Dear Old Man: —

I should have written sooner, acknowledging receipt of the fine sonnets you sent me. Of course they are exquisite; your sonnets always are.

What special work are you planning to do next? Anything sustained? And what do you hear from our beloved hussy, Lilith? I hope you will soon have some good news of her to send me.

I finished the "Three Friends" on Sept. 26 and sent it immediately to Macmillans. Heard from them yesterday. They will bring it out as soon as it can be manufactured. Now I shall soon be off on the next lap of my long journey toward the end of the cycle of five. I'll be about 47 years old when the long job is done. The "Friends" seems to have hit them rather hard back there, & they seem, more than ever, to understand why the material is important. Sometime ago they asked if I would care to do a book on Western exploration for schools — in story form. This depends upon the paper market — which is in a bad way.

Be good to yourself, Old Man!

Affectionately,

Jno.