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 |
I am sorry not to be able to oblige you, but I never allow quotations from personal letters3 to be printed. When, among a great number of the rather flat and dreary letters I receive, I come upon one that is alive and intelligent, I am rather prone to answer it in a somewhat intimate and unembarrassed tone. I take for granted that a person who writes a discriminating and intelligent letter is the sort of person who would not use any portion of my letter for publicity of any kind.
Very sincerely yours, Willa CatherI should like to oblige Mr.
Phelps4, but I shall do that at some other time, and in some
other way. I did not even know that I was writing to your English class,
Mr. Wells. English professors have many wiles, but I honestly thought
you were interested in the question you asked me. O tempora, O mores!5 (The second "O" looks like
a zero, certainly!) I was off guard, and you
took your advantage Enough: I become more cautious every day.
