Emily Hale to T. S. Eliot
Concord, Massachusetts
Thank you very much for your welcome letter – a happy event for me, which I meant to have answered certainly before March 2nd. YesterdayHale, Emilyas teacher;w1takes permanent position at Abbot;e1, at no. 90, I was given to read, of course, your note to Aunt Edith, inAbbot Academy, Andover, Massachusettsoffers EH short-term employment;a1 which you referred to my new position at Abbot,1 so I judge in some dictated letter to you, she must have made reference to this unexpected turn in my affairs.
Whentravels, trips and plansEH's hypothetical March 1948 visit to England;g3;a1 I last wrote you I almost told you that you were probably to see me on March 2nd, as I have for a long time felt the pleasurable urge of thinking I should be, as well as wanting to be, present to represent her, and bring back a very personal account of Tuesday’s occasion. INason, Margaret ('Meg') Geraldine;b3 was going to stay about a month, visit Meg and Doreen, and other friends and fly both ways – even engaging my round trip passage and paying down the money from one of my Savings Bank accounts (modest ones). But, for several reasons, I gave up this little fairy-tale scheme – tho’ as Tuesday draws near, I find myself wishing I had gone over! IPerkinses, thetheir health;m6 think my chief reason for not going was the thought that I could not have really enjoyed – or found satisfaction in the plan – because of the condition now of the P’s – tho’ I think they may live for months more, and probably get on as well without me, really & truly, as they do when I am close by. But, being myself, I couldn’t do it, and probably there is some very good reason why my decision is the right one! The fact that a fortnight ago I was summoned, or rather approached, by the principal of Abbot – an old acquaintance of mine from girlhood days, Miss Hearsey – to ask if I would fill the vacancy for the rest of the year caused by the sudden death of the speech and dramatic teacher, does not seem to me the whole reason why I am here in Concord tonight, and not in London or Campden perhaps?2
Itravels, trips and plansTSE's 1947 summer in America;g1EH reflects on;a8 imagine, looking facts straight in the face, that you will be very glad I did not come, whether I saw much of you or not. InAmericaWoods Hole, Falmouth, Massachusetts;i2EH and TSE's 1947 stay in;a7 time, I suppose, we can meet on some new basis fairly securely, but now, within a year still of last summer at Woods Hole and Hubbard St. the occasion might have been more difficult than we could realize – but it is strange not to write that my chief regret at changing my plan is because I cannot have an unaccustomed chance to be with you!! Andflowers and florasweet peas;c9sent to Aunt Edith;b2, just as I left yesterday no 90 to go to Isabel’s for supper, and then make my way here in another bad storm, someone sent Aunt Edith a box of lovely fresh sweet-peas – and what memories they awakened which haven’t quieted themselves to-day!
Funny, isn’t it – what starts the dumbness and the numbness quivering again.
WellRoyal Horticultural SocietyTSE makes presentation to;a1, I judge the R.H.S. are duly impressed by the fact you are to be Aunt’s representative and I can hardly wait for eye witness accounts. AtGwynne, M. Brookepresent at RHS bequest;b6 my suggestion Maura [sc. Moira] Gwynne is to be present, to write also to Aunt Edith, as well as to write a possible short article for the E.S.U. magazine. For so many weeks this event of March 2nd has so completely filled the thoughts of the Ps – that I only hope that the aftermath will be compensation enough for the long long anticipation. AndAmericaPetersham, Massachusetts;g5Edith Perkins gives lecture at;a4 you saw the pictures last at Petersham – well, I guess it is as well I shall not be present to hear your reference to that occasion. I know you will acquit yourself admirably and I hope you will derive some real pleasure from the affair – at least, you are giving much pleasure to many people besides the Ps (who speak of it to everyone) and such a thought should sustain you well, my dear. YouMurder in the Cathedral1948 Milton Academy production;g5;a1 know, of course, thatMilton Academy, Bostonstages Murder;a7 ‘Murder’ is being given at Milton’s 150th anniversary – the school, of course – andHarvard Universitystages Murder at Germanic Museum;c7 also this spring at the Germanic Museum? I shall get to the latter, if not the former I trust.
NowAbbot Academy, Andover, MassachusettsEH on her situation at;a3, as to Abbot, it’s a large boarding school – 119 yrs. old – close to Phillips Andover boy’s school – and has a fine reputation. I go there from Wed. eve. to Sat. A.M., living fortunately in the attractive, comfortable home of one of the trustees, a widow, who is glad to have a p.g. once a week – and who treats me most considerately. IChipman, Constance Parker;a1 have breakfast with Mrs Chipman3 – my other meals at the school, and good they are – for so large an institution – (about 180 girls) I teach 3 classes in a row Ths & Fri. of beginners in Speech. I have 4 private pupils – older girls of some ability who do advanced dramatic work in a good old fashioned way of ‘readings’ and produce the Commencement play, besidesVane, SuttonOutward Bound;a1 having prepared in these first two weeks aHale, Emilyas director ('producer');v9a reading of Outward Bound;b7 reading of ‘Outward Bound’4 as a complete play – a novelty to try, and rather interesting. This comes Wednesday evening, before the student body & faculty and I am very anxious to see how it holds without costume, setting, makeup etc. – WonderfulMurder in the CathedralHoellering film;g1recording made for;a6 practice for voice work of course – like your doing recordings for ‘Murder’ to a degree.5
The girls have all been very friendly thus far, and responsive, especially the nine who make up the cast – a group I shall always hold especially close considering the circumstances under which we have come to know each other.
