Guide to Reading Letter Transcriptions
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| Textual Feature | Appearance |
|---|---|
| passage deleted with a strikethrough mark | |
| passage deleted by overwritten added letters | |
| passage added above the line | passage with added text above |
| passage added on the line | passage with added text inline |
| passage added in the margin | passage with text added in margin |
| handwritten addition to a typewritten letter | typed passage with added handwritten text |
| missing or unreadable text | missing text noted with "[illegible]" |
| uncertain transcriptions | word[?] |
| notes written by someone other than Willa Cather | Note in another's hand |
| printed letterhead text | printed text |
| text printed on postcards, envelopes, etc. | printed text |
| text of date and place stamps | stamped text |
| passage written by Cather on separate enclosure. | written text |
Thank you for your kind letter. To be quite frank with you, I always shrink a little from the idea of my books being read in schools. At least, I don't like to feel that they are "assigned" to students as a part of the grind. If young people read me, I would like it to be because they want to - I would even like to be read on the sly. But this is not replying to your question. If one of my books has to be read year after year (as "Ivanhoe"3 was in the days when I went to school), I think that "Death Comes for the Archbishop"4 will stand the wear and tear better than the others, and perhaps "One of Ours"5 or "The Professor's House"6 would be more interesting to the young people than any of the others. 'The "Professor's House" and Tom Outland's Story7 seem to be especially popular with German and Scandinavian school boys.
Very sincerely yours, Willa Cather
