Has been visiting Katharine and her brother. Please send trunk keys she left. Why no letters? [Breaks off.] [Stout #20]
Won't be able to send material for newspaper until next week. Has met C. L. Magee, managing editor of two Pittsburgh newspapers and political boss of the city. Had a letter of introduction from an actress friend. Magee's office crowded with people, but he had a kind word for each, gave letters to several to help them get jobs. It was hard to ask a stranger for a job, but he encouraged her to come back. Asked her into his private office, said he would take some articles and there might be a job coming open on the evening paper. Willa Cather [Stout #34]
Is studying Greek and being treated like a goddess. Hasn't seen the Nevins, but they have phoned and he has sent a copy of Shakespeare's sonnets. In Chicago had dinner with Mr. Dooley. He and the Peatties encouraged her to come there to work. Mrs. Peattie's new story in Atlantic ["The Man at the Edge of Things," reviewed by Cather Nov. 4] establishes her as a writer. Was met at the train station by Isabelle, looking beautiful. They have been walking in the hills and going to concerts. Has read all of Dorothy's letters from Paris. Had a nice visit with May Willard last night. P.S.: Will tell her about Alfred next time. Willa [Stout #58]
Has finished first month of teaching, but may quit and go home to Red Cloud. So much effort, if one is serious about it, for so little pay. The "letters" have been rejected [projected book of open letters to actors]. Just as well; they were overwritten and not of lasting interest. Maybe some can be placed in the Critic, with Dorothy's help. "Jack-a-Boy" in the Saturday Evening Post with good illustrations. Has been reading Lemaître. McClungs have moved into new house. Would like to discuss the Pittsburgh novel. [Two poems are enclosed: "Caliban" and "The Inexorable."] Willie [Stout #68]
Please send newspapers that printed letters from France. Will have a volume of poems published in the spring. Would like to borrow a Lincoln directory to get addresses to send advertising circulars. Willa S. Cather [Stout #79]
Typed note by Witter Bynner indicates that Roseboro' gave him the letters. Yes, certainly knows A Shropshire Lad. Don't her own poems show it? Traced Housman in Shropshire, where he seems unknown. Visited him in a boardinghouse in a dreary London suburb. He looked gaunt, seemed bitter, but is the only English poet now active whose work will endure. Though an instructor in Latin, he writes strictly from the level of a country boy. Willa S. Cather [Stout #88]
So glad to get his two letters. Wishes he could have stayed longer. Is working on a story about the length of the bridge-builder one. So good to be writing again. Not even thinking about magazine work. Willa Cather [Stout #208]
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]
Wrote to him from New Mexico, but he may not have received letters. Sorry to hear about Mrs. McClure's illness and his business troubles. People should be as generous to him as he has always been to others. Contracts have been changed so much it is hard to know what his share of the company now is. Will help with autobiography without charge for friendship's sake. Hopes she can write the articles as he wants them. He will recall that she couldn't hit what he wanted in some parts of the Christian Science series. Hasn't written a bit since she left New York, but is suntanned and healthy and in good humor again. Hopes people will forget how cross she was. It was from fatigue. Will never let little things bother her so much again. Willa Cather [Stout #235]
Has received her two letters, but had such lassitude, couldn't write. Sees the doctor every other day. Is trying to work a little. Has been to the opera twice; missing hair not so conspicuous at night. Isabelle stayed almost a month. Willa [Stout #279]
