THIS SIDE OF CARD IS FOR ADDRESS

Dr. Amos P. Wilder
5 White Hall
New Haven
Conn.

"when I know you by my personality, be patient- seek the nugget that may be hid in the dross. You are very dear to me and I am asking that you may keep growing."

92 Holder
older Debra

OFFICE OF THE
# New Haven Journal-Courier

JOHN B. CARRINGTON, Prest

NORRIS G. OSBORN, Editor

EDWARD T. CARRINGTON, Se-

THE CARRINGTON PUBLISHING CO.

New Haven, Conn. Sept 21

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Dear Thornton:

Your letter is at hand. Your warm glowing nature is very pretty in action, which is the more reason you should be on guard to reinforce it by much substance. It makes people happy-- your ma and pa included also others. As a youth I recall some triumphant little march like that Be thoughtfully grateful for the personality and regard it as a sacred trust with some trembling; for it can get frayed; we may presume on it and once the pretige of it is impaired, it is rather sad. My memory is that I warmed not a few, not tarrying to be altogether loyal-- too much success, really selfishness. Others wish us to be veritable stam-bys. They love such in the long run. So, dear boy, do it better than your father: be a step ladder for others; spend and be spent-- dedicate your life for others etc. Be willing to be nothing so that other hearths are strengthened and once having done this, hold fast in their advocacy.

I think you do love your pa and perhaps appreciate his buffetings and longings to be good, as well as the others of the varied heart-stone. I doubt not my penetrating suggestions, by reason of this

this

to me I detect some concern about the perils of brightness and truth

["community of understanding, are of great value. especially at this day and age, but it is not the only thing of value. we all need. the other is the ability to understand and to love. this is the real essence of true friendship. it is not enough to be kind and good, we also need to understand each other. we need to know that our friends love and care for us. and we need to know that our friends understand us. this is the true essence of friendship. it is not enough to be kind and good, we also need to understand and to love. this is the real essence of true friendship. it is not enough to be kind and good, we also need to understand and to love. this is the true essence of friendship. it is not enough to be kind and good, we also need to understand and to love. this is the true essence of true friendship. it is not enough to be kind and good, we also need to understand and to love. this is the

OFFICE OF THE
# New Haven Journal-Courier.

JOHN B. CARRINGTON, Prest

NORRIS G. OSBORN, Editor

EDWARD T. CARRINGTON, Secy.

THE CARRINGTON PUBLISHING CO.

New Haven, Conn.

April 17

Dear Thornton:-

27 this day! The letter should have reached you earlier--
it has been much in mind.

Of course I am thinking of Madison days. It is all very vivid.
Doctor Sheldon still carrying on; a letter from wife of my old
printers rec'd today remarks he is still nimble about the street
; he is 82. A wonderful man; hold him in grateful remembrance.

Charlotte tonight, I think. Mother says little of such things
yet she is in very good condition and for that offsets all else.

Things running on quietly; my writing seems acceptable, though
I am doing less speaking. I get home some earlier nights as a
rule. Dr. Blumer looked Amos over and says he is all right, barring
war effects and will be all right. He says some intimation that
Ojai Valley church may want him-- that looks good to me. Of
course it confuses me that the boy seems to lack interest in many
of the conventional things of the minister's calling; yet he is
so bed-rock in character that all must be right; and will come
out right. I strictly keep hands off his decisions and pray and
trust for him and you all. I

used to think I knew something

of parenthood but I guess I am mistaken.

Meanwhile, do you go forward conquering and to conquer, or
whatever the phrase is. Remember your father's injunctions and
be not prejudiced by the emphasis of the utterance or the exces-
ses of counsel. Fred Williams fails of full professorship be-
cause he never took a Ph. D degree. On your birthday when all
should be mollifying, like the talkative wife who was thrown in to the
river by her irate husband over a scissors dispute-- and continued
to make a scissors gesture as she went down-- so as it appears you
are to teach, copper-rivet your preparation, lay out your lines, and do
now with diligence the essentials that you may sleep nights and not
feel your feet slipping as to a steersman and income later when the
declining flush of youth forces you to count your assets.

Most important, keep the joy and high purpose of your youth into
the next year. Close the peril holes in life and character.

About your book, deal firmly with your publisher, tho' reasonably
let no mss. go in that is not worthy a counsellor of youths.

