California man has unearthed an original letter written in 1907 by Ambrose Bierce to his niece Lora. While many of Bierce's letters have been archived by Stanford University and the University of Virginia, this one remained in the family of Stephen Saxon for many years. Saxon writes:
I have no idea why or how this came into my family's possession. Many in my family were military, and many lived in the Bay Area (where I have lived most of my life) but I don't know that any of them would have known Lora Bierce.
The small oak writing desk in which I found the letter belonged to our great-grandmother, Margaret Bednarski. The story I was told is that she owned the desk from the time she was a child in Minnesota until she passed in 1963, so I believe it dates from at least a hundred years ago. The desk was passed on to one of her daughters (Eleanor), then to my mother, then to my brother, and now to me.
The key to the drawer was lost probably 10 years ago or more. When I took possession of it, I figured correctly that it was probably a standard key type. A local locksmith was able to grab a likely candidate off his peg board that fit it perfectly so I bought three of them. I thought the drawer was empty when I took possession of the desk, but then I opened it to find a bunch of papers and other items, including the letter. I imagine this information probably goes in the logical bucket labeled provenance.
The three-page, chatty letter is written on the letterhead of the Army and Navy Club, of which Bierce was a member in Washington, D.C.
Lora was the daughter of Bierce's older brother Albert, known as Grizzly.
Phyllis Partington was a daughter of the painter J.H.E. Partington. Phyllis was an opera singer who performed under the name Francesca Peralta. It has not been determined who Sloots was.
Dear Lora,
Your letter, with the yerba buena and the spray of redwood, came like a breeze from the hills. And the photographs are most pleasing. I note that Sloot's moustache is decently white at last, as becomes a fellow of his years. I dare say his hair is white too, but I can't see under his hat. And I think he never removes it. That backyard of yours is a wonder, but I sadly miss the appropriate ash-heaps, tin cans, old packing-boxes, and so forth. And that palm in front of the house—gracious, how she's grown! Well, it has been more than a day growing, and I've not watched it attentively.
I hope you'll have a good time in Yosemite, but Sloots is an idiot not to go with you--nineteen days is as long as anybody would want to stay there.
I saw a little of Phyllis Partington in New York. She told me much of you and seems to be fond of you. That is very intelligent of her, don't you think?
No, I shall not wait until I'm rich before visiting you. I've no intention of being rich, but do mean to visit you--some day. Probably when Grizzly has visited me. Love to you all.
Ambrose Bierce, June 8, 1907
The letter was reproduced in The Letters of Ambrose Bierce, With a Memoir by George Sterling edited by Bertha Clark Pope, 1922.
