BLACKWELL FAMILY ALICE STONE BLACKWELL GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE WAXMAN, SAMUEL M.Chilmark, Martha's Vineyard, Mass. August 8, 1931. Dear Dr. Waxman: You have always taken so warm an interest in my book of Spanish-American poems that I think you will be pleased, as I was, to read a bit of news which came to me yesterday from Argentina. It is in a letter from Allena Luce_ if I read her signature correctly. Probably you know her, as she says sheu used to teach Spanish in our College of Practical Arts and Letters. She is now Principal of the American Grammar and High School in Buenos Aires. She writes: "I am writing you to congratulate you on the splendid translation of Latin American poetry,and to tell you what an impression it is making on the Nationals here. It is a great satisfaction to me to have them realize that North America has scholarship to make such a work as that a possibility. Among the many who are teaching Spanish he here the book is being used extensively, despite its moderately high price; and it is also doing great service for the cause of better knowledge of English. The translations are most felicitous _ indeed, the book is so excellent that I do not want to make commonplace remarks about it. All of us who touch Latin American life are grateful to you." Isn't that pleasant? There's a BUICK to satisfy you. Buick. Standard Six 4-pass Coupe, 1565 Master Six 5-pass, Brougham Sedan, 2350 Master Six 7-pass, Sedan, 2425 Master Six 4-pass, Coupe 2125 Master Six Town Car, 2925 Master Six 5-pass, Sedan 2225 Master Six 3-pass, Country Club Special, 2075 Standard Six 5-pass Sedan, 1665 Master Six 7-pass, Limousine, 2525 All prices f. a. b. Buick Factories, Government Tax to be added. All BUICK Models are Equipped with Four-Wheel Brakes PERSONAL GLIMPSES Photograph by Brown Brothers A SIGHT CALCULATED TO FILL NEARLY ANY RETURNING AMERICAN TOURIST WITH DREAD The customs inspectors' hearts are hard, the laws are numerous and rigid, and the American tendency to collect curios and valuables is insatiable. Out of this combination comes much comedy, and a certain amount of tragedy, at this time of the year. THE "OPEN SEASON" FOR RETURNING TOURISTS BOA-CONSTRICTORS and booze, monkeys and mantillas, Egyptian fleas and Italian flowers are some of the odd things brought home by American tourists each year. But diamonds and "dope" are the articles most often involved in attempts to cheat the United States Government, says a writer in the Springfield Republican. And knowing this, after many years spent in pitting their knowledge, experience, and sagacity against the cunning of the world's cleverest criminals, the customs officials at New York are "sharpening their pencils-and their wits-in preparation for the homeward rush from Europe." In other words, this is the "open season" for tourists, some of whom are not above trying to smuggle jewelry or furs into the United States duty free. As this writer explains: When your neighbor sets foot on the dock this autumn, customs inspectors are going through his luggage like locusts through a wheatfield. Congress may sleep through most of its sessions, but it woke up long enough to sock a tax onto every conceivable thing a tourist cares to lug back from Europe. For instance, diamonds are dirt cheap abroad-compared, that is, with their price in this country. Naturally you like to load up with a few solitaires, bar-pins, pendants and other bright ideas in the jewelry line. When you arrive at the shore of the U. S. A. the fact dawns on you that you'll have to pay a 20 per cent. duty on loose stones. And-most of your stones being firmly set in gold and platinum-you'll have to pay 80 per cent. of the original price. Upon a silk dress, whether it be manufactured wholly or in part, you pay 60 per cent. Upon wearing apparel which is knitted and the edges trimmed with lace you pay 90 per cent, or about as much as you paid for it originally. Upon articles embroidered in any manner you pay a neat little 75 per cent. And upon fur articles made up as wearing apparel, whether wholly or in part manufactured, you hand over half of the original price. By the time you've paid duty on that brooch you got for Aunt Delia in Venice, and that fur coat you picked up for your cousin Hattie in Moscow, and the cute little silk frock your wife asked you to get for her in Paris, you begin to wonder why the Government needs to levy any other taxes in order to meet its running expenses. The best way to get your money's worth out of any article of clothing or jewelry is to remain abroad until you've worn it out and drop it overboard before the vessel gets into an American port. Of course, we are told, "human nature being so human, it followsJuly 29, 1943 Boston University College of Liberal Arts 688 Boylston Street Boston, Massachusetts Dear Miss Blackwell:- By chance I found your unforwarded letter at my Cambridge home today. I am now living in Greenbush but come in to the University for army work every day. The Latin American