[41 Brimmer St., Boston]
To-dayScripps College, Claremontwhich EH does;a9 I have more time to answer your letter of the 30th January. IHale, Emilyas teacher;w1which she accepts;a6 am sure that you took a great deal of thought and that it cost you a good deal of energy to make your decision about Scripps; and the usual after effect of making such a decision is a state of exhaustion, depression and doubt. But I think, somehow, that it was the right choice; and I say this, knowing well that it may mean that I do not see you at all. But my first feeling, which I must express, is that of admiration for your courage and pluck – in which you are just what I would have you be! – in being ready to root yourself up once more, and go and commit yourself for two years at least to one more wholly strange environment. EvenAmericaBoston, Massachusetts;d1EH's loneliness in;a8 though you feel yourself, as you do, something of a stranger and solitary in Boston, it is a great effort to make; particularly as you cannot see very far, into the future, and cannot tell what further changes life will bring you. So one of the feelings I have about it is that I am very proud of you. It sounds as if you were highly thought of there, and the position of Assistant Professor (Prof. Hale sounds as odd as Prof. Eliot, doesn’t it?) ought to be much better paid than anything you have had before, and relieve you from financial anxieties.1
Itravels, trips and plansTSE's 1932–3 year in America;a7and the question of discretion;a9 suppose we shall not know for some time whether I am likely to be able to see you or not. I must say, but you must know already, that I would go anywhere in America, and at the first moment possible, on the prospect of seeing you even for five minutes. (‘Fly’! no thank you madam, I am much too old to begin such monkeyshines as that; I shall take the train). You must know that the only deterrant [sic] would be the question of convenance. I have no notion of how much publicity I shall have to suffer; but I have, without presumption, the notion that even a humble ‘foreign visitor’ like myself might unexpectedly be a news item, and my goings and comings made into news items. Perhaps I exaggerate? I hope I do. But in short, I should be most anxious not to meet you in any way that might appear extraordinary, or in the least little bit compromising for you. I dislike doing anything that has to be secretive or clandestine (even when it is certain that the secret can be kept); but I do cherish the hope, and keep myself going on it, of arranging some meeting with you, even though, as I said, I could only see you alone for a moment. SoScripps College, ClaremontTSE hopes to visit EH at;b1 Itravels, trips and plansTSE's 1933 westward tour to Scripps;a8and TSE's need to lecture;a2 want to know by return exactly where Scripps is on the map, and how near to what city or university which I might be justified in visiting. AfterAmericaHollywood;e8TSE's dream of walk-on part;a2 all, I have never viewed the Wild West, and even Hollywood might receive me: perhaps I could get a walking on part in a Film.
The picture: I am delighted, but am too experienced now to be deluded by the mere promise of a picture: I shall wait till I get it; if I do get it, you may be sure that it will delight me however far short I consider that it falls of its original.
AndHale, Emilyas actor;v8EH praised over Ruth Draper;b2 the cutting delights me. I can quite believe that you are better than Ruth Draper.2 I am so happy to hear you praised. But that sort of work must be still more trying and tiring than acting in a play. You must get very very tired.
And now I must stop for tonight but really will write a letter by Friday, & tell something of myself – not much to tell – instead of a mere line.
1.EH was set to teach at Scripps College, Claremont, CA (a few miles inland from Los Angeles), 1932–4.
2.Ruth Draper (1884–1956), noted American actor and dramatist: successful monologuist and monodramatist. See further The Art of Ruth Draper with a Memoir by Morton Dauwen Zabel (1960).