Harper & Brothers' Editorial Rooms.
New York,
Sept. 20, 1886.
Dear Mr. Whitman,
I am unable to avail myself of your War Memoranda, which I herewith return. The
Century Magazine has so strongly occupied this field that we do not wish to enter
upon it.1
With thanks, sincerely yours,
H. M. Alden
Editor Harpers' Magazine.
Correspondent:
Henry Mills Alden (1836–1919)
was managing editor of Harper's Weekly from 1863 to 1869
and editor of Harper's Monthly Magazine from 1869 until
his death.
Notes
- 1. To Horace Traubel, Whitman
would say about this rejection: "There's a kick: don't you call that a kick? . .
. I suppose I'm thin-skinned too, sometimes: I never get it quite clear in my
old head that I am not popular and if editors have any use for me at all it can
only be among the minor figures of interest. I do not rank high in market
valuations—at the best I am only received on sufferance: I have not yet
really got beyond the trial stage" (With Walt Whitman in
Camden, Thursday, August 30, 1888). [back]