Let fate do her worst, there are relics of joy Bright dreams of
the past which she cannot destroy! Which come in the night-time
of sorrow and care And bring back the features that joy used to
wear. Long, long be my heart with such memories filled!
I suppose the Colonel goes down to the Ship Chandler's and gams
with the old whaling captains. When I was a boy, there was a
wealthy family of ship-owners in New Bedford by the name of
Robinson. I saw one of their ships in Bombay, India, that was in
1854, her name was the Mary Robinson, and altho' there were over
a hundred ships on the bay, she was the handsomest there.
Well, good friend, I am afraid I will tire you out, so I will
belay this, and with best wishes for you and yours,
I am, yours truly,
J. A. MELLON.
P. S. - Fisher is long since called to his Long Home.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * *
I had fancied, when Vanished Arizona was published, that it might
possibly appeal to the sympathies of women, and that men would
lay it aside as a sort-of a "woman's book" - but I have received
more really sympathetic letters from men than I have from women,
all telling me, in different words, that the human side of the
story had appealed to them, and I suppose this comes from the
fact that originally I wrote it for my children, and felt perfect
freedom to put my whole self into it. And now that the book is
entirely out of my hands, I am glad that I wrote it as I did, for
if I had stopped to think that my dream people might be real
people, and that the real people would read it, I might never
have had the courage to write it at all.
The many letters I have received of which there have been several
hundred I am sure, have been so interesting that I reproduce a
few more of them here:
FORT BENJAMIN HARRISON, INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA. January 10, 1909.
My dear Mrs. Summerhayes:
I have just read the book. It is a good book, a true book, one of
the best kind of books. After taking it up I did not lay it down
till it was finished - till with you I had again gone over the
malapais deserts of Arizona, and recalled my own meetings with
you at Niobrara and at old Fort Marcy or Santa Fe. You were my
cicerone in the old town and I couldn't have had a better one - or
more charming one.
The book has recalled many memories to me. Scarcely a name you
mention but is or was a friend. Major Van Vliet loaned me his
copy, but I shall get one of my own and shall tell my friends in
the East that, if they desire a true picture of army life as it
appears to the army woman, they must read your book.
For my part I feel that I must congratulate you on your
successful work and thank you for the pleasure you have given me
in its perusal.
With cordial regard to you and yours, and with best wishes for
many happy years.
Very sincerely yours,
L. W. V. KENNON, Maj. 10th Inf.
HEADQUARTERS THIRD BRIGADE, NATIONAL GUARD OF PENNSYLVANIA,
WILKES-BARRE, PENNSYLVANIA. JANUARY 19, 1908.
Dear Madam:
I am sending you herewith my check for two copies of "Vanished
Arizona." This summer our mutual friend, Colonel Beaumont (late
4th U. S. Cav.) ordered two copies for me and I have given them
both away to friends whom I wanted to have read your delightful
and charming book. I am now ordering one of these for another
friend and wish to keep one in my record library as a memorable
story of the bravery and courage of the noble band of army men
and women who helped to blaze the pathway of the nation's
progress in its course of Empire Westward.
No personal record written, which I have read, tells so
splendidly of what the good women of our army endured in the
trials that beset the army in the life on the plains in the days
succeeding the Civil War. And all this at a time when the nation
and its people were caring but little for you all and the
struggles you were making.
I will be pleased indeed if you will kindly inscribe your name in
one of the books you will send me.
Sincerely Yours, C. B. DOUGHERTY, Brig. Gen'l N. G. Pa. Jan. 19,
1908
SCHENECTADY, N. Y. June 8th, 1908.
Mrs. John W. Summerhayes, North Shore Hill, Nantucket, Mass.
My Dear Mrs. Summerhayes:
Were I to say that I enjoyed "Vanished Arizona, "I should very
inadequately express my feelings about it, because there is so
much to arouse emotions deeper than what we call "enjoyment;" it
stirs the sympathies and excites our admiration for your courage
and your fortitude. In a word, the story, honest and unaffected,
yet vivid, has in it that touch of nature which makes kin of us
all.
How actual knowledge and experience broadens our minds! Your
appreciation of, and charity for, the weaknesses of those living
a lonely life of deprivation on the frontier, impressed me very
much. I wish too, that what you say about the canteen could be
published in every newspaper in America.
Very sincerely yours,
M. F. WESTOVER, Secretary Gen'l Electric Co.
THE MILITARY SERVICE INSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. Governor's
Island, N. Y. June 25, 1908.
Dear Mrs. Summerhayes:
I offer my personal congratulations upon your success in
producing a work of such absorbing interest to all friends of the
Army, and so instructive to the public at large.