On the business side, hold to the copyrights-- let no one take them
from you if perchance later you may prove a winner. Give little heed of praise
We have all had it in our time; seek rather those who criticise and censure
The story play you read me was not commonplace-- it may be important that
you can do such things. All the more important that you keep on the ground
-- have judgment, resistance, (at the right time); and save your money.
The eighteenth century was full of men abler than yourself who were most
unhappy because they conceived the world would care for the clever. It
would be unjust to others if it did.

Good night, dear Thornton; let us not get separated;-- one's parents
are useful while they last--the rest of the world is more changeable and
has its own concerns -- for a long pull

Much love- keep an eye on Isabel especially
her associates. She must not become sophisticated. Affectionately

JOHN B. CARRINGTON, Prest

NORRIS G. OSBORN, Editor

EDWARD T. CARRINGTON, Secy.

THE CARRINGTON PUBLISHING CO.

New Haven, Conn.

Feb 13

Dear Thornton:-

I am off for Providence to address a Bankers' affair tonight. The other speaker none less than Houston, ex-college president and financier, secretary of Agriculture, of Mr. Wilson's cabinet. My poor speeches are a sad melee of wholesome sentiment and fun with a little patriotic appeal-- the cup is small etc. and it helps keep my family going in the latter rain--as the day draw night when father's earnings grow less if not quit-and then what will poor tense mother do then! However, sufficient for the day etc. These rules of faith begin to mean much to me; my mother used to tell me of them and in my confidence I supposed them well enough for others who needed them. Such is human confidence.

Isabel is in the great city;- I pray you keep an eye on her. She is all she should be; protected to an extent; but curious as women are and appreciating appreciation; I dread chance & associations with the worldly; visits to borderland places - a widening sophistication-- you will smile but eternal vigil

the need for such as our *isabel*; do not sleep on this counsel. I would urge discretion and silence but we Wilders are incapable of this.

Amos is as sound and wholesome as a nut- no harm can fall a good man- it is well to give the world such. I fear me he has been with his books so long that men as such fail to interest him. The war has left a mark apparently--he does his work, is pleasant, but apart from his studies no action as yet. What perils beset us, all types of men-- how imperative to keep the current of enthusiasm fresh by affectionate touch with our fellows. The boy's idea seems to be to read one book after another. God grant he may emerge and speak some message--my comparison of the various obsessions that waylay us poor mortals to collecting postage stamps, when we should be out slaying lions, occurs to me. Yet he is not dead--not recovered from war experience.

As for yourself, dear Thornton: I counsel you to hold yourself in check until you have laid permanent foundations and obtained a card of introduction for the rest of your life by teaching at Yale, now the door is opened at least two years. We older men know one can do much who has a Forum and who is on some pay roll. Thornton of Yale is interesting: and gets you hearers- Wilder, who once taught in a school in N. J. but now has no connection and no stated in- come except a $25 check last December for a rather clever article in the Home Journal is soon exchanged for another topic. I would have you make every sacrifice for truth- I will send you to a mission field or give your life gladly for a cause; but you are entitled to this seeming worldly advice in your efforts to find a foothold in literature or call it what you will. I know you lad, your improvidence; you have kept little ahead of the kept little ahead of the wolf even with a king's ransom income as youth goes; irregular income, humiliations, occasional sickness and the like will. I fear, not affect you pleas- antly in your development-- I counsel you not to throw over a stated in- come when you can do your work with it-- better, with kindling associa- tions about you. I hoped to have you here to steady mother but that

3

OFFICE OF THE

New Haven Journal-Courier.

JOHN B. CARRINGTON, Prest

NORRIS G. OSBORN, Editor

EDWARD T. CARRINGTON, Secy.

THE CARRINGTON PUBLISHING CO.

New Haven, Conn.

need not be a compelling factor.

you speak of the alarm in Abbottdom- and the luxury of telling Yale
tog about its business: here we have an other familiar phase of youth.

It is delightful while it lasts, but we make the astounding discovery that many step forward to fill the vacancies we so gaily toss away-- again we cease to be in teresting. So much for this-- you may conclude to take the Yale post; quickly before the door closes.

Nevertheless, dear son, having laid down in my grimmest fashion, the law, the mysterious Plan of Discipline of Life comes to my assistance. It is my part to present these considerations and then cheerfully, cooperatively, take interest, all you decide to do. I want you and all the children to know that I am ever with them- shall follow them with sympathy-- they must not become alienated from their parents; I want them free -- absolutely-- to come to me with everything; in sickness and health; in poverty etc-- I will not fail them while I am here.

