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Identifier

MSS114_B01F03_036

Creation Date

12-31-1894

Keywords

Paul Laurence Dunbar, Ohio history, Poetry, dialect poetry, biography, black history, black poets, primary sources, prominent Ohioans

Description

Full text of letter:

Washington, D.C.

Dec. 31, 1894

My dear Paul

A thousand thanks for the delightful literary treat you sent me; I can not tell you how much your kind remembrance of me is appreciated. Your selection proves your very excellent and discriminating taste.

How glad I am that you are pleased with your stamp plate; — I was so afraid it would be broken. You really overate [overrate] its beauty though, my dear Paul and yet it delights me to have you declare yourself so pleased with it. That your mother likes it is an added pleasure.

So you think of coming to Philadelphia for a Reading; well if you do, I sincerely hope your trip will be a very successful one and that you many get the chance to come to our city for a while. I would like so much to see you. It would be very nice, and perhaps very advantageous for you Paul, if you could go to London with the “Educators of Colored Youth” which association will meet in London next July. The trip, expenses included will be only ninety dollars, and I think that over there you would create quite a sensation and be able to sell a number of your books. I really think it would be just the thing for you. Should you think seriously of it I can put you in direct communication with some of the officers of the association and they in turn might put you in communication with some of the English celebrities prior to your going.

I can not write a long letter tonight dear Paul, because I am momentarily expecting company. Remember me to your mother and tell her that in my friendship her talented son holds the highest place and that I never cease to congratulate myself that this great honor and pleasure has been bestowed upon me — the honor and pleasure of calling you friend.

Dear Paul accept again the assurances of my sincere appreciation of your gift and remember me ever as one who wishes you every good.

‘Your friend always’

Rebekah

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Primary Item Type

Personal Correspondence

Rights

This item is part of the Paul Laurence Dunbar House collection at Ohio History Connection, Columbus, Ohio. The collection contains items from 219 N. Summit St., Dayton, Ohio (later 219 N. Paul Laurence Dunbar St.), the home Dunbar purchased for his mother, Matilda J. Dunbar, in 1904. Paul Laurence Dunbar lived there until his death in 1906; Matilda lived there until her death in 1934. It is now the Paul Laurence Dunbar House Historic Site, part of the National Park Service.

Keywords

Paul Laurence Dunbar, Ohio history, Poetry, dialect poetry, biography, black history, black poets, primary sources, prominent Ohioans

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