Morris Graves, 1949
with his dog Edith Sitwell ("Sit well")
photograph: Mary Randlett
A handwritten letter to his brother Wallace Graves,
from Eureka, California, June 8, 1965:
"Walden Pond received. I'd read a few pages when I remembered that Margaret Callahan had sent me a copy when I first lived at The Rock. I was only able to read a few pages of it and laid it aside. There is something about wisdom that has never engaged me. Folly is funnier — and vice more fun. An awful confession to finally have to make.
I will read on in Walden though this time — but so far page after page of bon mots (though in marvelous English) gets me to saying, "Oh, blow it out your ass!" and I lay the book down and reach for another box of Cracker Jacks (they each have a prize in them, you know)."
from Eureka, California, June 8, 1965:
"Walden Pond received. I'd read a few pages when I remembered that Margaret Callahan had sent me a copy when I first lived at The Rock. I was only able to read a few pages of it and laid it aside. There is something about wisdom that has never engaged me. Folly is funnier — and vice more fun. An awful confession to finally have to make.
I will read on in Walden though this time — but so far page after page of bon mots (though in marvelous English) gets me to saying, "Oh, blow it out your ass!" and I lay the book down and reach for another box of Cracker Jacks (they each have a prize in them, you know)."
