Has been in Boston. Doesn't like her story, which seems to have been written only to be clever. It has no feeling. Zoë can't work up to her potential until she gets out of this manner. W. S. C. [Stout #272]
Sorry to have missed her. Was getting her head x-rayed. Is having a temperature every afternoon and head pains. Doctors can't seem to find what is wrong. Thanks for the flowers. Could Zoë come by Monday for tea? W. S. C. [Stout #274]
Going to Washington for a week, then to New York by February 12. Novel has reached 200,000 words. W. S. C. [Stout #293]
Excited about her play [The Magical City opened at the Bandbox Theater in mid-March 1916]. Sets wonderful, characters wonderful. Poet character a true ass. Shows what a clear sense of theater she has. Sorry for the poor handwriting, but is in bed with grippe. Hoping to sail for Italy in early June unless submarines get too active. W. S. C. [Stout #352]
Please send a copy of The Song of the Lark to Ruth St. Denis in Los Angeles, who has just written her about "The Diamond Mine." P.S.: Has been asked to do some long stories for New York magazines. Would he be interested in book publication of a group of three or four? W. S. C. [Stout #368]
Is disappointed to have missed her. Will call again next week. [Stout #379]
Will be at home on Fridays in February from four to seven. [Stout #380]
Understands her regret that G. P. has enlisted, but he has always wanted to be in the military and this is his chance. It's a time of return to basics: men carrying guns. For herself, feels proud of him and glad he can go, especially as an officer. Wishes Jack were going. Was sorry not to see her, but the heat was debilitating and she and her friend fled back East. Was too worn out to work for a while, but now is working every morning in a tent about a mile from the inn. Douglass's reports about Mother are disheartening. Wonders if she should go to California to see about her. Address is at Hotel Garfield on O'Farrell Street in San Francisco. Elsie is delighted with her school and with Albuquerque. On the whole, families are pretty good things to have. Willa [Stout #390]
Interested in her new efforts in play production. Looking forward to seeing her piece [probably "Did It Really Happen?"] in Smart Set. What is she going to do with the Spoon River poet in her anthology? [The "anthology" was a series by Akins published from Feb. 19 to Aug. 13, 1915, in Reedy's Mirror, St. Louis. The series was to have been published in book form but was not until 1994, under the title In the Shadow of Parnassus: A Critical Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry, edited by Catherine Parke.] He is beneath comment. P.S.: Sending some poems not in April Twilights. Novel finished and being set in type. W. S. C. [Stout #415]
Delighted to see the good review in yesterday's Times [of Déclassée, which opened at the Empire Theatre on October 6 with Ethel Barrymore in the lead]. Seems a triumph—a word that can only be used for the theater since the advent of trench warfare. Confident the play has real quality, is not just what is usually popular. Will go see it as soon as she gets back to New York. Willa Cather [Stout #477]
