Across the Spectrum:The Interdisciplinary Life and Letters of John G. Neihardt (‘Flaming Rainbow’)

First, thanks for the ties!

Tomorrow, I think I'll have your report on the Lyrics program. I'm happy about the Cycle program., for I know it was excellent. Sometime I'll hear you, I hope. Sometime —.

* On the 23rd I gave lyrics for the B&[?] birthday banquet. We had all of Breisch's and the place was full of ladies. They did explode, and it was a good experience. The proprietor of the swank shoe store (one of four men present) declared he "never heard anything like it," and he "didn't know he liked poetry." The ladies gave me a fine suitcase, not as payment, but as a token! So, "Have luggage, Will travel!"

What you say of "Nuptial Song" is all true. Yes, "for her", as you note; and that is because the poem is concerned with an act of worship. Of course, as you suggest, I was not conscious of the details you note.

As for the Baudelaire poem, I can't remember it; and as for Baudelaire himself, he (like Sterling), stopped short of the fruiting. Blossom is not enough.

Tomorrow (Mon. the 30th) a firm of housecleaners (colored) will go all over the Skyrim home, basement and all. On Tues. Switzer and I will move in. I don't know how I'm going to feel out there. It's empty. If you were a neighbor, and could drop in now and then at tea time, the place might come alive.

Yet, if I can get going on something worthwhile, the place should get something of its soul back. Of course, Yo-Yo will be a great help.

That was such a good letter — yours of the 24th! I'll finish this when your report on the Lyric program comes.

It's good that your flu attack was brief. I know the feeling, the difficulty of living over the top of it. I do hope you are quite all right now. Areyou?

And it is good to know that Bower is well enough to work — evidently with some enthusiasm. It's remarkable.

As you see, there is no order in this letter.

The ties were so neatly packaged. I appreciated this a lot more than the ties, and you must have ironed them too, didn't you? Many thanks.

Switzer and I moved into Skyrim last evening. Yo-Yo too, of course; but she does not feel at home here. Neither do I yet, really. Just a bit homesick; but I'll manage that in a few days, maybe.

I have found my old Greek grammar — Goodwin's. It served me well. Do you want me to send it on? Also, I have Liddel & Scott's unabridged Lexicon, as well as the abriged edition. The latter is is the better for [common?] use. I think I used Goodwin's First Year Greek, but I have not located it yet.

Four colored men worked a forenoon out here, using fine equipment, and I'll bet there's not enough dust anywhere to produce the smallest sneeze! They even too the dust off the tops of the books. It's a gloomy day — rather cold; but the leaves are breaking out and the hedges are green.

When you are ready for the Anabasis I'll send you my copy. I've found it. It will be fun to read Xenophon. He is easier than Caesar in the Commentaries.

If I don't hear about the Lyric Program today I'll mail this. It's not a letter. It's merely obiter dicta.

I'm about to finish Jed Smith. Yesterday I stopped a half dozen pages short of the end. I'm really surprised at the attention. Why should they sit still an hour and twenty minutes and listen? They have other things to think about in the springtime. I wonder how much they really get from the mystical passages. Switzer said last night he is greatly pleased with the mid-semester test — higher than usual.

I did receive Stewart's perfectly [lovely?] letter to Yo-Yo. She was so pleased that she wanted me to send Stewart a can of her dog meat, but I assured her that Stewart's Mama and Daddy have loads of dog meat in their refrigerator.

I did not receive the report on the Lyric program, but I still like you just the same. Also I like Bower, and I like Stewart, and I like Willamette Valley and the green, green grass and the mountains far off and the gauzy rain — but if I keep on like this I'll be too homesick to cook supper for my grader who will return at about 6 o'clock. Enid was here for lunch, and I got a nice meal for her. She's a dear gal!

Finished Jed Smith yesterday, giving most of the period to review. Asked them to read passages that had impressed them. They responded surprisingly — all over the room — and the passages they chose were the ones I'd wondered about. Evidently most of them did get the mystical passages. Two students sent me a beautiful blooming plant!