Has been studying Greek and reading Bulwer-Lytton and Dickens. Brothers Roscoe and Douglass competed in the Firemen's State Tournament. Is serving as a reporter for the Republican, edited by Dr. McKeeby. Has been to picnics in the Garbers' grove. Local couple flirting ridiculously. Jessie, Roscoe, and Douglass singing in cantata. Is going to baseball game in Superior, Nebraska, with Mary and Hugh Miner. Is going to dance at platform in the Garbers' grove tonight. Willa Cather [Stout #3]
Sending H. L. Mencken's article [in Smart Set January 1916?]. Has he seen Hugh Walpole's article in Bookman? Willa Sibert Cather [Stout #348]
Hugh Walpole's phrase in Bookman—"one of the very finest of all American novels"—might be good for the dust jacket along with Mencken's comment. W. S. C. [Stout #454]
Please try to get something quotable about her books from Hugh Walpole. Knopf would do this if he were publishing her next book. Leaving Friday [Oct. 10]. Willa S. C. [Stout #476]
Was too ill after typhoid shot to write sooner to thank him for the check. Anticipates a good trip. Saw Hugh Walpole recently. W. S. C. [Stout #506]
Appreciated his gracious letter and is glad characters in Sapphira and the Slave girl seemed real to him. All the colored people in the book were people she knew in Virginia or elsewhere. Willa Cather [Stout #1535]
Appreciates kind request, but will not allow her books to be dramatized or filmed. Likes going to movies, but prefers to stick to the written word and a more discriminating audience of readers.
Congratulations and welcome back. Does not think they can find an audience for a lecture on Dutch literature in Pittsburgh; cannot even find enough interested in English literature. Zangwill can't attract a dozen people. Has refused to let cousin Dr. Gore even try. Stedman has done nothing with the manuscript [unpublished Player Letters], but Ladies Home Journal has published a piece ["The Man Who Wrote 'Narcissus,'" Ladies Homes Journal (November 1900): 11], a story will be out soon in the New England Magazine ["El Dorado: A Kansas Recessional," New England Magazine 24 (June 1901): 481-488], a poem in the Critic ["Grandmother, Think Not I Forget," Critic 36 (April 1900): 308], and poems in the Criterion [?], and McClure's [?], as well as several minor periodicals [the Pittsburgh Leader and Lincoln Courier both published poems by Cather in 1900]. Clearly she has not been lazy. R. H. Russell and Co. of New York now has the Player Letters; does Van Noppen know anyone there? If so, please put in a good word for her. Rupert Hughes of the Criterion thinks they have a future. Hopes everything is going well. Mr. Couse and the others send greetings. Willa Cather