Workshop was conducted under the auspices of the Pan American Society of Mass. 205 Commonwealth Ave. Boston. Please forgive delay in answering your letter. I hope conditions will be more favorable for doing your bust in the fall. We are using your Spanish-American Poets in a class I am giving this summer. Sincerely yours, Samuel M. Waxman 3 Monadnock St. Dorchester, Mass Feb. 11, 1915 Dear Dr. Waxman: Again I an stuck & need your help. I am translating a "Balade de las manos." The poet speaks of different kinds of hands - hands of babies, of young girls, of praying women, etc., etc. The last three verses are as follows (I underscore the places I don't understand): Manos que empuan espada Y un cetro han hecho en la guerra [past participle of hacer have made (I suppose figurative for hands that have made conquests by war) Y que llenaron la tierra [what tense? filled [?]] Con la sangre derramada; Manos de la plebe armada En la rina o el combate, Rohas manos de maguate, Manos que empunan espade Manos duras y sangrientas Que abren el surco en el sueloArido y triste. que el vuelo No sienten de horas cruentas, [*that they do not feel the flight of bloody hours*] Las que mueven las imprentas, Las que el taller estremecen, Las que en las minas perecen, Manos duras y sangrientas. Manos hechas al trabajo, Fuertes manos de hombre libre, [Cunado] Cuando en el espacia vibre Lo mismo arriba que abajo, Moviendo al mundo de cuajo, [*moving the world from its very roots*] De la justicia la ira...X -----[*If this next line follows immediately the sense would be moving the ire of justice in the world from its very roots.*] Vosotras tendreis la lira, [*You will hold*] Manos hechas al treabajo! Any light you can give on these places will be gratefully received. Sincerely, Alice Stone Blackwell. Kind regards to Mrs. Waxman Chilmark, Martha's Vineyard, Mass. August 8, 1931. Dear Dr. Waxman: You have always taken so warm an interest in my book of Spanish- American poems that I think you will be pleased, as I was, to read a bit of news which came to me yesterday from Argentina. It is in a letter from Allena Luce_if you read her signature correctly. Probably you know her, as she says sheu used to teach Spanish in our College of Practical Arts and Letters. She is now Principal of the American Grammar and High School in Buenos Aires. She writes: "I am writing you to congratulate you on the splendid translation of Latin American poetry, and to tell you what an impression it is making on the Nationals here. It is a great satisfaction to me to have them realize that North America has scholarship to make such a work as that a possibility. Among the many who are teaching Spanish [he] here the book is being used extensively, despite its moderately high price; and it is also doing a great service for the cause of better knowledge of English. The translations are most felicitous _ indeed, the book is so excellent that I do not want to make commonplace remarks about it. All of us who touch Latin American life are grateful to you." Isn't that pleasant? Do not bother to answer this letter. I know that you must be more than busy. With kind regards to Mrs. Waxman, I remain Yours always gratefully,East Oxford, Mass July 21, 1914 My dear Miss Blackwell, Penumbra does mean shadow, as you thot, with a slight shading, however, I have not my dictionary with me but my "sprachgefuhl" tells me that the real meaning is that space between the shadow & light, outer shadow, in English penumbra is used astronomically I believe to designate that portion of a body which is not in total eclipse: - the outlying shadow before complete darkness would be the penumbra. I think it has this same meaning in Spanish, but is a much more common word & often means simply a light shadow or sometimes a ciara obscura light. In your passage I think it meanswith the School of Business Administration which leaves that evening free. Perhaps it could be started after the Christmas holidays. I agree with you, however, that the course should be advertised in the fall. I hope we can get a small appropriation for posters & notices. This is the way the course has developed itself in my mind. I should feel safer to give as few lectures as possible during this first year. I shall be feeling my way & experimenting, finding out in what way I could interest the public most & what aspects of the subject should be emphasized more than others. My own inclination would lead me to give a course of four to six lectures like those given at the Lowell Institute & at Harvard. My first lecture would be introductory & general, the remaining might take up certain poets & novelists of the different countries. I think I had twilight- the half light between night & day. By the way for nice distinction like this you should consult Gerolo Diccionario encyclopedico. It is a rather expensive book - two volumes of huge size, costing about $15.