I only ask that you keep the faith; respond to the demands of obligation in all relations-- live as one who means to give a worthy account when all our little plannings and ambitions are over.

I am keeping up your old insurance and shall put thro'

PRESERVATION PHOTOCOPY: ORIGINAL MATERIAL RESTRICTED

April 15, 1921

Dear Thornton:

The idea is to send you within a few days $30 gold ( United
States money) payable in lira as before to " Care of Thornton
American School for Classical Study", Kome.

This is mother's generous calculation of the needful to come home
via France etc., as doubtless she will write you. I am sending
this note in advance of the money that you may make your plans.

Thornton: to get this large sum together represents sacrifice,
that you can't understand-- letting go things needed for the future
of your "aging parents". I am telling you this, not to tax your
sympathies, but to suggest that you handle it earnestly. It is a
reflection, dear boy, that we are almost afraid to send so much,
fearful you will lose it; or throw it about recklessly-- later
to be abroad without money, unhappy, humiliated, borrowing right
and left; if you do it will pretty nearly contemptible.

It is none too much; France will shock you with the high prices
and the other places too; the money will slip away: I beg you to
watch every penny; try to land in New York with a self-respecting
balance in your pocket.

It is sometimes pretty in a youth of seventeen to invite the
admiration of his friends by telling stories of being without
money, a heavy drag for praise in being so princely careless;
but for a youth of 24- with parents under heavy pressure, it will
command the admiration of none whose admiration you want. So say
little to others of your money affairs, but faithfully economize
at every point and have money to pay your bills in full, including
the ocean passage which will be high. Thus you will earn the
respect of your father.

Max and his bride were here for an afternoon; they are mat-
ter of fact people; much alike; irresponsive but capable. Her father
was one of the leading lawyers of Maine, died in middle life. She

has studied nursing.

Of course I shall be keen to hear you have rec'd the money: do
not telegraph, - avoid such unnecessary expense-- but write within
an hour after receiving the money: I shall send through Brown Bros
' Co ., ( New York city ) as before. The lira is advancing so it will
not yield so much as before.

When I hear that you have rec'd the money and can undertake to re-
quire no more money from me; I will press the foreign trip for
mother and the girls: I do it because I feel your mother simply
should have the change : incidentally craving the larger atmosphere
for the two girls. To hear mother's envy and bitterness as to press-
perious and well -housed and socially successful families cannot
be well for the daughters: I fear little Isabel has been harmed: as
for dear Janet , I see signs of poise and large- outlook that make
me think we may get something better than we think ever here. She is
very sweet: life in Oxford will help both the girls; mother will be
happier. You might approve casually in your letters to mother: now
that I get the moving in shape, she finds barriers.

When you are home and have a week's rest we will all take an inter-
est in getting you started: watch your health. Avoid all selfishness:
pray daily to be used, and to keep from the perils that beset your
class. It is very beautiful to be young and to aspire to use gifts
for the healing of the nation and the hastening of the Glad Day; it
is sorry to trifle with precious endowments and play with the de-
licacies of heaven, only to wake up in middle life and find the
morning sunshine is over. So walk reverently with something of fear
to make solid and effective any powers you have.

Of course I hope you will arrange with mother and Amos to
have a few days in Oxford together-- all of you: dot memory with
bright, fine things like this: it will mean much to your mother,
and the girls.

Much love- Thornton.

I got your victory medal this A.M. I have your discharge safe. Your
insurance has been kept up ( paid until June- July) you can change
it to $7500 payable at 45 , as Amos has done; by faithfully, peris-
tently keeping up the premium, the later years will not alarm you so
much

New Hoaven: April 22, 1921

Dear Thornton:

I want to make it clear to you that I have sent by mail via
Brown Brothers & Co., of 89 Wall street, lira remittance ($150 gold) equal
to lira 3075.

Within a few days I shall send to you thro the same firm to Paris $200
in francs. This you must call for, ascertaining where in Paris their office
is. You better keep this memo in your pocket : it will help you in identifica-
tion in Paris.

With this amount of money you are expected to see a good deal in France
(' and I hope Germany ') and perhaps have a run to England, tho' I must leave
all to you. I have told you to count your pennies and not be foolishly lavish
because you have a wad, only to be penniless and wretched at the end. You
will add to my comfort if you conduct this business with sense and dignity.

