Elmira, N.Y., J Aug. 1/83.
My Dear Karl & Josephine—
I vastly like the photographed high-relief. I think you are right to go ahead, in the way proposed, & carry it through to success. I think the proposed group of mother & child is an excellent idea, too, & capable of effective treatment.
Mrs. Clemens has been writing you, a few days ago, & proposing to add a thousand dollars to the stipulated sum, so as to enable you to continue your studies still another year after said stipulated sum shall be exhausted; but although she suggests that you take no orders, she doesn’t mean that as any more than a suggestion. Try your wings, if you want to! It’s ‸not‸ the worst way of learning to fly, I reckon.
Mrs. C. also answered your question, I believe, about your remaining in Europe after completing your studies. I think she favored your doing it. I do, decidedly—at least until you shall have made a reputation. I would stay there till then, sure. Then you ‸can‸ pick & choose, for ‸then‸ you can make a living anywhere. And all that time, you are in an inspiring, life-giving art atmosphere—& that, itself, is a continuous education; whereas the art atmosphere of America is thin, deteriorating & depressing, I should say. I imagine that it must be as dreary for an artist to live in America as it would be for a humorist to live in England.
Don’t worry. I don’t see but that you are the only investment we have made in three years that has really paid. Except‸ing‸ Gillette. He has succeeded; & is going to continue to succeed.
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