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Letter from John G. Neihardt to Elmer E. Holm, September 4, 1938

  • Title: Letter from John G. Neihardt to Elmer E. Holm, September 4, 1938
  • Date: September 4, 1938
  • Author(s): Neihardt, John Gneisenau, 1881-1973
  • Recipient: Holm, Elmer E.
  • TEI XML: nei.j4c.18.19-20.xml
Branson, Missouri, September 4, 1938. Mr. E. E. Holm, Mariaville, Nebraska. Dear Holm:

Did you suppose that I might not remember you and the memorable trip we had together? It's good to hear from you!

I think you can write all that is necessary from Dr. House's book and the Macmillan pamphlet I send. Write me about any detail if you wish, and let me see your manuscript before it is turned in. Perhaps I can make some desirable alterations and additions.

Have you all four of the published volumes of The Cycle of The West? The completed Cycle will be as follows:
  • (1) The Song of Three Friends
  • (2) The Song of Hugh Glass
  • (3) The Song of Jed Smith
  • (4) The Song of The Indian Wars
  • (5) The Song of the Messiah.
What about "Song of the Morman Migrations?"
I have to quit the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (literary editor) to live here while I finish The Song of Jed Smith, and thus complete my chief life work, a Cycle of the West, begun in 1912. Eighteen years I shall have spent on it; actual working time.

You should not overlook the vision at 11 years. Doctor tells of this, and he may have shown your class the house where it occurred. It was no mere "fever dream", and it has largely governed my life. There are other strange experiences of a far more convincing nature; but they would only mystify youngsters. And, as a matter of fact, in my boyhood and youth at Wayne and Bancroft, I was not only something of an athlete, but was always inventing adventures. My Wayne pal ( John Chaffee) and I did a lot of long-distance walking both by day and night. There was a lot of veritable Tom Sawyer stuff. I was no mooning calf.

Get the dope on the Neihardt monument and its unveiling in Wayne. Accounts should be found in the Wayne Herald and Goldenrod.

Do you know my short stories ("Indian Tales and Others"), "The Splendid Wayfaring", "Poetic Values", "Black Elk Speaks"? Perhaps you should? What Shall I send?

Kindest thoughts, Old Scout! Your friend, Jno. G. Neihardt John G. Neihardt.