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letterhead VERNON T. STOUTEMYER 15250 Friends Street Pacific Palisades, California

Mr. Jack Conroy 6012 South Green St Chicago - Illinois

Dear Jack-

    It was really a surprise to hear from you after all these years!  Many thanks for the book of humorous Americana.  I have read the first part of it and it brought back memories of some of the humorists I knew as an Illinois farm boy - Jack Billings, George Ade, Booth Tarkington - Aunt Samantha - Eugene Field and a poet whose poems two maiden aunts used to read to me - Ben King.  I thought him really quite funny.   The too in those days the old victor and Edison phonographs - rather primitive things usually had a good many examples of humorous monologs.
   I have written steadily - technical horticultural papers mostly - about a hundred.  My book writing ventures have not come to fruition.  I was teamed up with a man who died before we completed a McGraw Hill book.  I was invited to participate in posthumous publication by the literary executor of this man but the whole plan was changed and was not interested.  Also I had a very demanding job by that time.
   I was well on the way with another but with changing jobs - regular arrival of children - house buying and building - I