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SPruNGThe Journal of the

E. E. Cummings Sociefy

The Poet's Corner IssueThe Cathedral Church of St. John

The DivineNew York City

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New Series Number 7

rWilliam Harmon

SOME EARLY LETTERS OF E.E. CUMMINGSTO JAMES SPENCER LOVE

My father, William Richard Harmon ( 1892-1947), was born in the textile townof Gastonia, North Carolina, and spent half his childhood and all his adult yearsworking in the textile business. He deserves credit for success as an executive,but, until fiffV years after his death, I never imagined that he could have had afriend who was also a friend of E.E. Cummings. That common friend was JamesSpencer Love (1896-1962), born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at a time whenhis father, James Lee Love (1860-1950),was on the mathematics faculty atHarvard. The elder Love had been born in Gastonia into a textile family andattended the University in Chapel Hill. In Cambridge, the family lived on FrancisAvenue, which is parallel to Irving Street, where the Cummingses lived.

James Spencer Love, two years younger than Cummings, attended Harvardand served in the Army during World War I. After the war he spent some time inBoston trying to get established in business but finally went back to Gastonia andfor $ 170,000 acquired an interest in Gastonia Cotton Manufacturing. He soonarranged to move the operation to Burlington, 150 miles northeast, about 20miles from Chapel Hill. Begun as Burlington Mills, this business eventuallyturned into Burlington Industries, today the third largest employer in NorthCarolina and one of the most important textile enterprises in the world.

Thanks in part to Mr. Love's farsightedness in exploiting rayon, BurlingtonMills was able to hire people in the 1930s when other mills had to close down.My parents met in the early 1930s while both working for Mr. Love. They weremarried in 1937 and moved to Concord, where my father worked for CannonMills, who had employed his three brothers, his father, and other relatives.

The letters reproduced here were written by Cummings during the summersof 1908-1910, ages 14-16, when he was away at the family retreat, Joy Farm, inSilver Lake, New Hampshire, while James Spencer Love was at home inCambridge. The letters include the usual news, gossip, and jokes; butthe graphicand literary artist is already at work in drawings, rebuses, and acrostics.

These documents are reproduced with permission of Mr. Martin Love. Thefacsimiles and transcripts were provided by Timothy Pyatt, Curator ofManuscripts of the UNC Chapel Hill Library. Other services were performed byCelia Pratt (Map Librarian) and by the Photographic Services staffof the library.

Copyright @Martin Love and the University of North CarolinaChapel Hill Library.

170

f,. U.S. LoYe Papers. No. 4240;[printed letterhead]JOY FARMSTLVER LAKENEW HAMPSHIRE

July 17, 1908

My [drawing of a deer] Spencer,

[drawing of an eyeJ am alive,and never felt betterin my life, althoughyou may knowit. since [drawing of an eye] haven'twritten to you for along time! [drawing of a dog] iswell,also [drawing of a rabbitf,besides [drawing of two cats],The old [drawing of a donkeyJ, Jack"is lively [?J! He is

17 July 1908, EEC to JSLf :

Iverso]about 20 years old -''STRAIGHT GOODS!'' ! ! !Trusting you areall well, andhaving a finetime, I remain

Your loving chum,E. Estlin Cummings

P.S. - You'll finda few hasff sketchesaccompanying this"epistle." E.E. Qummings

[opposite pageJ[drawng of deer]

Who is this -(over)

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[seliportrait]P.P. S. - This is my regularrig, - Clothing: One outingshlrL short sleeves, asabove; pair of trousers;belt; socks; shoes; THAT'S ALL. My arms aretanned to the shoulder.E.E. Cummings.

uly 1908, EEC to the Love Familyl:Joy Farrq July 23, '08

Silver LakeN.H.