While it was awfully hard to face giving up my new leisure, and leaving my sweet rooms for half the week, the work is worthwhile, the salary more than I had as [sc. at] C.A. in a year – and the chance to help one I could not refuse.
By the way, I gave up teaching at C. Gibbs after last year was over. It was too much of a strain and I don’t think I handled the big classes or the type of girl very well anyhow.
I have got very tired of course teaching seven to eight hours – including rehearsals sometimes more – but I like it, and don’t have the sense of being bothered by an atmosphere as I did at C.A. MyRobinson, LennoxThe Far-Off Hills;a2 successor’s play comes this next Sat. by the way – Robinson’s ‘The Far-Off Hills’6 and I do wish her all success.
I am delighted to learn you are beginning a new play, Tom, and shall love to hear anything about it you care to tell me. I would send you another food box but that it seems to make you so miserable. Would you let me have the name of someone who does need such assistance badly, perhaps? IHale, Emily Jose Milliken (EH's mother)anniversary of death marked;d3 wonder if you recalled that my mother went two years ago this month – andHale, Edwardanniversary of death marked;a7 my father would have been ninety years old on Feb. 22nd.
I do very little on my days in Concord but relax, be domestic and say ‘no’ to anything I don’t want to do! Do you go to France soon again – andEliot, Marion Cushing (TSE's sister)abortive 1948 summer in England;f5;a1 is your sister Marian coming to England or not this summer? IEliot, Theresa Garrett (TSE's sister-in-law);e4 haven’t heard of or seen Theresa in weeks. The winter has been very bad, but I have been better off here than had I been at no. 6 still.
No more now, as its getting near ten o’clock and my bed time. I’ll be thinking of you on Tuesday, and perhaps you’ll be thinking too of yours lovingly
1.Letter to Edith Perkins not found.
2.EHAbbot Academy, Andover, MassachusettsEH's career at;a2n had been appointed by her sometime schoolfriend Marguerite Hearsey, now Head of Abbot Academy, to teach Dramatic Interpretation and Spoken English. In the event, EH was to teach at the school until 1957. The Abbot Academy Circle noted that she had gained qualifications at these institutions: the Leland Powers School, Boston; Cornish School, Seattle; Speech Institute, London; and the University of Wisconsin Summer School.
The Abbot Academy Catalogue expatiated upon ‘Speech and Dramatics’: ‘Careful attention is given to spoken English. The purpose of the fundamental course is to develop a good speaking voice, to improve speech, and to correct any defects in diction, as well as to establish ease and poise in speaking before a group. A more advanced course is offered through private instruction. Instruction is given in public reading and acting, and principles of dramatic interpretation are applied to various forms of literature. Four or five plays are produced by the students each year under the direction of a trained and experienced instructor.’
Susan McIntosh Lloyd, A Singular School: Abbot Academy, 1828–1973 (1979), 303: ‘Emily Hale made Abbot her home for the final ten years of her working life, leaving only after Marguerite Hearsey retired. She found friends capable of high repartee all up and down Andover Hill, and fellow Abbot teachers found in her a wonderfully stimulating colleague. “A good person was Emily Hale, intelligent, sensitive, a really fine teacher,” Alan Blackmer remembered. Though college entrance competition waxed ever fiercer during her years at Abbot, students clamored to act in her demanding productions just as though term papers did not matter … To her Abbot students she was much more than a stage presence. Says one, “She found and woke in me an imagination that no one else at Abbot had touched upon.”’
3.MrsChipman, Constance Parker Constance Parker Chipman (1885–1978), who graduated from Abbot School in 1906, was sometime President of the Abbot Alumnae Association.
4.Outward Bound (1923) was a dramatic fantasy by the playwright Sutton Vane (1888–1963): apt to the postwar era, it was produced at the Everyman Theatre, Hampstead, London, in Sept. 1923; it proved such a success that in Oct. 1923 it was moved to the Garrick Theatre. It premiered too at the Ritz Theatre, New York, in Jan. 1924.
5.EH (‘Teacher of Dramatic Interpretation’) was to publish her credo in an article headed ‘… All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players’, Abbot Academy Bulletin 18: 3 (May 1951), 3–4: see Appendix.
6.Lennox Robinson’s three-act Irish comedy The Far-Off Hills (1928) was first performed by the Abbey Theatre Irish Players on a tour of the USA in 1932.
3.MrsChipman, Constance Parker Constance Parker Chipman (1885–1978), who graduated from Abbot School in 1906, was sometime President of the Abbot Alumnae Association.
1.Marian/MarionEliot, Marion Cushing (TSE's sister) Cushing Eliot (1877–1964), fourth child of Henry Ware Eliot and Charlotte Eliot: see Biographical Register.
4.M. BrookeGwynne, M. Brooke Gwynne, University of London Institute of Education – ‘a Training College for Graduate students’ – invited TSE on 19 Jan. to participate in their Weds.-morning seminar: ‘Emily Hale suggested that you might possibly consent to come to the Institute to talk to our students; otherwise I should have not felt justified in asking you … The teaching of poetry is the subject most hotly discussed & the subject we should like you to choose if possible.’
1.EdwardHale, Edward Hale (1858–1918), Unitarian minister, father of Emily Hale: see Biographical Register.
1.MargaretNason, Margaret ('Meg') Geraldine (Meg) Geraldine Nason (1900–86), proprietor of the Bindery tea rooms, Broadway, Worcestershire, whom TSE and EH befriended on visits to Chipping Campden.
3.LennoxRobinson, Lennox Robinson (1886–1958) – playwright – wrote on 17 June: ‘I hope you’ll be comfortable, it’s only a small house but nicely situated. Of course I’ll meet you on arrival.’