O'KEEFE/STIEGLITZ LETTERS O'Keefe, Georgia 1938, May - June May 1938 [*May '38*] Dear Henwar: Your Peggie was in to see me and left just a little while ago. She looks so lovely that I think you must be very good for her. Stieglitz is doing very well. The trouble is what they call thrombosis. He will have to be in bed and kept very quiet for a month the doctor says. If we can get time out of it quietly doing things just a little at a time I am hoping that with real care he will be quite himself again -- Of course he is 74½ -- and that has its own meaning. I am glad that the summer is just ahead for him rather than the winter. The doctor is very pleased with his condition. I have not written you for a long time because ---- Oh there are so many things that I seem to be party to that I do not like. And they seem to pile up faster and faster. I didn't want to print the letters mentioning all of you And now this weekend and I go down to old Williamburg to get an Honorary Degree that doesn't mean a thing in the world to me except an awful bother. I always think I am not like many of the things I do but I let myself be shoved into them Some weeks ago I gave Alfred a port folio of the reproductions of paintings to send to you and Peggie. I find it has not been sent. I am so sorry. Ill attend to it myself when I return from Virginia next week. Those reproductions are another of the half way things but they are better out in the world than the written word about us. so I must be a bit different than I think I am. Maybe some day I will just slip away from it all and not be a a part any more of the thing that has grown up around me. I would like to. I believe my real fondness for you is based on a real integrity that I feel in you -- standing like a part of a rock -- Thank you for your letter G.. May 1938 I must write you a word about the doings down in Virginia before it is too far behind me. I so much disliked the idea of going down there and going through with it all and I think I wrote you at that time. Well - when I really got there it was all very pleasant - I had a very good time and much to my surprise it seemed to be one of the quite perfect things that has happened for me. It was lovely warm summer time -- and there were so many people that I had known so long ago and forgotten. The old town I knew is quite replaced by this new brick of the restored colonial capital -- It was all some thing that I knew and didn't know -- some thing like I will be thirty years from now if I have my face lifted -- Well Shope I don't find myself doing that. Alfred sat up in a chair today for half an hour. He looks very well -- all rested and his face a little fuller -- His spirit is just as lively and eager to do things as ever -- I really think he will be quite alright if we can get him to be just a little careful I wish that I could see you --- . I haven't much to say -- I just like knowing you are around -- G. June 1938 [*June 38*] Sunday Morning -- Good morning to all of you : It has been difficult -- and for several days we were very worried about the little Man Different people and solutions show up in such startling ways where some one is ill like him -- He has been very pleased to hear from you -- did not have his mail till yesterday but I read your first letter to him -- it was good for him -- . He wants me to thank you. Seeing Peggie was very good -- Every time she seems more dear -- Tell gerald I will be looking for him -- I expect to see him standing at the door one day. It is hot -- I think of you all fondly A -- is very very weak it will be some time -- a month at least I think before we can get him to the country Fondly G. I sent the Port folio to you last week -- I thought A. had sent it long ago -- I don't expect you to like it but I feel it is better than what is written about me -- So -- I am not sorry it was done. June 1938 [*June 38*] Henwar You know I intended this portfolio for you and Peggie together Don't take it all to your self -- love to you all G. Had a picnic in the park with Felix the night before he left -- When there was no knife to cut the melon he remarked "Now if Henwar were here we'd have a knife" -- I had to laugh -- . Transcribed and reviewed by contributors participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.