My dear Mrs. Love,This is simply to say

That I seldonr, if ever, thought betterOf any epistle, for many a day,Than YOUR part in the "Round Robin"

letter.And also, that happiness, straight

to my heartFlowed in, - though when I had

perusedYour great estimation of my

simple "ort,"I was just a small trifle

amused.Still so highly I prizn the good

thought that you gave,And the pleasure it canied for

me,That you may belive me

your firend, and your slave,And admirer. -

E. Estlin C.

[versoJ (not shown)My dear Cornelia,

there are many thingsWhich I had on my conscience

to tell;-Now don't be alarmed, for

the first one is this -Your first name isn't easy

to spell !Next, I think that your pen-

sketch was trueunto life

But that Spence must begetting old

If'all he can do is to standin the sea

And murrnur that he's"c-c{old!"

Then as for the Tennis, Ihaven't a doubt

That you'll beat from thetime I begirL

But-youbet! - Ishal lmake it as hard as I can

For you and your brotherto win!

I wish you could only comestraight to Joy Farrn"

You'd be happy as happy can be,And the frmily all would be tickled to deathAs likewise would-Edward E.C.

2. [J.S. Love Papers. No. 4240;23 J

[new page] (not shown)

My loving chum,I have but little to say

To such a rag'rnuffin as youff9'

'Cept I wont believe you haveserious faults

Even if you say so with atuba

When September doth come, youmust lvggf,, my dead frein{

Andnot@all daf -

Or else Mr. Brad will lookover his specks,

And talk about "sendingaway!"

But I know you will worklike the dog that you are,

And I know Mr. Bradbury,he

Will praise you for 90's yougot every month,

As he DIDNT praise youngE.E.C.

[verso] (reprinted below)

E. [sketch of an elephant] WmHE. [sketch of a deer with antlersJ For All;C. LOVE

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172 173

3. [J.s. Love Papers No. 4240;14 July I909,EEC to JStl

July 14,'09

My loving chummy J.S.L.We are all glad your feeling well,Glad for everybody's sake, -And we wish you at your

camp by the lake!

J uly has brought no pain, and harm, -A nd burns, to the owners of old Joy farm!M y! - but I wish you equal joy,E ven you - You peppery boy! -S o don't for our safety feel alarm.

S everal questions I'd like to ask; -P erhaps the reasons why, I'll mask.E el and I are daft to know,N ow and here, ifyouVe started

to grow.C an't you tell us, you lump ofvinr,E specially, whether you've learned

to srvim?R equired: to find your chore, or

task!

4. [J.S. Loye Papers. No. 4240; l6 August 1910, EEC to JSLI

Joy Farm, Silver Lake, N.H.[printed seal and crest]

Aug 16, '10

Dear Spence-Behold - on thine own letter gap€r!I have been sojourning in this

Heavenly land without writing oneletter until today; therefore, O myonly Love, ralizs, ifyou please, aswhat tremendous cost of energythis festive epistle is being inscribed!By the road (copyrighted by KingCoeur - de - Lion or some one else), thisis a mighty sacrifice!

Having waded through thisrotful greeting, I'll preceed [sic] toget down to biz. [a contraction of business]Several lovely-hued post-cardshave traveled into the post-officehere from time to time. No I says,"['ll write you when I get my mark"

Iverso]

L osing the girls? - for shame'ssake, hush! -

O , I see you rdden, & blush! -V erily, sir, you need to beE agerly walloped by

E.E. C.

P.S. - So long you angel+ake;Avoid all drinks and - the

{stomachbelly ache!

[drawing of study]N{Y STT]DY

[drawing of a dogJ AL-WOOWA[drawing of a donkey headJ Jacobus

[drawing of a well] well sweep

Iverso]

No. 2 angrily remarks, "Porquoi don'tI ecoutd from vous?" or somethingof the sort. Right here, I beg tosay my mark & Darn! begin withthe same letter. [drawing of crying face] But asfor ygf mark, I haven't heard whatit was. Pray spout more fully,& avoid [drawing of a postcard]s.

