Fan Letters
Blake, Ella
Excuse the liberty taken by an entire stranger of writing a line to you. In these days of trashy novels yours are so refreshing that I cannot refrain from adding my small tribute of thanks to those given you by many others, for your fearless defense of the right. About twenty fouyears ago I had a present of “The Wide, Wide World. I was but a little girl & the character of Ellen Montgomery made so great an impression on me as to lead me, I humbly trust from darkness to light. I always kept & valued the book, read & reread it many times, read it to pieces in fact & had it rebound. And now a little girl of my own is read it to pieces for the second time. I hope it may influence her as it did me. I have read most of your books I think & always with pleasure & benefit. We were burned out four or five years ago. & lost nearly everything we had. a few of our books were saved, among them my “Wide World”. I think you have preached many sermons & done much good in the world. I feel as if I knew you & you were my personal friend. Will this fact excuse this note?
Believe me, Yours most sincerely, (Mrs.) Ella K. Blake.