Helen Hunt Jackson Papers, Part 2, Ms 0156, Box 2, Folder 23c, George Cary Eggleston to HHJ, 1879.
Transcribed by Gloria Helmuth, 2003.

letterhead:
The Evening Post,
NEW YORK
EDITORIAL ROOMS.

Dec 16, 1879

My Dear Mrs Jackson: -

I welcome as joyfully as you do, the turn of circumstances which brings us again into pleasant journalistic relations, as fellow workers for right and justice and common sense. Your plea for the Poncas is in type and will be printed tomorrow.

For reasons which will perhaps be obvious, and which at any rate would commend themselves to you if explained, an imperative rule of the Evening Post excludes from it all book reviews other than those written by myself, except such as in rare cases I ask other members of the staff to write; and this is necessary to keep all the publishers & writers in good temper while we retain control of the apportion of space. Under this rule I have had to make such alterations of form in your article as were necessary to make it something other than a book review, taking your permission and pardon for granted, as one may do in all reasonable cares when dealing with the "copy" of experienced writers & not of "touchy" amateurs. I have confined the alterations to this one end, leaving the article to speak the good word that it was meant to speak, in your own excellent way.

I tried to have a word with you in th reception room at the Brunswick the other day, but you were so beset and besieged by friends that I could not win your attention without undue urgency of effort.

I am more pleased than I can tell you with your approval of my phrase "the gentle woman who calls herself 'H H'." I hold with Mrs [Barballed?] that one's privacy is as sacredly one's property as any other possession is, and I think we are all bound to respect whatever l-i-m-i-t-s- boundaries are set up by the owner of each piece of this sort of property, whether or not, we know the reason for setting them up. The fact that the public generally know who it is that signs the letters "H.H." to her writings, does not alter the fact that the owner of that signature has chosen to give no more definite revelation of her personality in connection with her writings & so I think I have no more right to speak of the writer "H H" in the name of the gentle woman, Mrs Jackson, than, I would have to tell something told me in confidence merely because other persons share the information already. It is not always easy to [alt infer?] a principle of this sort, but it is always right, nevertheless.

Pardon the length of this letters, please; I could not well help making it long, believe me

Very sincerely yours

Geo. Cary Eggleston