Plans to write a short critical study of Jewett in the next year or so, but that won't prevent his doing so. Suggests he approach Mary Jewett and Dr. Eastman, as well as Ferris Greenslet. Only letters to her from Jewett that she wishes to make public are in the Fields edition. Willa Cather [Stout #867]
So appreciated Dr. Eastman's letter. Stopped by Mayo Clinic on the way home, but the problem proved insignificant. Hotel maid promptly fell ill with influenza, and she caught it from her. Was in bed two weeks. Is still quite weak. Will go accept an honorary degree from Columbia June 5, then to Grand Manan with a friend to recuperate. Doesn't feel well enough to stop by Boston. Keeps thinking of her and is glad her nephew wrote. Willa Cather [Stout #936]
Sorry to have received her letter too late to accept invitation, but probably couldn't have accepted anyway. Will be in New Hampshire in December. Willa Cather [Stout #1134]
Cannot read his last name. That young man's book about Sarah Orne Jewett is very poor, and manners offensive. Appreciates his telling her the incident about Mary Jewett. Dr. Eastman, Jewett's nephew, kept her posted after Mary Jewett's stroke. Willa Cather [Stout #1241]
Doesn't like pictures like this, in the Grant Wood style, on Christmas cards, but bought them to help someone. Might think of the cowboy-looking shepherds as C.C.C. fellows [Civilian Conservation Corps, a New Deal initiative] and one of the angels above as President Roosevelt. W. S. C. [Stout #1346]
Doesn't really care for Christmas cards in the Grant Wood style. Maybe they are C.C.C. boys with Roosevelt trumpeting in the sky. Such bad times! Willa Cather [Stout #1347]
Would Houghton Mifflin be willing to pay the $1,091.63 shown on her last statement now instead of in March, as is the usual practice? Income will be considerably higher next year, and would like to keep her income tax down. Is pleased with the national election because Roosevelt will support England better than Willkie would have. Willa Cather [Stout #1504]
Appreciates his kind words in his Second Reader, three years ago now, and appreciates his reprinting of Kenneth Grahame's Golden Age, as well as his bringing to her attention the paper on Boswell by Pottle. Recommends Johnson without Boswell, recently published by Knopf. Is it really he who is acting in The Man Who Came to Dinner? Such a surprise! Recommends French Hospital, where nurses speak French and even cooks are French. Had very good care and good food. A Catholic hospital, but nurses not nuns, so no black habits about. One accompanied the wife of ex-president of Chile on airplane when President Roosevelt provided her transportation back to Santiago. American airmen so fine—keep up her faith in America in spite of Communists having gotten hold of much of the country. Willa Cather [Stout #1533]
Flowers she sent brightened the day. Has not felt so excited about Christmas since childhood. Maybe Churchill [who had come to confer with Roosevelt after the recent bombing of Pearl Harbor] traveled by reindeer like Santa Claus. His presence and his shrewd, searching gaze would wither political pettiness. He knows the American idiom from his mother, and American politicians will realize he is sharper than they are. His coming is almost a miracle. Reminds her that the battle cry of the Crusaders was "God with us!" [Stout #1566]
Has read her letter many times. It must be sad to find her little town so altered and so many young men killed. But to be home, where everyone had a common cause to work for together, must be important; that feeling of working together creates hope as nothing else can. Here in the U.S. things are in a sad way. Yes, she might well lament, "Oh, if Roosevelt were still alive!" Now it seems as if John L. Lewis, President of the United Mine Workers, has more power than anyone else in the country. Is able to stop wheels turning everywhere. Nothing gets accomplished in Washington, due to squabbles and mismanagement. Everyone feels bitterly disappointed. She is fortunate to be in a place where the only "bigness" is that of the spirit. Is glad she saw America when she did, and not as it is now. Now lives, not in the present, but in old histories and great books. Is so glad her Kristin Lavransdatter is out in three volumes again, as it ought to be, instead of jammed into one big one. Hopes she will never let Hollywood film any of her books. Sorry to write such a hopeless letter. Maybe if they can get up to the country again, to the forests and big tides of the Maine coast, can regain her spirits. [Stout #1732]
