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My dear Rudolf Schmidt,

I have rec'd yours of April 25. Having an opportunity by Mr. Clausen, who is journeying home to Denmark, I send you some books—another copy of Leaves of Grass—and a copy for Björnsen—(though he may not read English, I have wished to send him something—& when he chances upon someone who reads English and Danish, I should be so glad to be communicated to him.)

Your article in the Ide will soon be translated for me in full. It is pronounced magnificent by those who can read it. I shall have much to say about it in my next.

I send you two or three humorous American works. The subject of American humor is very difficult to treat fully & satisfactorily, even for a native. In the books I send, the great difficulty will be the slang, the American local idioms, & the mis-spelling—all of which will certainly prove chevaux-de-frise making it impossible for any foreigner to penetrate the fun of them—Still I have thought it worth while to send them as (much more than the comic & pictorial papers) idiomatic, native specimens, (as minerals or insects)—

American humor is yet in its nebulous state—unformed—struggling to be born. Some traits already appear—it is very grim, loves exaggeration, & has a certain tartness & even fierceness—I will endeavor to gather something more for you on this business—& write you again—

I am going soon to a College about 500 miles from here to deliver a commencement poem—it will be published, forming part of a little book—which I will send you—During June I shall be home with my mother in Brooklyn, N.Y.—then return again here—