- We leave it at the college library It is much better than the Academy dictionary. I suppose for ordinary purposes you use Cuyas' dictionary (Spanish & English) published by Appleton. I think this is the best small two language dictionary published in this country. Since you have expressed your willingness to do so, will you kindly write whenever you think best to President Murlin suggesting that our proposed course be given as a series of public lectures on Wednesday evening, perhaps in conjunctionDr. S.M. Waxman better "stick to my own last" as far as possible & make the subject one of literary appreciation & criticism. For instance I might read as illustrations certain selections of poetry in Spanish & then follow with some of your translations & any others I may find. Perhaps you could help me by translating certain short poems that I might want to read. I know that the business school office will furnish me with carbon copies for my hearers to follow in the Spanish. Now all this is entirely open to further suggestions & changes. It is merely a rough plan. I shall be very glad to have a further word from you on the matter before you present it to President Murlin. I hope you will be very frank in doing so. I want you to feel that this is a joint course. Sincerely yours, Samuel M. Waxman East Boxford, Mass. Aug. 26, 1914 My dear Miss Blackwell: I had been hoping to see Dean Lord of the College of Business Administration but have not been able to do so. I had planned to communicate with you about our conference & thus my delay in writing. I notice with regret that I have not answered some questions of your last letter. I hope you will pardon me. I should like you to postpone writing to Dean Warren until I can talk the matter over with you. We are going home this week & I hope to be able to see you in for Miss Orozco. She writes that you & others are making it possible for her to pay her expenses. We shall try to do something for her in the way of a permanent position when we get back. By the way all the courses are announced in the spring of the preceding year so we cannot get catalog notice. I hope however we can get a small appropriation for advertising. I should think "crefusculo" could mean sunset as well as dawn." "Cresfuscule" is the regular word for sunset or twilight in French. Zerolo's gives all the poetic meanings. I hope you will allow me to help you later. Miss Orozco's knowledge of English does not seem to be elastic enough to help you in poetic phrases. Boston soon. I have been doing a considerable amount of reading on South America since I last wrote & I feel more & more convinced that the subject can be made extremely interesting. Moreover it is the psychological moment to talk about South America. I notice every day in the papers an increasing amount of space given to our relations with the countries to the south of us. I think that as soon as Dr. Murlin gets home we ought to refresh his mind with regard to our project as the chaotic conditions in Europe have probably engaged his attention in other channels. Furthermore your letter may have miscarried. Mrs. Waxman feels very grateful for what you have doneDr. S.M. Waxman I have never delved into Armenian folk-lore, but hope to get together all the folk lore of magic of the countries of the east some day. I wonder if I could see you in Boston next week. I shall be in town in connection with the entrance examinations & could see you any day. I want to talk things over with you at the earliest possible moment so that I can begin more specific works on the lectures. My address will be 44 Fairview Ave. Melrose Highlands for reply to this letter. Telephone Melrose 1207 M. I hope you will pardon my long delay. Sincerely yours, Samuel M. Waxman East Boxford, Mass. July 14, 1914 My dear Miss Blackwell: It was a pleasure to receive your very kind letter with extracts from your translations enclosed. In my opinion Spanish, or at least its purest form Castilian, can rise to great heights, & is far more powerful & noble than Italian or French. I have one or two folk songs (Judeo-Spanish) that I picked up in Morocco. Perhaps some day your poetic pen may be harnassed to my philological learning, & they may be presented to the world. We need not despair at present at the lack of interest in the literature of South America for after the missionary & merchant shall come poet & artist. I have thought over ways & be given. As a matter of fact, I am to give two new courses next semester, one in Spanish composition & conversation. Such a course would be given at 4.30 once a week-about fifteen lectures. What do you think of that plan? There is one objection, however, & that is the fee. All teachers' courses are uniform in the matter of fee-$10-Now that may keep some people away who don't care to pay a fee. Personally I should rather give it without fee. This difficulty would be easily overcome if B.U. had a scheme like Harvard's where lecturers give a series of talks on a theme open to the public without fee. For instance last Feb. & March I gave a course of six lectures at Harvard on Some Contemporary French Dramatists. There are two