Catt, Carrie Chapman   General Correspondence   James, Ahlee

Edgewater Creche
Englewood, N.J.
Oct. 27, 1930

Dear Mrs. Catt:
     After asking you to read
my prohibition novel and you
were good enough to say you would,
you might have thought it
strange for me not to send it.
I thought about that request and
the more I thought of it the more
preposterous it seemed to ask a
busy woman to read a novel that
had been rejected by publishers,
so I decided not to send it.
The thing is put away and I have
not the courage to take it out,
even though it cost me so much
time and thought and energy, and
even tho I am as strong for prohibition
as ever.  So much for that!

My object in writing you this 
time is to say that I am delighted
to know the Pictorial Review has
honored you in the way it has.
This is a tribute so deserved 
that I rejoice in it.
     You have assuredly elevated
the status of women in a dignified
manner that has been a pleasure
and an education to follow, and
no one in the world is prouder
of you than I.  You would not
be surprised at that statement if
you could know how I have followed
you along through life, ever
since an evening years ago when
I was the only girl at a dinner
to you and Miss Anthony in Memphis.
You were beautiful that night
and talked encouragingly to me.
     Miss Anthony was a sort of
goddess to me then, somewhat beyond

reach, but you were young and rigorous and lovely, and
full of promise of great things to be done.  You have
done them, and gloriously.  Miss Anthony would be
proud of you and would know that she had placed
her mantle on the right shoulders.
It must be a great satisfaction to have
lived well and accomplished much.  As a youth I
hoped to accomplish but have not been successful.
Circumstances have been against me and I have not
been big enough to rise above them to any great extent.
However, that fact has not embittered me nor
made me jealous of others and I get much
satisfaction out of the reality that some persons
can and do succeed from pure merit.  I honor
them, take special pride in the accomplishments of
women, and at the pinnacle of the women I honor stands you.
This is not effusion for any sort of effect, but
the simple frankness of one who has been your 
unknown champion for many years.
Wishing you many more years of usefulness
and happiness, I am
Sincerely,
Ahlee James

Transcribed and reviewed by volunteers participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.