I am now free to deal with Mother and the two girls. I am keen to have
them go to England-- Oxford-- but mother, attracted by the low lira, and
perhaps by some spirit of opposition is all for Italy. I may consent if I have
to, for it is important to have a change for mother: but I am praying it
may be England for the sake of the two girls. I cannot believe it is well
for little Isabel; confidentially, there is in some of my children a touch of
the Grandma Niven quitting quality: I would reinforce it by living with
rugged people and in a bracing environment. You will never quote this; use
it for warning and resolve. You may be able incidentally in your letters to
promote the England project.

I think of little to report. It will be good to have you home again in safe
ity and I hope with assets. Touch life on many sides; meet as many people as
possible; be an observant tourist. Care for your health: sleep, plenty of wat
er between meals; exercise before all else: Nature is silent during the glad
early twenties but remorseless later; be a wise man and treat your body with
caution and reverence. You can't use your brain with power unless there is
force and driving power - unless you feel 100 per cent efficient.

I notice the letter from Winthrop Ames: he wants plays that people can
understand; bread broken for the men and women so they can get hold of it.
You have humor and facility; study Barrie; imitate his quality. Write free,
bright, wholesome things - you will sleep with an easy conscience and enjoy
life and feel you too are doing good. It is tragedy to use rare gifts for
mere trifling and force of course to further complicate life and drag out
the sordid and worst in man for morbid inspection. Take a walk and get an in-
spiration; keep the flame on the altar burning. There there is no vision etc.
I am getting on well apparently in the office. Mrs. Matthews next door not
very well. It is beautiful spring. A few hours from Max and his bride;

Much love, Thornton: I put things to you directly but with high hopes
and constant prayers. Little Janet comes to my room each morning, as the girls
used to do: I try to have some good reading, a game; and I bribe her with
2 cents a visit. She has promise. Little Isabel acting as child-keeper for
the Adams children for a few days; some discontent with the job, I believe:
that child has competence; I pray she get among cheerful, brave people; if
she marries I fear when trouble comes she may lie down yet people
one with resources when the test comes. I am banking on r i gging your
merry front: so much of steel and inspiration has gone into your career: may

C1921

New Haven: June 22

My Dear Thornton:

Your letter of June 9 in hand this day. I haven't written you because
office duties engrossed me; and not much to say except loving greetings--
never conceive that "I am mad";"tho' thy father and mother forsake you"
etc., had reference to some other family. Dear Boy, lean hard on your people
always, as we find ourselves doing on the eternal as the years pile up.

I am just from commencement where we inaugurated Angell, heard Mr. Taft etc. Hot weather, as is fitting, withal a notable week. Many inquiries for my boys.

I have run over this letter of yours rapidly; it seemed to me that your mother figured closely for your expenses; I can only say that if you need a little more, I will get it to you quickly; in fact, I think I will send you $75 tonight doing it this way-- I will ask Brown Brothers to send draft to Mother Care, American Express Co., Southampton; but it is for you. You get it from her. I send it to her because you may unwisely have started for home, and again I know not where to have the money awaiting you. I do want you and your mother to have a time together, and for you to see something of England.

Always feel free to ask me for things, but if I decline believe it is for a good reason. Thornton, I read the letter to your mother anent the Blakes; learn to look for the best in people and refrain from sharp censures. All are entitled to a margin of charity. I think of none who need it so much as we irregular wilders. If your heart is full of good will, it will not be embarrassing to meet the rebers or the Blakes anywhere -- as Marson would say it is because of us and not of them-- our channels are clogged; we do not speak the language of the wilders. Of course the fear of the sharp tongue drives people from us. It is well enough to smile a bit at Reber platitudes but he who does not has made good-- has a status, friends-- you will be surprised at' through life at the inauspicious people holding great posts: they have other qualities which their skills value. There is a type of "smart" fellow who will never harness his talents not do the routine; then envy comes and bitterness, when he looks out on those who have been willing to pay the price-- it is a cheap and unsatisfying role. I pray specialize in normal and benign relations with all sorts and begin by thinking kindly of all; for we cannot be sharp and hard inside, and expect to simulate a friendly exterior; our selves speak louder than our words.

Good bye; keep me informed; plan a useful and enjoyable finish.

# Unmanifest Destiny.

To what new fates, my country, far
And unforeseen of foe or friend,
Beneath what unexpected star,
Compelled to what unchosen end.

Across the sea that knows no beach
The Admiral of Nations guides
Thy blind obedient keels to reach
The harbor where thy future rides!

