Abstract

Apologies if the last letter was churlish, on account of one of Howard's black moods; returning to their arguments, Howard tries to clarify his positions with regard to scholarship, the people of the East Coast, and physical prowess, and on how he was intended to be an athlete; on Lovecraft's trip through Mississippi; on border villains, particularly the Harp brothers (and citing Sawney Bean by comparison); on the modernization of New Orleans, poboy sandwiches, and sea-food, seguing into Howard's diet; on "The Lakes of the Pontchartrain" (citing Robert W. Gordon) and quoting a few verses from "Susannah" and other folk-songs; on future conflicts based on economics, and the possibility of debt slavery; on barbarians and civilization; on pugilism and the underworld in the old days; on Native Americans, particularly the Pawnee, Sioux, Comanche and others known in Texas history; on a duel at the dueling-oaks in New Orleans, leading in to talk of duels in Texas, seguing in turn to talk about John Selman, John Wesley Hardin (with reference to the Teapot Dome scandal), and Ben Thompson, and from French dueling to talk about the French themselves (citing Rabelais, Balzac, Dumas, Gautier, Villon, Verlain, Daudelaire, and D'Maupssant); on his literary preferences, including approval for Charles Dicken's Pickwick Papers and disdain for Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield; on dueling Indian-style in Texas; Howard restless and wish he could get to the Texas Univeristy-Oklahoma University football match; on the Insulls scandal in Illinois, and bootleggers; on unrest in Northern Ireland, and Mahatma Gandhi's protests in India; on Howard's heart-troubles; on laws and social welfare in Texas, and more in that vein on law back east and unfair treatment of the rich versus the poor under the law, and police officers versus civilians, with anecdotes, seguing into bankrobbing in Texas and distrust of the law back to the story of John Wesley Hardin; pleased to hear Lovecraft saw the eclipse and fascinated by his tour of Quebec; a line on Shakespeare; thanks for Donald Wandrei's address, and for Further Criticism of Poetry; on the recent election; some stanzas quoted from John Masefield's "A Consecration"; thanks for the cards Lovecraft sent, and Lovecraft is welcome for the rattlesnake rattles; American Fiction Guild announces the end of Strange Tales, and a question on whether or not Frank Belknap Long wrote the introduction to Portrait of Ambrose Bierce; on the death of a neighbor; "The Children of the Night" ranked in O. Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories of 1931. Postscript on "The Cairn on the Headland" in Strange Tales.

Cited By

TBD

Included In

• A Means to Freedom (unabridged)
• Collected Letters of Robert E. Howard (unabridged)
• Robert E. Howard Selected Letters (unabridged)