I have always wondered at your pluck in going boldly into the mouth of that most merciless of all monsters--a Metropolis of the first dimension,--and at your success in the face of very serious difficulties of the competitive sort. Let me hope you will feel always confident, as I do, that you are going to do more. You have one very remarkable and powerful faculty,--that of creating an impression, that remains, with a very few words. It shows itself in little things--for example, your few lines about the composite photos. Do you still write verse? A little volume of poetry by you is something I hope to see one of these days. The only thing I used to be afraid of regarding you was that you might lack the rare yet terribly necessary gift of waiting. And yet, there is something very unique in your literary temperament;--you are able to reach an effect at once and directly which others would obtain only by long effort. If you like anything I have done, it is because I have taken horrible pains with it. Eight months' work on one sketch;--then eight months on another--not yet finished; but happily 120 pages are done; and the first was only 75. The attempt at romantic work on modern themes taught me lots of things. One is, that the purpose, as well as the thought, must evolve itself, but the thought must come first;--then the thing begins to develop--and always in a different way from that at first intended. Also I found that the importance of noting down _impressions_, introspective or otherwise,--and expanding them at leisure, is simply enormous. Perhaps you know all this already;--if not, try it and get a pretty surprise.
I have one thing more to chat about;--I am trying to get all my friends to read Herbert Spencer--beginning with "First Principles." Slow reading, but invaluable; systematizes all one's knowledge and plans and ideas. I've made three converts. The only way to read him is by paragraphs--all of which are numbered. I am now wrestling with the two big volumes of "Biology," and have digested one of the "Sociology." The "Psychology" I will touch last, though it is his mightiest work. Four years' study, at least, for me to complete the reading. But "First Principles" contain the digest of all;--the other volumes are merely corollaries. When one has read Spencer, one has digested the most nutritious portion of all human knowledge. Also the style is worth the labour,--puissant, compact, and melodious.