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In 1912, Cather took a leave of absence from her job at McClures, one she would never return from.
She traveled west to see her brother and got some renewed confidence.
Confidence that gave her the ability to write what she called her second first novel "O' Pioneers" where she really hit the home pasture.
There's several letters from that time period which reflect this confidence and vigor that she had at this time.
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CATHER'S VOICE: I have not written a line since I left New York, but I have such a head-full of stories that I dream about them at night.
I've ridden and driven hundreds of miles.
You would not know me, I'm so dark skinned and good humored. Oh please forget how cranky I used to be when I was tired!
I hope Miss Roseboro will forget too.
I can't bear to have either of you remember me like that.
It will seem so foolish now, such an ado about nothing.
But I'm never going to get fussy like that again.
I've never been so happy since I was a youngster as I have been this summer,
back in my own country with my own people.
Those weeks off in the desert with my big handsome brother, six feet four, he is, and his wild pals are weeks I shall never forget.
They took all the kinks and crumples out.
I feel as if my mind had been freshly washed and ironed, and were ready for a new life.
I feel, somehow, confident, feel as if I had got my second wind and would never torture my self about little things (like the art department) again.
O' Pioneers was just the first of a long string of successful novels for Cather.
From the University of Nebraska-Lincoln archives, I'm Andy Jewell.
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