Millet to Stoddard: May 7, 1878
Letter 22: Letters of Frank Millet to Charles Warren Stoddard: May 10, 1875 - January 3, 1900
London, May 7/78
My dear Chummeke: --
Are you back in ‘Frisco? If you are write me for I am back from war and murder and cold and starvation, safe and sound, and have seen Iza Hardy twice and have gaumed about you. You base, bold, bad man, why didn’t you write me before?
I am here only on business negociating [sic] about a book or two. Write me then
to Paris as of yore. I have a live Bashi-Bazouk there and a big Newfoundland
dog. My people [1] send love and Wetherbee too. Write me now you “yjut of the
Riva” or I shall be mad.
Yours with all my heart
Frank [2]
In February, 1879, Millet wrote from Paris to Dr. and Mrs. Parker to announce his intention to marry Lily, March 11. [3]
Notes
- ↑ Who are "my people"? Perhaps it is the Merrills?
- ↑ It is interesting to note that there evidently is no existing letter from Millet to Stoddard announcing his marriage in 1879 to Lily Merrill. The letters, instead, jump from 1878 to 1884. Millet first mentions Lily as his wife (five years since the marriage) in his August 23, 1884 letter to Stoddard. One must wonder if one or more did exist though the frequency of Millet’s letters (and the intensity of the ardor expressed within) had decreased greatly after mid-1877. Did Stoddard, perhaps, destroy such a letter rather than keep it as he did Millet’s earlier letters? Millet did announce his wedding plans to others (see footnote below).
- ↑ Francis Davis Millet and Millet family papers, 1858-1984 (bulk 1858-1955). Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
