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{in a second hand: "WILCOX, ELLA W"}
Aus 25 Apr. 349 W - 5-8th St. New York.
My dear Mrs. Sewall
I am in receipt of your flattering & kind letter. Evidently you do not know my incompetency in the way of my public work not performed with the pen.
I never read my poems -- have no talent of this kind & am fortunate enough to know it. The only time I even attempted such a thing was when I was an expectant mother & imagined my self a divine creator -- able to do all things. So soon as the condition paused -- my belief in
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my abilities - other than as a wife, a poet, and a hostess, paused also.
I expect to go to our charming sea shore home May 10-th and to remain there until the last of September.
I shall visit the Fair a few days in early Oct en route to my parents home in Wisconsin where I visit yearly.
Really I have no place in Congresses -- Clubs -or societies of any kind. I am not made for working with many -I have to do my work by myself, and when I mingle wtih women I like it to be purely social.
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No one enjoys social life more than I, and I am fond of my own set.
Had I the gift of properly representing my poems I would gladly read one for you. But for charities, benefits, etc., I always send a substitute as I simply can not read.
I would be very glad to have you come to see me when in New York. My own home is to be the Congress & Club where I am at my best & where I love to welcome bright women.
Cordially yours
Ella Wheeler Wilcox