Dr. Lucile Aly 1138 22nd Ave., East Eugene, Oregon
Dear Lucile:

I arrived home last Friday, the 29th. Your letter had gone out hunting me and had not yet returned.

I wish you could have been with us to the end of the tour. It was really quite astonishing. Prolonged standing ovations were the common thing, with many encores. This happened anywhere with any kind of an audience, and it always surprised me.

The two "poles" of the tour were Parks in the vast plains country of the West and Joslyn Memorial in Omaha. Parks is a little "town" of 20 or 30 inhabitants. It has no plumbing or street lights; but it does have a community center, devoted to the cultural needs of the territory. It seems to have been built by a rich rancher who founded the Hester Foundation. We thought there would be 25 or 30 people present, and the place was crowded. The response was the same as at Joslyn, which was very fine indeed.

At Joslyn they had borrowed my life-size portrait from the Library and displayed it in the lobby of the Auditorium. The final engagement was at the University, and the Lincoln Star declared in a three-column head, that I "captivated the student audience".

The autograph party at Miller and Payne's big book store was an astonishing thing. I wrote autographs steadily without a break from 2:00 o'clock to 6:00 and then from 6:30 to 8:30. Next morning I signed for two more hours. The people came on in a line, and in addition to these there were many long-distance telephone orders. The store people said they never saw anything like it. Neither did I.

You know how deeply interested I am in what you are doing. It was great to have you with us and we both missed you when you left. I do hope you will have the best of luck in pushing ahead with your manuscript. Naturally I'd like it if Random House should want it. And they might. But, believe me, if the Nebraska Press should bring it out, it would certainly have a cheering sale.

I noted the other day that the CYCLE is in the second printing and there is reason to believe that it will soon go into a third.

With love for you, Bower and Stewart,

John N.
JGN:ENF