• Title: Letter from John G. Neihardt to George Steele Seymour, July 19, 1922
  • Date: July 19, 1922
  • Author(s): Neihardt, John Gneisenau, 1881-1973
  • Recipient: Seymour, George Steele
  • TEI XML: nei.j4c.8.28.xml
ansd
Branson, Mo., July 19, '22.
Dear Seymour:-

I've been away doing stunts

I can't bring myself to knock Masefield in the Step Ladder, and I'd have to do so if I did anything about "King Cole". Have thought about it a good deal. My admiration for Masefield's best is profound; but he writes far too much and a great deal of his work is sloven as a result. King Cole is badly done in general, though he manages to get a touch of his magic here and there.

As to "The Song of the Indian Wars", it's hard to cut because it's an organism, and the mood of the whole is what counts most. You'd have to take at least four hundred lines in order to get anywhere at all. I could give you the part dealing with the all-Indian council on the Powder River - a little over 400 lines. But I'm pretty sure you couldn't find room for so much.

Always yours,

Jno. N.

Century tried hard to get some of the "Wars", but I wouldn't give less than 400 lines.