Dear Mrs. Aly:

Thanks for yours of the 11th. Good news about Rob't Hill of the MSS Room at the N. Y. Public Library! He will work. I'm sure. That was a successful affair at the U. of Maryland. There is a testimonial on it in the lecture folder I must have given you. Henry Holt & Co.'s representative is here now and will visit us out there on Sunday. Of course, there is no longer any Holt in the firm, but the rep. can give leads. He is excited about Black Elk Speaks; wants his company to republish. We'll see. (The book, when one can be found, brings $10 to $15)

Fine about the Sterling letters! Now if you can find Jackson Barber's MSS (including transcripts of all Sterling's letters to me) we'll be in luck. You can find the stuff, I'm sure. The Bohemian Club should help.

About Mrs. Wm. Vaughan Moody. It was shortly before the 2nd World War (maybe in the late 30's) that I was invited to her home one Sunday afternoon. She always had important guests at her salons on Sundays. When I was there, Lady Kennedy-Fraser and her daughter were present. Lady K-F was from the Orkneys & was an authority on all things great and Gaelic. She had an ancient Gaelic harp, playing her own accompaniments to the ancient songs she sang. And what a voice she had — deep, and muffled as tho' tears were going down inside! She sang Lament for Cuchulain (one of my most-loved heroes, by the way) and it lifted the hair on my head. She was an old lady, near seventy.

Her daughter was coldly beautiful — made me think of a sword. When she sang there was battle in her voice. However, the old lady was far more moving. During the afternoon Mrs. Moody sat down beside me on a sofa, put her arm across my shoulder and said, "I think I am going to love you." And I said, "Please do!" (She, of course, was much older than I.) It was during that afternoon that I last spoke with our late lamented, Harriett Monroe.

She called me by phone and said: "You don't mean you are not coming to see us at Poetry office?" I replied to the effect that I couldn't make it on that trip. I was wrong again, for I suspect she was in a mood to kiss and makeup!! Too bad, and I'm sorry.

(I'm answering your questions, as you see).

Sterling stayed with us at least a day and a night on his 1914 visit. I recall most clearly that we went into the country, lay on top of a hay-stack and talked about everything. I remember I said to him, incidentally "George, you have absolute control over your technique in poetry, and it is all exquisitely beautiful. I do wish you could have the same control over your life." He said he wished the same, but somehow he couldn't manage it. That afternoon he told me about some of his escapades, and I can see him still rolling in the hay and laughing. When he laughed, his ears went back and he looked like a faun. (I'll tell you of one escapade later.)

"Mrs. T" was, no doubt, Mrs. Travis, wife of the owner of the Yellow Cab Co. at that time. Evidently she had said something excessively kind about me. "Great Grandma" was my maternal grandmother, Catherine Culler. She was a covered-wagon woman — went to N. W. Kansas in the late 70's. I was with my grandfather and grandmother out there when I was five and six years old. That was in Rooks County, on the upper Solomon River near Stockton. She was a fine, strong, noble old woman — bless her! We have a photo of her with Enid and Sig staring up at her devotedly.

That's all now.

Kindest thoughts from Mona & me,

John Neihardt
John Neihardt Route 7 Columbia, Mo.
COLUMBIA. MO. OCT 16 530 PM 1957 PRAY FOR PEACE
Mrs. Bower-Aly, 2094 Hilyard, Eugene, Oregon.