
I will postpone no longer to thank you for your kind letter of 7 Dec.
It was in my hands two days before the beginning of the new year. Your "leaves of grass" Clausen
has already sent me; but the other papers—especially your "democratic vistas"—shall
be very welcome. I wonder, that they are not arrived yet, and hope, that they
have not miscarried on the way. This unexpected delay makes me very sorry; my mind is full of
your poems, but naturally I won't beginn begin
to write
before having in my hands as complete materials as possibly possible
.
Hans Christian Andersen would perhaps not make you very great joy, if you did know him personally. Björnson would be your man, he is a dear friend of mine and coeditor of the periodical. At present he is living in Christiania.
The enclosed portrait is no bad photography, but a photographical portrait is never truly a good one.
Most truly yours Rudolf Schmidt