On July 30, 1903, Paul Laurence Dunbar in Chicago received an encouraging letter from Brand Whitlock in Toledo, Ohio. A strong supporter during Paul's early career, Whitlock was a writer and lawyer who later became mayor of Toledo, and U. S. Ambassador to Belgium. At the time, Paul was 31 years old, in poor health and sharing a home in Chicago with his mother.
"The Tribune" says today that you are sick, and it tells a pretty story of one of your friends passing by and whistling a bugle call. I am not behind him in friendship or the desire to cheer, and I too sound a bugle call to you, with all the music and spirit I can fit into it, to tell you that I am helping you all I can. Can you hear the hale grunting of a brother at this distance? I have at last got my Ohio novel on paper: it lacks now but the work of revision. I'd like to talk it over with you. When you can, send me a line.
Brand Whitlock to Paul Laurence Dunbar, July 30, 1903. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 1).
In their correspondence, Paul and Whitlock often shared their writings and offered helpful criticism and encouraging support. Whitlock wrote four novels, and the comment in his letter about an "Ohio novel" may refer to The Happy Average, published in 1904.
They paused at the steps of the veranda and sat there quietly, enjoying the cool of the evening, or such cool as a July evening can find in central Ohio.
It was very still, and the peace of the evening lay on them both. Lavinia stood motionless, and looked out across the water to the little Ohio hills that rolled away toward the west.
Excerpts from Chapter 1 and Chapter 3 of The Happy Average, by Brand Whitlock. The Bobbs-Merrill Company (New York, New York). 1904. Pages 2 and 38.