reasons which deter me from offering the South American means for my proposed course of lectures & have finally hit upon the following scheme. I think it best not to try to give the course the first semester. In the first place, the program has already been made out, & in the second place I am going to give two new courses which will take a great deal of my time & energy. The second semester beginning about Feb. 1 will not be so full & I shall be able to prepare my lectures more thoroly. Perhaps the wisest plan would be for me to offer the course as a "Teachers' Course" in which case there is not likely to be any opposition. If an instructor wants to give a new course for teachers, he presents it to the Committee on courses for teachers of which I am a member, & if the vote is favorable the course may course at Harvard. (1) This is a strictly B.U. trustee-faculty affair, (2) I don't care to compete with the gentleman from Brazil. Why can't we give courses of public lectures? Professor Marshall gives them for a fee in music. Why can't I have Jacob Sleeper Hall & give the lectures without fee. That is a matter which I suppose rests with Dean Warren who is custodian of the building. Something has happened which may interfere with my giving the course under the auspices of the School of Business Administration on Wednesday evenings. It may still be possible to arrange the lectures for that evening however. Again the public lecture scheme may be combined with the Business School Wed. evening & the lectures may be given then. In any case Professor Rice has nothing to do with the course. He is merely chairman of the Committee on Courses for Teachers. He will not oppose it anyway, if the invitation comes from me. I don't know that he is an anti-suffragist. In the case of the Wed. evening plan, Dean Warren will have to be consulted. How do you stand with him? or How does he stand with you? Should you care to suggest the course to him? If you will let me know which plan you think the wiser, I'll try to communicate or have you do so with both Deans Warren & Lord. I feel sure that the course can be given some way or other. I feel quite sure that President Murlin will welcome a suggestion for a public lecture course. He feels that there is a lack of sympathy & cooperation between faculty &to President Murlin. I sincerely hope that we may give this proposed course. I get more & more interested in the idea every day. I am sure at least of an audience of three, my wife, Miss Blackwell & Mrs. Geddes. Please call upon me whenever the Spanish dictionary is unsatisfactory. With best wishes, Sincerely yours, Samuel M. Waxman trustees & I am confident that he will approve of a series of public lectures which may form a precedent for future works of this kind. This suggestion just occurred to me & the more I think of it the better I like it. He is the man for scheme no. 2. Once more-will you write to him? If the course receives his sanction, the dean as custodian will, I feel sure, acquiesce, especially since Professor Geddes has approved. Both Mrs. Waxman & I are glad that you are interested in Miss Orozco, & hope that you will profit mutually I think that $1.00 & carfare is a fair amount to pay her for a morning's work. I hope I have made the situation clear. Plan No. 1-Teachers' auspices would come from me. Plan No. 2 Wed. eve. without fee public lecture series might better come from youDr. S.M. Waxman My friend Mr. Von Klock, consul for Costa Rica & Uruguay is to visit us this afternoon & I shall surely get some help from that encyclopedic brain of his. I think Von Klock knows more about South America than any person in Boston. By the way if you want accurate translations of the most remote dialects of Turkey or China "let Von Klock do it." I use the Harvard library so much more than the Boston one that I am not absolutely sure whether the latter has the Menedez y Palayo anthology. At any rate Miss Orozco may have the Harvard copy. Don't you think we might get books cheaper if we stated we wanted them for the B.U.help immensely the university. Furthermore it is along President Murlin's plans to make B.U. a civic institution & not merely a Methodist university. If you feel however that this plan of March is not feasible, I will seek some other method of getting Mr. Naon's ear-perhaps thru academic channels. Ford for instance. Naon, however, is a very "live wire" & I feel sure will go out of his way to help us. He is not a dollar diplomatist & any project to spread information with regard to his country's intellectual development will I am sure be welcomed by him. I am giving Miss Orozco the Boston Library copy of the Argentine poets. She may have it until Sept. 26. Mrs. Waxman will write further with regard to her. I read Mrs. Elliott's letter with great interest. She seems to be on the inside of things South Library! We might perhaps get some free copies. Perhaps we can get together a good collection of South Americana. It occurred to me the other day that Senor Naon (ambassador