LETTERS: Five letters from her brother, Roscoe.
LETTERS FROM HER BROTHER
(Cather, Willa.) Cather, Ross. Three typed letters signed and Two autograph letters signed, “Ross,” to Willa Cather, July 6-August 6, 1938; 3 TLS, 6 pp.; 2 ALS, 14 pp. 7 leaves, comprising 1 letter, are torn into thirds where they had been folded. In a specially made cloth slipcase.
Letters from Cather’s brother Roscoe “Ross” Cather, written shortly after the death of their brother Douglass in 1938. Willa Cather was the eldest of six other siblings: Roscoe, Douglass, Jessica, James, John, and Elsie. Although relations between the siblings were occasionally strained, the death of Douglass, whom Cather described as “the only attractive and joyful member of the family” (Stout, Janis P., ed. A Calendar of the Letters of Willa Cather. University of Nebraska Press, 2002) affected his brother and sisters greatly. Cather, who was living in New Brunswick, did not travel to California to attend Douglass’s funeral, but exchanged letters with her sister Elsie:
[She asked] Elsie not to write to her about the funeral service and family gathering, for it would be too difficult for her to write and for Willa to read such a letter. She and Elsie are much alike, Cather continues; they feel deeply, and the wound of Douglass’s death (the first death of a Cather sibling) will never heal for either of them; it is the deepest hurt and discouragement of Willa’s life (June 21, 1938). Cather did not travel to California for Douglass’ funeral, but Elsie did, and despite her sister’s direction, she wrote to Willa about the services. Willa replied immediately with deep gratitude, saying that she could not have imagined that a letter could have given her so much “comfort” (Romines, Ann. “Violence, Silence, and Privacy: The Problem of ‘Family Feeling’ in Cather’s Late Fiction” in Violence, the Arts, and Willa Cather. Joseph R. Urgo and Merrill Maguire Skaggs. Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Press, 2007).
These letters from Ross, in contrast, are generally very businesslike: Ross discusses the practical matters of settling Douglass’s estate; asks Cather to sign various documents; and writes at length about his new position running Douglass’s oil business, a job he seems to have taken over with considerable enthusiasm. This enthusiasm seemed on at least one occasion to have perhaps offended Cather: in one instance, Ross apologizes to her for having used official “Estate of C.D. Cather, Deceased” letterhead in his correspondence, writing that he is “truly sorry” for what he acknowledges must “seem like very poor form,” although he ultimately defends the letterhead as a business necessity. Later, Ross acknowledges the pain of Douglass’s death, and writes that his zeal for managing his business is his own way of honoring his brother:
I have not got used to the loss of our dear boy. The thought of it bobs up when I least expect it and bowls me over. We have not had any thing like this happen to us before. Mother and Father reached an age when we had to expect that we would lose them soon. When ever I do any thing about his work that he loved so much and do it fairly well I want to let him know. I want him to know that we have [1 word] and cleaned out Ocean Front and that it is on the [1 word] again: that I have lined up with his partners as he hoped I would: and that Montebello looks good. It makes one think of turning spiritualist.
Ross also becomes emotional when he discusses a gift of Cather’s books, inscribed to Douglass, that she instructed be distributed among Douglass’s business partners: “Your letter and the books together made the sincerest recognition of friendship I have ever known or hope to know. Handkerchiefs were in evidence all around before we were able to take up the discussion of the business in hand.”
There is occasional family news as well: Ross describes his daughter Margaret’s upcoming wedding to “a fine lad,” and writes with some sadness that she will soon be leaving California for
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