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]
Why hasn't she written? Is lonely since visit by Dorothy Canfield. Dorothy likes the young doctor who wants to marry her [Cather]. Would be a good match, but doesn't care for him. Magazine is trashy, but is doing her job as instructed. Social life going well, with none of the old problems (short hair, Dr. Tyndale, bohemianism) to mess her up. Willa [Stout #37]
Appreciates his bringing her book to people's attention. Enjoyed visiting with Mrs. Canfield and Dorothy in New York. Willa S. Cather [Stout #86]
Why didn't she tell her Dr. Canfield was in town? Has been shut in with a cold. Enjoys teaching but would prefer lower-class students who were used to working. When will Dorothy's children's story be published? Is her brother's new baby a boy or a girl? Edith [Isabelle's sister] is having coming-out parties. Willie [Stout #91]
Thanks for sharing what Miss Roseboro' said about the stories. Roseboro's own are a sentimental muddle. Best wishes for Dorothy's doctoral exam in May. Hopes to get to Vermont this summer. Will mainly be in New York near or with Edith Lewis. Hopes to finish novel there. Might take an English course at Columbia, if there is one in the summer. Isabelle still droopy from bad throat. Parents [Cather's] have just moved into a new, roomier house and want her to come help select furnishings, but she needs to finish the novel for McClure. Willie [Stout #97]
Is it true he has a diary kept by Dr. E. J. Foster that quotes many of Mrs. Eddy's sayings? May she have access to it? Would quote only with his approval. Willa Sibert Cather [Stout #132]
Is pleased that she and Mrs. Fields liked the first part of Mrs. Ward's story; will send the outline of the rest. Mrs. Fields the only person left who evokes the dignity of the New England past. Has been enjoying Fields's poems. She and Edith Lewis liking their apartment. Get their own dinner three evenings a week and go to the Brevoort [Hotel] the other nights. Fears Jewett won't like her story in the December issue. Willa [Stout #140]
Is sending a present for Peter Rabbit. Don't open until Christmas! Will send books for Mary Virginia as soon as she and Miss Lewis (with whom she is partners in housekeeping) have read them. Found these nice children's books from England in a local book shop. Willie [Stout #144]
Not feeling well, and now Miss Lewis isn't also. She had better not come. W. S. C [Stout #187]
[Note by Sergeant indicates that Edith Lewis asked her to withhold this letter from the library.] So much has happened, no time to write. The beautiful young man she met when riding to the missions with the priest is named Julio, pronounced hu-lio. Has been camping in canyons with Tooker and doing some pretty daring climbing. Went down a cliff using hand-holds. Spent a day in the Painted Desert with Julio and could hardly get over it. Now the Grand Canyon. Wonderful how unspoiled it is, not a single souvenir shop. New Mexico is wonderful but expensive. Elsie would love it, but her money would go and she would take up with a sweetheart who would take all her attention. Has been asked to a Mexican dance when back in Winslow, and then if she can tear herself away from Julio will go to Albuquerque with Douglass. Didn't mean to go on and on about Julio—it's just that he's so fascinating. People would be fighting over him as an artist's model in New York. W. S. C. [Stout #229]