Up here, ['m [drawing of grinning face]Among other achievements, I'vemade (with [drawing of an eel]'s help)a mnsy island slide; - illustratedbelow. This rnachine is set up[detailed drawing with notations]

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at the pond where we swim dayly,[sicJ & Imay add is a great success. Thesplash is hemendous! Wish youcould get soaked thusly. as Rooseveltremarks frequently. I'm a greatsl iding enthusiast myself [drawing]

I hope you're enjoy-ingygU$elfl and am grieved thatthe weather hasn't suited you.If! were you, I'd send a letterupchimney & tell Santa Clausthat de little cloudies boferedog.[drawing of Santa Claus and raindeer]Really, I wish you the best ofAugusts, & amStill your charmed pal -[drawing of elephant with EEC on body]

,:.- \E..S-

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FOR THE RECORI)

I Last October 3l (1996) on a TV program titled "MALONEY" asch izo, trying to hang on to his sanity, begins reciting (to himself)snatches of poetry, including the line "as freedom is a breakfast food."(No mention of Cummings.) Forbes magazine for Nov. 18, 1996 on the"Thoughts" page (always the last in the mag) quotes Cummings: "May Ibe wrong, for whenever men are right they are not young." RichardMorris in his book titled Cosmic Questions observes on page 135: "ltwould be possible to say that thwries of nothingness have become animportant part of cosmology in the last few years. . a new field, knownas quantum cosmology . . examines the ways in which the universemight have come into existence. And more often than not, scientists inthis field form hypotheses about ways in which it might have beenformed out of nothing." Ah! Would Cummings smile? (Robert Wegner,17 Dec a6)

I Been meaning to tell you about that mysterious young man thalMarion had intow up at Joy Farmthe summers of '66 and what?'67'? Or'65? At any rate,I have a letter from her dated June I 5, 1966 wherein sheinforms me thatBna Pound's grandson "young Walter de Racheriltz," asshe calls him, would be with her for a few months. He most likely wasthe object of curiosity and speculation that we heard of while sitting inthe town library. Been meaning to pass this news on to you for a year orso, but it kept escaping me. . . . I recall writing to you a year or so agowith regard to the Joseph made Mary poem, something about Marionhaving compiled a portfolio of personal incidents relating to Cummings. Ithought this tidbit was something I had remembered llom conversationswith her. And maybe it was. But in a leffer I have from her she writes:"Alas, talking is not writing & I'll help but am afraid will not write aboutCummings. Tho I do plan to put down various anecdotes & incidents(that only I know) in a note book for use after I'm dead." It might be outthere somewhere! (Rohert WeEyer to Normun liriadmun, Murch I B,I ee7)

Iverso]P.S. Give regards to your frmily EECP.P.S. I have shown myself as Ireally arn, (not) grinding awayon Greek - for September's closeat hand! Ehue! [See Collar & pau'ls[?]Latin [crosses-out word?] [First]l Ere

[detailed drawing of EEC with notesJ

176 177

I From Time Magazine, April 21, 1997 , page 32:What Becomes a Letter MostThe upscale bookseller Rizzoli announced plans to open a branch in alittle boite in the main Bennetton outlet on Fifth Avenue. The store, fullof books about fashion, food and style, is meant to be the last word intrendiness. It's name? The e Cafe. For a decade, the alphabet's mostculturaly significant letter has been X. First there was Malcolm X, thenthe X-men, The X-files, the X Games, the fX network, and Gen X. But X,alas, is ex, its reign exhausted. The era of E (or e) has begun. The e Cafejoins the top-rated television series ER, the popular magazineEntertainment Wreekly (widely called En, CBS's highly praised seriesEZ Streets, the irreverent E! Entertainment Television, the resurgent E.coli bacteria and the favored form of communication of the cognoscenti,E-mail, plus its multifarious electronic spin-offs, e-cash, e-commerce, etal. Can the e.e. cummings revival be far ofl -By famie Malanowski

I Another reference to Hemingway and lower case e.e. curnmings all inthe same breath, this time in the latest issue of The Georgia Review(Summer 1997), page 2I2.It occurs in an interview with Albert Murray(living now in Harlem) titled, "The Bluesteel, Rawhide, Patent-LeatherImplications of Fairy Tales: A Conversation with Albert Murray." Here isthe context: "[f I can claim anything about my own work it is this: I wasimmersed in, and influenced by, the twentieth-century literary sensibility.. . . When a sentence sounds right to me, it's probably some variation ofthe Kansas Cify 4/4, and when it has the right rhythm it's gettingclosetowhat Hemingway and e.e. cummings did, and even to guys like Sandburgand Vachel Lindsay." (Robert Wegner, October I J, I gg7)

