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 |
Of course, I have not time to reply to all the letters that come in to me; it is rather an unfair contest in correspondence, one against many.
But your letter has a nice friendly, neighborly ring that makes me wish to answer it, though it lay on my desk a long time unread while I was traveling. On reading it I feel as if I had been to a Sunday evening service in my own town of Red Cloud4 and heard some one talk about somebody's books - not mine. You say you wonder why I have never written anything sympathetic about religion, and this rather astonishes me. I have had so many, many letters from clergymen, both Protestant and Catholic, telling me that they find a very strong religious theme in at least two of my books5.
Perhaps you think that because "Death Comes for the Archbishop" is about the work of Catholic missionaries, it is not concerned with religion as you know it.
Now, my dear lady, I am not a Roman Catholic. I am an Episcopalian, as were
my father6 and mother7. Bishop
Beecher8 of Hastings,
Nebraska9, confirmed me. I am a Protestant, but not a narrow
minded one. If you make a fair minded study of history you cannot be too narrow. What organization was it that
kept the teachings of Jesus Christ10 alive between the year 300 A.D. and the
days of Martin Luther11? I am sure that
your minister will admit that nothing but a powerful organization could have
brought the beliefs of the early church across to us through the anarchy and
brutality that followed the fall of the Roman Empire.
This is a rather solemn and pedantic reply to your pleasant and neighborly
letter, but I do think all Christians ought to know a little more history
before they decide that there is only one kind of religion. I am sure I need
not tell you, dear Mrs. Carstens, that this letter is entirely personal and
confidential, and is not for quotation or publication. I have no objection,
however, to your showing it to your minister; perhaps he can prove to me
that there were "Protestant" churches before Martin Luther, but I have never
yet been able to find any convincing evidence that there were .
any such.
Information about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let1133.xml
- Letter identifier
- 1133
- Contents
- Document is one leaf, typewritten on recto only. Includes one envelope, typewritten.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Jennie C. Morse Carstens1
- Date letter was written
- November 21, 1932
- Place letter was written
- New York, New York, United States2
- Location of original letter
- WCPM Collection, National Willa Cather Center, Red Cloud, NE
Person Annotations
Carstens, Jennie C. Morse (1890-after 1940). American reader of Cather’s works. Born in Nebraska, Jennie married Alfred H. Carstens of Fremont, NE, in 1920 and had three children. She wrote Cather about her portrayal of religion in her books.
Cather, Charles Fectigue (1848-1928). Cather’s father.
Charles Fectigue (possibly Fectique) Cather was born in the Back
Creek Valley of Virginia, north of Winchester. His family were sheep raisers
who were largely, but not entirely, Union supporters during the Civil War.
He married Mary Virginia Seibert Boak, daughter of Confederate supporters,
in 1872. In 1883 he and his family followed his parents, William and
Caroline Cather, and brother George to Webster County in Nebraska, where
various cousins and uncles had also settled. Initially he ran a ranch in the
county but soon moved his family into the town of Red Cloud, where he had an
insurance and real estate business. Four of his children, Willa, Roscoe,
Charles, and Jessica, were born in Virginia, while three, James, Elsie, and
John, were born in Nebraska. Cather’s relationship with her father was very
warm: she made regular visits to her parents in Red Cloud and especially
enjoyed her father’s letters expressing appreciation of her novels. A week
after she concluded a visit to her ailing father in Red Cloud, he died of
heart disease. He served as the prototype for Hillary Templeton in “Old Mrs.
Harris” (1932).
Cather, Mary Virginia Boak (1850-1931) (“Virginia” or
“Jenny”). Cather’s mother. Born in the Virginia to William Lee
Boak and Rachel Seibert Boak, Virginia was educated in Baltimore, MD, and
was a schoolteacher until her marriage to Charles Fectigue Cather in 1872.
Her husband’s family were primarily Union supporters during the Civil War
while her family supported the Confederacy (three brothers served in the
Confederate Army although their mother opposed slavery). After her marriage
she tried to help unite the divided family. Four of her children, Willa,
Roscoe, Charles Douglas, and Jessica Virginia, were born in Virginia, while
three, James Donald, Elsie Margaret, and John Esten, were born in Nebraska
after the family moved there in 1883. Despite occasional differences, Cather
remained in affectionate contact with her mother, who remained in Red Cloud,
NE, where the family settled in 1884. After her husband’s death in 1928
Virginia Cather suffered a stroke while visiting her children and their
families in California. She spent nearly three years in a sanitarium in
Pasadena, CA, unable to speak. Willa Cather visited her there several times
but was unable to travel quickly enough from Grand Manan to Red Cloud for
her funeral and interment after she died in Pasadena in 1931. Virginia
Cather was the prototype for Victoria Templeton in “Old Mrs. Harris” (1932),
which Willa Cather completed shortly before her mother’s death.
Beecher, George Allen (1868-1951). Western Nebraska Episcopal Bishop.
Born in Illinois, Beecher moved with his family to Kearney, NE, at
age 14. He studied for the Episcopal priesthood at the Philadelphia (PA)
Divinity School, graduating in 1892, and then spent fifty-one years in
Nebraska as a deacon, priest, and finally Bishop of the Missionary District
of Western Nebraska. Willa Cather met him in Red Cloud, NE, in December 1922
when he presided at her and her parents’ confirmation as members of Grace
Episcopal Church. She and Bishop Beecher corresponded frequently
thereafter.
Jesus Christ (c. 4 BCE-c. 30). Religious figure. Christ was a Jewish religious leader who became the central figure of Christianity, a major world religion.
Luther, Martin (1483-1546). German theologian.
Luther became a monk as a young man, but came to doubt some of the
beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. His public posting of
ninety-five theses for debate led to his excommunication and eventually to
the Protestant Reformation. He translated the Bible into German, believing
everyone, not just priests, should have access to it. In 1525 he married
Katharina von Bora, a former nun, establishing a precedent for clerical
marriage.
Place Annotations
Work Annotations
Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927) by Willa Cather
Shadows on the Rock (1931) by Willa Cather
