Educator and poet (1859–1929) best known for the lyrics to the iconic patriotic song “America the Beautiful.” Two items: 1) ALS on a cream 5.5 x 3.5 card, January 5, 1928. Bates writes to Leighton. In part: “Our thanks for your glorious wreath. We take down the other Christmas greens tomorrow, but we shall keep your wreath to welcome the Magi, even if they are belated beyond Epiphany….” 2) AQS, Bates’s three “Christmas Eve Fantasies” on the reverse of a 5.25 x 8.5 sheet of Wellesley College letterhead, no date [presumably sent with the letter above]. Bates heads the sheet “Here are some Christmas triolets [an eight-line form] I wrote a few days since. Are they very queer?” The three stanzas begin thus: “The Kings of the East are riding/Tonight to Bethlehem…. To a strange sweet harp of Zion/The starry host troops forth…. There beams above a manger/The child-face of a star….” Mild handling wear, and tiny edge tear to bottom edge of second item, otherwise fine, clean condition. R&R COA.
