What you say about "the biggest day for values" that Wayne has had may be true; for whatever the value of my work may or may not be, the movement is in the interest of the highest human values, and it is the belief behind the movement that makes the movement significant, without reference to my work and the world's ultimate judgment of it.
But this is the thing I want to emphasize: The victory there is yours and you should be very happy about it. It is the victory of a teacher, and you are the teacher. Wayne would not have done this in my lifetime had you not been there to insist upon the values that are being recognized. I'm happy to see it this way.
The world is not hopeless when a little town, much given to money-chasing, can do what Wayne is doing. My little book is very optimistic on this point. My whole purpose is to insist that men are finer than they think they are; that the dreadful limitation they accept under the present social illusion is a part of the illusion. I try to show why poetic values are real values we know, and I give no sentimental reasons. We are trying to live in the kitchen of a wonderful palace.
The news of what is being done at Wayne should be sent out by Associated Press on the 19th. Such news will hardly sell a book of mine, but it will do something here and there by way of arousing hope. Anyway, it should do that. Perhaps Long could arrange for this in Omaha, or the State Journal could do it.
I'm not dodging the fact that I do want my name scattered in connection with my work, whenever it can be done with dignity. A poet writes for people, and he wants people to get what he has written. Then there is the pathetic need of being praised. But haven't you noticed how, as you get older, you want more and more to deserve praise before you get it?
Jno
