [Stout #1625]
Returned a week ago from vacation. Is glad to divide royalty from Armed Services edition of My Ántonia evenly. Puzzled by reference to a proposal for Spanish and Portuguese translations for marketing in South America, having heard from a friend that a translation was being made in Spain to be sold there. This proposal Greenslet presents doesn't sound very profitable. Let it go. Willa Cather [Stout #1675]
No one can see the sour side of things better than Elsie can. Her letter from Casper details her wonderful trip, but she includes a line saying that she is especially glad to make the visit since Roscoe is leaving soon and she likely won't see him for several years. Where is he going? Alaska? South America? Tahiti? Letters can be sent from Tahiti, as her own correspondence with James Norman Hall proves. Please inform her where he plans to go. Willie.