from Argentine), a close friend of Mayor Curley, might help us in our project. Mayor Curley expressed great admiration for the South American diplomats, saying that in general they were far more cultured than most of our own representatives at Washington. Are you acquainted with your colleague on the University board Mr. John A. Sullivan? Perhaps he might have more influence with Curley than I. It seems to me that if we make this a civic affair & not a purely local & academic B.U. matter we canDr. S. M. Waxman American. It seems to me however that the magazine could be made more attractive. A department of general notes on South America & an abandonment of the policy of lumping one single country "en bloc" in a single issue would be beneficial I think. The last issue September shows improvement over previous ones in that line. I received your note of acknowledgement of the "Bardos Cubanos" this morning. You may keep it as long as you wish. Sincerely yours, Samuel M. Waxman I have become so fired with the desire to see the countries that I have been reading about that I am now filled with dreams & schemes to visit our sister republics to the south of us. Perhaps B.U. may send me down ?Quien sabe? S.M.W. My dear Miss Blackwell: It is a great pleasure to feel that my epistles are not classified as "business or bothers." I can feel that you are going into this project of ours with your whole heart & soul & since I am going at it in the spirit, it will be impossible for our scheme to fail. I should be most pleased to have you take lunch with me some day after you get back to Boston- lunch in the European fashion where we can talk over plans ad infinitum. After Thurs. Sept. 17, I shall be free on Tuesdays & Thursdays between 11.30 and 1.30. I have seen your beautifullament the almost complete neglect of the classics in Argentine as well as in most other South American countries. As a matter of fact little Columbia, much poorer & much less [un]developed with a far smaller European stock has produced perhaps the best that South America has yet offered. May I keep the list you sent me? Perhaps I had better copy it & send it back to you. I think Bryce is justified in what he says about the literature of the moment in South America. Almost all their men of letters especially Argentinos & Brazilians have bowed down to French idols & slavishly imitate French forms. Most of the Argentine poets live in Paris! But I feel sure that this is but rendering of "Prismatic Lights" in the recent issue of the Pan-American Magazine & I sincerely hope that you will continue to devote your energies to that virgin field of South American poetry. I hope I may be able to help you a little with the language. It is a pity that you have not absolute command over it. I assure you that with very little effort you can master the essentials of grammar & syntax. Altho the Argentinos have the reputation of being the most progressive people of South America, they have neglected their arts & letters, a fact deplored by both Bryce & Clemenceau (South America To-Day). Both of these observersa passing phase. Do you notice how cultured Europeans like Bryce & Clemenceau are inclined to see only the new railroads, new bridges & the thousand & one superficial signs of materialistic outlook on life in the young countries of America, north & south? It is natural that they should hear the trombone solo [only] drowning out the string quartet. Professor de Lima, Harvard's Brazilian scholar, is to give courses in the department of history. No announcement is made of public lectures altho it is very likely that he may be asked to give a series of addresses to the Lowell Institute. I shall ask Professor Ford (Romance Language chief) for a letter of introduction to him. 44 Fairview Ave. Melrose Highlands, Mass. June 18, 1914 My dear Miss Blackwell: Professor Geddes forwarded me your letter to him some days ago. I tried to see you last Tuesday but was informed that you were at the printer's. I too have deeply at heart an interest in things South American, altho' I have not done so much work on South America as on Spain. Perhaps an article in last Wednesday's Transcript which I enclose might interest you. Two American texts have already appeared with South American poetry. (1) Bardos Cubanos ed. by Professor Hills of Colorado College published by J.C. Heath. (2) Hills & Morley: Modern Spanish Lyrics with poems by Echeverria, Andrade, Obligado, Ortez, Caro3 represented. I have kept in touch since my college days with South American students from whom I learned to speak colloquial Spanish while in college. Mr. G. Rivera, now instructor in Spanish at Harvard, has done a great deal of work in the library in connection with the collection that is now being made there of South Americans. He has just translated Mr. Bryce's book on South America into Spanish. He is deeply interested in things South American. He is a Porto-Rican. Perhaps you may get some information on Mexican poetry from Miss Aurora Orozco, 44 Chambers St. Boston. I