The guns that spoke at Lexington
Knew not that God was planning then
The trumpet word of Jefferson
To bugle forth the rights of men.

To them that wept and cursed Bull Run,
What was it but despair and shame?
Who saw behind the cloud the sun?
Who knew that God was in the flame?

Had not defeat upon defeat,
Disaster on disaster come,
The slave's emancipated feet
Had never marched behind the dome.

There is a hand that bends out deeds
To mightier issues than we planned,
Each son that triumphs, each that bleeds,
My country, serves its dark command.

I do not know beneath what sky
Nor on what seas shall be thy fate;
I only know it shall be high,
I only know it shall be great.

—Richard Hovey.

printed

Today we have
than yesterda
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Saturday next—only 4
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JOHN B. CARRINGTON, Prest

NORRIS G. OSBORN, Editor

EDWARD T. CARRINGTON, Bus. Mgr.

THE CARRINGTON PUBLISHING CO.

New Haven, Conn. Jan. 1

Dear Thornton:

I have your letter of Jan. 16 and note with distress dated Dec 24 your complaint of lack of money. I hold a receipt for $47.64 to pay for ceblogram for lira 1200 to be paid you at "American Classical School". (This I purchased at the First National Bank, New Haven, New Haven, which has installed an Italian clerk to make these exchanges to Italy). (Hereafter I shall use Brown Bros & Co., 59 Wall street exclusively: I suspect their service in Rome is better.) If you had received this you would presumably acknowledge it-- I have asked you (the hour of arrival-) to acknowledge in fullest detail (date, amount in lira and gold and at what office you rec'd the money-) unless you are keen at your end in such matters, we shall be hazy here).

I also hold receipt from Brown Bros., for mail remittance to you (more correct address) "American School for Classical Study"- dated Dec 31-- $55 to pay for lira 1571.45 (at 3.50). This could hardly reach you by the date of your letter just rec'd (Jan. 16). The Brown receipt notes that the remittance is made "through credito Italiano Genova".

On Jan. 27 I issued check to Brown Bros., for $50, to be transmitted by mail to you in lira.

I shall feel relieved to hear that you have rec'd all of these remittances - pls assure me and define them by dates as above.

I must confess to being a little slow as to the first of these
three remittances, dear boy. Let us be patient with each other: of
course I have my troubles at this end: I am eager to sell all I have
if need be to put such things through, as this last year for you; loans
on insurance policies etc have gone into the good work for some years,
regarded as a high form of investments; the embarassment of late has
been to find a market for any kind of securities -- when I tell you
that a plantation stock that promises well for the future has gone at
$7 per share that cost me twice as much to meet emergencies, I feel
you will understand it is not mere economy that retards me. You are
never to mention these things to Mother: I learned many years ago that
it only excites her; indeed, pressure of this sort might undo her
entirely. Fortunately she is not extravagant: my part is to keep up a
cheerful exterior as to finance and get it when money needed.

The letter to this point was written a fortnight ago ( barring the
lead pencil addition ). It is Feb 11.

We are all as usual; mother a little grippy for two days but reported
nearly normal today. Isabel is happy, I think- no Prom invitation this
year, but she seems to take it jocularly. The China boys-- Paxton and
Brockman- quite faithful. She perseveres at her Art School; her inheri-
tence on 21 birthday netted some $1080. She will be careful in money
matters, I feel- indeed I would not have such emphasized with her as
perhaps she has been sufficiently school as to money-- there is wisdom
in an old man's counsel in such things. We may know who is to be pres-
ident of Yale tomorrow : Stokes' stock low, I am told; Dr. Coffin near
head but the talk has been most of a N. Y. magnate, which I cannot ap-
prove. Col. Osborn goes South soon for five weeks which will give me op-
portu ity on the editorial page.

I have been reading your letters, dear boy; I love you for the
pretty musings on sympathy for lads and all who need a friend. This is
in the spirit of the Master, my boy bringing his faggots, not another'
I note Luce's reference to my talk to the Freshmen: I make it a rule
to forget things when done- not an affectation, I think; yet years af-
ter I do have at times the feeling Swift notes on looking at the Tale
of a Tub-- " What genius I had when I wrote that". I was pleased to be
asked to address the Bar Association dinner ( all Conn, with all judges)
I did well, they say- yet when the Lord still further gives me ease
and the grand manner, I shall do better. Meantime I am very happy in my
work: I find with age and experience , working with these men, some mar-
gin; it is evidently a compensation for the years ; my thought is that
even without great effort one can keep the pace. What a man of experienc
says is valuable.

