WCP3258

Letter (WCP3258.3226)

[1]1

West New Brighton,

N[ew]. Y[ork].,

U[nited]. S[tates]. [of] A[merica].

Nov[ember]. 4, 1908

To Prof[essor]. Alfred Russell Wallace.

Dear Mr. Wallace:

For long months I have had it in mind to send you a more special word for your two letters concerning my poems. Illness and other obstacles have delayed what all along my heart has been urging. For I need scarcely say that your words of approval are among the few most precious possessions of my life. Your faith in me is a constant inspiration on the long road.

You speak in particular of my poems touched by the Social Passion. This fact gives me a peculiar pleasure; for, since early manhood, this passion has been pressing close against my heart. You will see from this how delighted I am to find your very serious concern for the vast and anxious question of the social welfare.

Let me congratulate you on your long and honorable [sic] life devoted to so many noble uses.

Faithfully yours | Edwin Markham2 [signature]

1
The page is numbered 55 in pencil in the top RH corner.
2
Markham, Charles Edward Anson ("Edwin") (1852-1940). American poet. His most famous poem, "The Man with the Hoe," inspired by the painting by Jean-Francois Millet L'homme à la houe, accented laborers' hardships. It was first presented at a public poetry reading in 1898. In New York, he lectured to labor groups as often as his poetry readings.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP3258.3226)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by O'Dell, Sandra [2018-08-15]

Please cite as “WCP3258,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 3 May 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP3258