have sent her to see you, but she may have missed you. The girl is now in hard straits, + anything you could find for her to do in the way of giving lessons, or office work, stenography or typewriting, would be deeply 2 Marroquin, Arrieta, Gutierrez Ponce, Garavito, Pesado, Calderon, Acuna, Peza Dario, Bello, Heredia etc. This is published by Henry Holt + contains a large amount of bibliographical + biographical material. Perhaps you know this book. Professor Hills gave a course on South American literature at Harvard two years ago but he is a very uninspiring man, is interested mainly in the philological + prosodical side. He gives a course on the same subject at Colorado. Of course you know that at Harvard there has been established a chair on South American Literature + Culture which will be filled next year by a well-known Brazilian scholar. It was a keen disappointment to me that no B.U. instructor was invited to go with the Boston Chamber of Commerce party a year ago - when so many New England colleges were4 appreciated by her. Her brother & sister are former students of Boston University. I should be very glad to give a course of lectures on South American Literature, but I am very much afraid that there would be very little response at least in college. I should be glad to give it as a special course of lectures open to the public. We do not do enough of this kind of work at B.U. I have started a course in colloquial Spanish for teachers. The hordes of students now studying Spanish are not interested in the cultural side, I am sorry to say, & the women take Spanish because the high schools are beginning to teach it, & the men because it may offer a commercial advantage. The foreign book dealers will tell you that there is little interest in South America other than commercial. Grammar & conversation books are the only demands. Now there is no 5. reason why B.U. cannot stimulate an interest in the cultural & literary development in South America. If we can only teach Americans that they are not all "greasers & niggers," that their civilization is in some respects superior to ours, then we shall have accomplished more than the Niagara Conference. Perhaps these lectures might be given on Wednesday evenings, since that evening is left open by the new Business School for occasional I shall be very glad to receive further suggestions from you & to cooperate in every way to stimulate an interest in the literature & culture of South America. I shall be glad to do it without extra fee. Sincerely yours, Samuel M. Waxman (address after June 19, Boxford, Mass.) The U.S. Bureau of Education has published (1913) a bulletin by Dr: E.E. Brandon on Satin American School & Humanities. They will be glad to send you a copy. My speciality is folk-lore. My doctoral thesis on magic in Spanish Literature mainly on folk-lore tales will soon appear. I shall be glad to send you a copy. South American folk-lore is an unexplored mine. Perhaps B. U. may explore this mine. S- W. W. Dr. S.M. Waxman 44 Fairview Ave. Melrose Highlands, Mass. Sept. 2, '14 My dear Miss Blackwell: I have access to the Harvard Library & can have the usual three books for a month. I think I spoke about Harvard's collection. It has already been made, but we may find difficulty in locating the books owing to the moving into the new library. But I shall be glad to help you in any way I can. If you will give me the names & authors of the books, I will look them up. I have been going thru the collection of South American Literature at the Boston Library & have found that it is woefullysmall. Mr. Fleischner told me, however, that he would be glad to have me make out a list of books & that he would get them for the library. I have taken out, however, the only Argentine literary work, a collection of Argentine poems [J. Leon Pagano: El Paruaso Argentino]. I am sending you under separate cover a copy of Professor Hills' Bardos Cubanos which you make keep as long as you want. You should own Nienendez y Pelayo's Antologia de Poetias Hispano-Americanos a monumental work in ten volumes whose price might be prohibitive. Perhaps we can get it for our library at B.U. Mrs. Waxman has invited Miss Orozco to come & stay with us from Friday of this week until Tuesday. I will let her have my library copy of the Argentine poets & perhaps that might add to her stock. I am going to look up what Schoenhof & Ritter Flebbe have on South America & will communicate with you as to results of my searches. I have just finished Bryce on South America, a book that reads like a novel, fresh, enthusiastic & keen sighted. Sincerely yours Samuel M. WaxmanDr. Waxman39 Fairmount. Street Brookline Massachusetts Dear Miss Blackwell: Bashka Paeff & I send you our warm greetings on this your eighty-eighth birthday. Professor Geddes although confined to his wheel chair is very well physically but deteriorating mentally. When I told him that I was going to send you a message he asked to be included. Sincerely yours, Samuel M. Waxman Sept. 14, 1945