done--oh, by far--Send that to Gilder. In old times The
Century would not print the word "brandy." But those days
are over.

Two more days--dear boy--

MOTHER.


In addition to his work on The Press, Richard also found
time to assist his friend, Morton McMichael, 3d, in the
editing of a weekly publication called The
Stage. In fact with the exception of the services of an
office boy, McMichael and Richard were The Stage. Between
them they wrote the editorials, criticisms, the London and
Paris special correspondence, solicited the advertisements,
and frequently assisted in the wrapping and mailing of the
copies sent to their extremely limited list of subscribers.
During this time, however, Richard was establishing himself as
a star reporter on The Press, and was already known as a
clever news-gatherer and interviewer. It was in reply to a
letter that Richard wrote to Robert Louis Stevenson enclosing
an interview he had had with Walt Whitman, that Stevenson
wrote the following letter--which my brother always regarded
as one of his greatest treasures:


Why, thank you so much for your frank, agreeable and natural
letter. It is certainly very pleasant that all you young
fellows should enjoy my work and get some good out of it and