I Robert Wegner writes to Norman on October 20, 1997: "What slippedmy mind (and why didn't you remind me?) with regard to the sparringbetween Hemingway and Cummings (shadow boxing, perh&ps, weshould call it) are the observations made by Alice B. Toklas in herAutobiography.By happenstance I pulled her offthe shelf the other dayand came across her Hemingway remarks and laughed aloud. How manyyears ago did we read this stufl Norman? Half a life time? Or more? Atany rate, with reference to Gertrude Stein and Sherwood Anderson, MissToklas writes: 'Hemingway had been formed by the two of them and they

r78

were both a little proud and a little ashamed of the work of their minds. . .And. D . they both agreed that they have L weakness for Hemingwaybecause he is such a good pupil. He is a rotten pupil, I protested. Youdon't understand, they both saido it is so flattering to have a pupil whodoes it without understanding. . . . '

"Elsewhere she writes: 'In those early days Hemingway liked all hiscontemporaries except Cummings. He accused Cummings of havingcopied everything, not from anybody but from somebody. Gertrude Steinwho had been much impressed by The Enormous Room said thatCummings did not copy, he was the natural heir of the New Englandtradition with its aridity and its sterility, but also with its individuality.'

"Four or five paragraphs further we read: and incidentally he(Hemingway) brought the manuscript he intended sending to America.He handed it to Gertrude Stein. He had added to his stories a little storyof meditations and in these he said that The Enormous Room was thegreatest book he had ever read. It was then that Gertrude Stein said,Hemingway, remarks are not literature.'

"Is this admonishment directed at Hemingway for his parroting? Ordirected at Hemingway to caution him against accepting her wordsdictum? Or is Gertrude Stein's comment an assessment of the modeThe Enormous Room?"

AS

of

I Concerning the marriage or lack thereof between Marion andCummings, I happened to be reading at the same time I was goingthrough Kennedy's remembrances Books and Battles by lrene and AllenCleaton published in 1936 or shortly after the time involved. In thiswide-ranging study of the era, there is a section on (]reenwich Villagewith the comment, "Couples so misguided as to wed took elaborate painsto conceal the fact." The thought occurs to me that perhaps for their ownreasons Cummings and Marion might have done likewise. Kennedychecked in New York, but he doesn't say anythirrg about checking otherstates. It is interestingto me, as I work on "anyonc livcd.," that "someonesmarried their everyones" while it is not rccorded that the true andtranscending lovers anyone and noone ever did. (/iom,lohn Gill, Mu.v 18,I 997)

179

I Antonio Ruiz sent us a handsome book of bullfighting paintings andposters entitled Los Toros, Perla Ediciones Illustrative, Pedro Munoz(Cuidad Real), 1989. (see illustration on facing page, by AlvaroRodriguez)

r Michael Webster sent us an announcement card for his wife, JaneEverhart's art exhibition, September 28-October 3 l, lggT , at the Centerfor the Arts in Hinsdale. Illinois.

I We are now linked to the world of the Internet, thanks to Doug Wipfof Woodbury, New Jersey. Doug has created a link to a page aboutSpring on his web site, "An Unofficial E.E. Cummings Starting Point."This has resulted in several new subscriptions and is a great resource forour small journal. So, the next time you are on the lnternet, please lookus up at http :/ lmembers.tripod.com/-DWipflcummings.html. ThanksDoug! You can also contact us via e-mail with any questions or eoncernsabout your subscription status, Cummings information, etc., at thefol lowin g addres s : Alys_Yab I on@prenhal l. com.

t Our new production editor, Alys Yablon, would like to make a gentlereminder to all contributing authors that each and every submissionMUST be accompanied by a computer disk (IBM Compatible a plus),and every article must be composed according to MLA guidelines, withendnotes instead of footnotes.

"your slightest look easily will unclose methough i have closed myself as fingers,you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens(touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose"- E.E. Cummings -

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