On March 9, 1897, Paul Laurence Dunbar was in England for a recital tour and to find an English publisher for his book Lyrics of Lowly Life. His manager during the trip was Edith Pond, daughter of the celebrity talent agent Major James B. Pond. Paul was dependent upon her to pay his travel expenses, and he used a pocket calendar to keep track of how much money she gave him.
Money from Miss Pond
$13.00 In New York
7.00 First week London
6.91 Board bill up to Feb 24
1.25 Laundry up to Feb 27
47.50 Steamboat fare
17.00 Fare to New York
1.00 Mending on ship boardAt the Grant Hotel when I left bill was £6 30. Fair to suppose that less than half that was mine and I did not eat there.
Calendar booklet, February - March 1897. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 3).
In letters to his fiancée Alice Ruth Moore, Paul described the ongoing difficulties he had with Edith Pond.
We got in Sunday morning at 1:00 a.m. and went immediately to the Grant Hotel in Trafalgar Square. Here it cost us £10 for four days, so we have gone into apartments. They think our enterprise is going to be a success. I hope it will, although I hate the woman who is with me.
Paul Laurence Dunbar to Alice Ruth Moore, February 20, 1897. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 5).
I am so far from being cheerful that I cannot for the life of me write a cheerful letter. I am thinking sadly and deeply. Alice could you still love me if I returned home a failure? I am quarreling constantly with my manager. She is beastly and I am contracting an awful disposition from her. I may take it into my head to get up and come home. It would be inglorious but it would be independence.
Paul Laurence Dunbar to Alice Ruth Moore, March 16, 1897. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 5).
I have severed my connection with Miss Pond and am doing much better. I don't know whether she has returned to America or not. She will do all she can to hurt me there. But as the children say, "I ain't skeart o' her." I had intended after leaving her to shorten my stay here to six months, but I have already been asked to lecture when the winter season opens and I may consent to do so.
Paul Laurence Dunbar to Alice Ruth Moore, May 4, 1897. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 5).
I have tried hard to get away from Miss Pond and indeed thought that I was away, but alas, she has tightened her grip upon me and I am as much in her power as ever. Her father, however, arrives today and I have some hope of getting away through their disagreements.
Paul Laurence Dunbar to Alice Ruth Moore, June 10, 1897. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 5).
What the papers say about my breaking the contract, I do not care a fig about, for when the truth is known about this woman here, I shall be exonerated from all blame. As for my failure, if the making of much money means success, I have assuredly failed. But if the extension of my reading public, if social recognition, if getting into the hearts and homes of good and intellectual people is success, then I have succeeded beyond my wildest expectations. Miss Pond, white as she is, cannot stick her nose where I go.
Paul Laurence Dunbar to Alice Ruth Moore, June 22, 1897. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 5).
I may take a notion to come home in a week or two. Major Pond is here and undecided as to what I ought to do. She don't want me to go and won't pay my return fare, but she doesn't happen to be the only woman in England and there is another who will.
Paul Laurence Dunbar to Alice Ruth Moore, June 27, 1897. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 5).
I had expected to sail for home next Saturday but I made such a hit last night that they want me to recite at several other places in the provinces and so stay a month or two longer but I don't know whether I shall do it or not, for I am anxious to see my little lady. I can now say that my trip here has been a success although I have had to duck Miss Pond entirely. My white friends are very good and loyal and urge me to return for a series of lectures this winter if I insist on going now.
Paul Laurence Dunbar to Alice Ruth Moore, July 15, 1897. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 5).
I am counting the hours until I shall fold you to my heart again and kiss away my soul-hunger for you. I have at last much against the wishes of my friends decided to sail on the 31st. One friend even offers to take me over to France if I will remain, but I can only reply that America is still more attractive. It is such a nuisance to wrap things up for the transatlantic journey. My dear Major and his daughter do not know where I am, so I am not sure when they sail. She is green with envy at my social success.
Paul Laurence Dunbar to Alice Ruth Moore, July 20, 1897. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 5).
A brief notice in a literary journal states that Edith Pond intended to leave England on July 8, about three weeks before Paul did. By that time, she had turned her attention to the English novelist and playwright Anthony Hope, author of The Prisoner of Zenda.
Miss Edith Pond, the Major's daughter, writes me that she and her father are going to bring Mr. Anthony Hope to this country in the fall, for a short season of readings from his own stories. Miss Pond, who is at present in England, sails for home on July 8.
"The Lounger." The Month in Literature, Art and Life (New York, New York). August 1897. Page 109.