But I started to tell you how happy I am in the thoughts that betoke

Oct 25

[1921]

My Dear. Thornton:

Of course I think much of you these early days of your Italian residence
year boy, I pray for you-- that you may be benefited by these experiences and
not return to us impaired in soul. Your letters are indeed interesting reading;
so many curious people, so many , so many derelictys. Thornton, you must pray
to be kept during this year. You were schooled as they were not; with Chefoo and
Oberlin you know the vanity of the day-- the follies, the emptiness of it all.
Strive earnestly to come manfully through it, and not merely to save your own
soul, but others along with you. I would not have you an on-looker, taking no
responsibility for conditions, your setting, the occasion etc. It is a sorry
role. Poor old Italy and its civilization-- what an impeachment of the Catho-
lic system where for centuries it had complete authority until now it is despised
or negligible by millions. So to it, dear, that the year may be a success.
Work out your salvation as the rest of us; deem life real; thus you will grow
do
and God will use you-- the vision of your powers dedicated fill me with high
hopes. But strive and keep safe your precious gifts from despoiling. You are
alone, yet need not be alone.

We are getting on nicely; I am quite happy in the office; I find things
I can do, partly under the editor- some editorial and at times a good deal; and
some high class reporting for the managing editor. I am learning the town and
the people. Of course there are annoyances but I have learned to be quiet and
trust. At home where I am two or three evenings in the week, all goes well, I
think. I hope Isabel is getting on well at the Art school; she is eager for com-
panionship; I trust she will form only those that are good. Janet enjoys her

or negligible by millions. So to it, dear, that the year may be a success.
Work out your salvation as the rest of us; deem life real; thus you will grow
and God will use you-- the vision of your powers dedicated fill me with high
hopes. But strive and keep safe your precious gifts from despoiling. You are
alone, yet need not be alone.

We are getting on nicely; I am quite happy in the office; I find things
I can do, partly under the editor- some editorial and at times a good deal; and
some high class reporting for the managing editor. I am learning the town and
the people. Of course there are annoyances but I have learned to be quiet and
trust. At home where I am two or three evenings in the week, all goes well, I
think. I hope Isabel is getting on well at the Art school; she is eager for com-
panionship; I trust she will form only those that are good. Janet enjoys her
little public school down the road hugely and the two kittens have opened a
world of love for her. Mother's unconscious policy keeps me from much intimacy
with the two; perhaps too I am to blame; yet I am with them some; it seems
to me they are getting on pretty well. Mother is much calmer. I go to some
social things in connection with my business; so too Mother and daughter. I
am making some speeches; and with more pep than since my breakdown. If you
on your side will keep the faith, we will have a glad re-union. Ms for your
finances, tell me in your letters to mother or to me- better to both- what it
is up to me to do. I am keeping up your insurance which I shall be glad to
unload on you when you return and get to earning. I

want you to master your Italian so you can command a salary as teacher; it will be sorry if when application is made to your teachers as to your record in Rome, it is a story of absences and irregular application. It was this doubtless that blocked the openings you had in the spring from the best schools. The applications will follow - as such things do us all - when again you are a candidate; but with a strong Rome record it can be nullified largely. I have told you a great stroke would be to get into a monastery or some such place where they speak the language; I was told in Rome there are available places but nowhere else in the world; this would be distinctive; if they decline your application, persevere; do not let go until you succeed. Say little about it however. Of course you will live carefully; economically; a little " nearness" in money matters would be no fault in you, for the present and make you happier.

Your letters bring much happiness to the home; keep it up. Amos is very happy with his friends and work; Charlotte is full of vivacity. And now good bye; lay your father's counsels to heart; it sums up in daily regular devotions to steady you and keep alive the flame of consecration to high things in a setting where there is so much to make you unworthy.

Affectionately

New Haven: June 27

T192A

Dear Thornton:

I have your letter dated June 16 in which the news of mother going abroad, a matter long under discussion, seems to have greatly excited you. I am sorry that you have so little control over yourself and so readily take rank with those who conceive that somehow graphic agitation could make devotion quite beyond the ordinary. I can only explain it by the influence of your environment. It will be good to have you back in routine labors among your own people. Whenever you write agitated letters like this, lay them aside over night and destroy them in the morning. They are not convincing-- have a tin thunder sound. Get only the good things from the countries you visit. I recall walking with Fred Williams (who at his best and in selected spheres is a good deal of a man) and apologizing for one of our college friends who had neglected some obvious duties. I reminded him that his mother was sick which might exonerate him. Prof. W-- commented in his dry way that if his whole family were dead, it was one of the things the man should have attended to-- drastic, but carrying enough truth to point it.

