The Outlook

287 Fourth Avenue
New York

Office of
Theodore Roosevelt

November 16th, 1911.

Dear Mrs Wharton:

Both of your letters have come. It was very kind
of you to write me. Mrs Roosevelt has had a very hard time, but
she is now all right. She has not yet been off the place, but
she walks around the place and is practically herself again. For
a fortnight after the accident she was never conscious unless so
far as to be conscious of a wellnigh intolerable agony. One of
the first things she did was to read your book and then to hand
it to me to read. It seems to me one of the most powerful things
you have done. There are two or three in it that I want
to talk over with you when you come. By the way, I am genuinely
indebted to you for having introduced me to Taylor. I am writing
a little article in which I treat his "Mediaeval Mind" as the
chief excuse for what I am saying, and I shall send you the
article when it appears. I cannot say how we enjoyed having you
out here that evening, and we look forward to your spending a
night with us as soon as you get back to America.

Mrs Wharton,
53 Rue de Varenne,
Paris.

The Outlook

287 Fourth Avenue
New York

Office of
Theodore Roosevelt

January 5th 1912.

My dear Mrs Wharton:

I wish I could have been with you at the dinner with the Ian
Hamiltons. He is a man for whom I have a real admiration.

Now, dear lady, you have entailed horrid punishment on yourself by
your letter, for I am sending you another article I have just written in
The Outlook, in which I go more at length into Taylor's book on the
Mediaeval Mind. In spite of the fact that you called my attention to the
book, I think I should have spared you the article if it had not been for
your letter; so you see it was unwary to write me. I have never met
Taylor, but hope to do so soon. I would much like to talk over not only
William James but his French followers with you. The chief point to me
about William James was that although a master of physical science he
declined to take the position that most of his followers took, namely, that
physical science can explain everything.

Did I tell you how much I liked "Ethan Frome"? It is a really great
novel. Moreover, the whole family loved your story of the worthy ladies
who hunted culture like garçonne.

May many happy New Years come to you.