Your mother has had some huskiness of the throat more or less since some near-grip days in the spring; we think it only weakness - her general condition-- it was a large factor in the long-continued effort to persuade her to make a complete change and not merely to take a vacation here or to divert herself with building a house, or changing homes. It would have been well for her to have consulted Dr. Swain,

neglected some obvious duties. I reminded him that his mother was sick which might exonerate him. Prof. W-- commented in his dry way that if his whole family were dead, it was one of the things the man should have attended to--drastic, but carrying enough truth to point it.

Your mother has had some huskiness of the throat more or less since some near-grip days in the spring; we think it only weakness - her general condition-- it was a large factor in the long-continued effort to persuade her to make a complete change and not merely to take a vacation here or to divert herself with building a house, or changing homes. It would have been well for her to have consulted Dr. Swain, the throat specialist- but this she would not do. We hope the news of the ocean trip alone may report that in resting the woman and in upbuilding the nerves, improvement follows. It is not unusual for the throat to show weakness. Her going abroad is not new; it has been talked of for months. I am very happy that it was possible.

I note the Paris newspaper experience. As I have long told you, journalism is so degenerate that young fellows are wanted not for their best work but for"snappy" stuff. It is the first time you have used the word and lined up for that service; it follows, however, if you offer for daily newspaper work on either side of the water. The history of it is familiar to all veterans in the business:

Much interest, enthusiasm, fascination at first.

As a rule, dear boy, it spells deterioration-- fading ideals etc.
I do not say you should not do it - as a pot boiler, to effect home
passage etc., any honest work is commendable. All I can say, is,
be on guard -- watchful, resist the pressure of evil in that business;
without ceasing indeed-- for your assets are chiefly delicacy
and idealism in rare fields-- if you coarsen, it will be sad loss; and
this impulsive letter of yours shows a new Thornton. The fling at
faithful Amos is rather cruel: so faithful in letter writing, so con-
siderate.

I have previously written you that I have sent $75 additional to you
: I have sent it to Mother with instructions to pay it to you: Brown
Brothers are handling it; payable at their London office to Mother; then
to notify her at Southampton, care American Express Co.

I advise you to have a little time with your mother and come
home. I have taken a room on the Campus; I am in very good condition
and work going pleasantly. Col. Osborn's foot does not readily heal; he
does his work at the house day after day. we have married off the
Fisher girl and Henry Barnam's daughter Katherine in a day or so; the
Medical daughter goes to Yali, as does Mali and a Rockefeller of the
crew.

Mother Nissen is all right. Send me a line. Be moderate, I counsel;

I advise you to have a little time with your mother and come home. I have taken a room on the campus; I am in very good condition and work going pleasantly. Col. Osborn's foot does not readily heal; he does his work at the house day after day. We have married off the Fisher girl and Henry Farnam's daughter Katherine in a day or so; the medical daughter goes to Yali as does Mali and a Rockefeller of the crew.

Mother Nils is all right. Send me a line. Be moderate, I counsel; and wise. A number of us need wise and steady children and co-operators; you are credited rightly with capacity and I lean on you to develop balance and sense and a helpful attitude. I am returning this letter - make permanent mental notations and let us both forget it.

With much love, old fellow. If you stay with the Paris daily, let it be for a short time only and walk worthily of your boyish dedications, in which you will need prayer. Come home promptly; you can have a room in divinity with plenty of hot water for $4 which I will provide while we find you a program -- as constructive as possible. Affey-

LATEST Mar ch 26 1921

26

Dear Thornton:

Early spring; we are all busy in the back yard. Tomorrow
easter. May you have sense of reverence deepened in Rome- get a grip
on the deep solemn relation between God and Man. All this in its rich-
ness with the Catholic end properly, kindly, firmly appraised; r e-
member that re-iterating couple in Lowell's religious play- ( I read
it many (ears ago and am hazy) but this I recall:

Not he that speaketh the Name

But he that doeth the will.

It should be over every Catholic church door especially, where the
pull is so strong to substitute devotion for humble, loyal devotion
to truth and duty.

I write you letters and then delay and sometimes destroy: I want
you to enjoy this year without recrimination, yet I could wish you
would acknowledge definitely monies recd - date, amount in lira etc.
that I may know what you receive and what you do not of these re-
mittnces I make.

Again I would have you avoid selfishness;

If you start doing only the thing you wish, and seal your ears and
paralyze hands where a definite duty, obligation lies, it will be
a sorry Thornton after a few years.

I am interested in what you do when you return: I counsel
you to do something that means apprenticeship to some one definite
thing, so you can command an income if you can have a good time din-
ing at the tables of others, exploiting your youth and high spir-
its, drifting from one play to another newspaper etc- the years
slioping by until the late thirties when many have died off, the
doctors "report things", dentist advises an "upper set", new
"bright young men" begin to interest the employers and public,
perhaps a family looking to Father Thornton,- nothing to which you
can turn your hand except a play of "wits", which begin to drag a
bit. I paint it with great power, dear boy, so you can grasp it:
I have been through often with abler men than yourself; the
newspaper office is where they start.

Pause long enough in your triumphant flight to make a plan that
shall safeguard this: I will help you arrange your insurance as Amos
has wisely done that 25 years later there shall be some thousands
of dollars awaiting you ( scrupulous faithfulness in paying the pre
mium until that time) ; also have a bank account to which you add
remorselessly week by week at least something-- it shall grow against
the period of which I speak . Most important, on your return what-
ever feverish plans for writing, commit yourself to some trade or
calling or profession , so that each year you can feel it growing
round you -- perhaps a leading magazine or great book publishing
house: I have spoken of some branch of Washington service. With
an income you can do things( with some dignified permanent base)
Otherwise it must be a series of racking humillations at the
hands of the Jews etc., who grind up the talented-innocents as
a paper mill takes pulp. It isn't so much the poverty I fear for you
without a trade or a calling that carries growth of knowledge
and a pay-envelope as it is the moral deterioration: worry, toady-
ing, borrowing, envy, tooth- biting in secret - Write me that you
have carefully considered these things, thought it all out
and, with the wisdom of your firm forbears, propose to avoid the
familiar drama of living on your wits by setting up a permanent
uneventful connection with some concern , the Government, a book-
store etc.

Write your brother Amos. Uncertain what money you have rec'd
and how much you have; I am passive- I must be. It is absurd for you
to come home without seeing Germany, France and England, drinking
in some language etc.- yet

JOHN B. CARRINGTON, Prest

NORRIS G. OSBORN, Editor

THE CARRINGTON PUBLISHING CO.

New Haven, Conn. April 16 1921

Brown Brothers & Co.,

59 Wall Street,
New York City

Gentlemen :—

I enclose my check for One Hundred And Fifty Dollars ($150); by mail you will please remit this payable in lira at current rate to my son at the following address:

" Thornton N. Wilder,

American School For Classical Study,
Home Italy."

I will thank you to send me memo of the transfer.

Very Truly Yours,

away from this wretched, dull academy life. The talk
conversation is uniformly about drink, the hips of
artist models or the price of
overcoats; and although I love Rome, as though
she were a person, there is something wearing
about enjoying these beauties in a high solitude.
To whom can I communicate my pleasures
of discovery and recognition? These little exact
idle painters and sculptors with their limited talents; these
Harvard archaeologists with their conceit and pllegm?

Wait you let me go to Paris. I was never so
restless and torn between high ideas and
peevish discontent. Anyway, if you only send
me $25 it would swell in the exchange and
let me hold up my head in the halls. Seven
hundred lies! But please bear in mind March
first, those iders of March remember, did not
get Edmund (Thurber) in Jenness' name?
What villain lent him cash, that lent
him cash, and not for Jenness? And shall
we now - who place high hopes in me, yes,
for producing dramas! - shall we
now retrench our hay a hundred boxes,
and shadow the golden hours of an
Italian trip, for so much as
may be taught me so? I'd rather be a
dog and bay the moon, than such a Roman.
You know what I'm parodying: in the name
of all the splendid ghosts that walk Rome
with equally grand lives in their mouths,

and please forgive me any affect reduction of figure
and appeal and let me come out into the
society of the;
wouldn't
serever air
ask if I
be it
my living.
be
my
company.
of
a
spare
signified
yet

be this way
Thou Art

Thou Art