[No surviving envelope]
I was very glad to get your two letters, or rather your serial letter, of July 31 yesterday, and hasten to reply to your next address in Minneapolis. YourEisenhower, Dwight D. ('Ike');a2 itineraryHale, Emilytours westward to California during summer holiday;t3 is extensive and bewildering, and reads like a campaign tour, presumably on behalf of Eisenhower; and I wonder where I shall hear from you next. At first sight, it sounds tiring; but apparently you travel mostly by air (which does not seem to be more expensive, when one takes account of meals and incidental expenses on trains: I have just discovered that it is cheaper to fly to Geneva than to go by first class sleeper). I am however always a little apprehensive of flights over high mountain ranges, and shall be relieved when you are again east of the Rockies. And even if it is tiring, I believe that such a change is what you most need, and that the stimulation of the change will do you good. For your account of your recent life, during the hot weather, having to go in so constantly to Commonwealth Avenue, sounds worse than no holiday at all. I have been anxious about everybody who has had to be in town during that heat wave. PleaseGeorge, Ruth;a3 give my kindest regards to Miss George, and to your charming French friends, if they are still exiled to Claremont, and to anyone else whom I have met and whom you are fond of.
I am also distressed about the teeth. It sounds as if the dentist had removed all of your lower teeth, which does make adaptation difficult. Myappearance (TSE's)teeth;c2new plate;b5 dentist is carefully preserving three of my lower teeth, which means that the denture stays in firmly; but I do know a man who seems to get on very well with no lower teeth at all. But it took me over a year to feel perfectly comfortable with my upper teeth, as the gums go on shrinking for a long time; a very slight misfit can be very painful; and I had to have my set readapted several times. It is usual for the dentist to give you two sets. I wear one in the daytime and the other at night; and when I travel, I always take a spare set, as well as duplicate pairs of spectacles. That is what I advise. At present, I am much better off with false teeth than I had been with my very poor natural ones. The only trouble is with such food as stewed raspberries, currants, and figs, which I dare not eat except when alone at home where I can remove the distressing seeds at a moment’s notice. You speak lightly of the operation, but I know how exhausting it can be, and more weakening than an ordinary surgical operation. So in the circumstances it is marvellous that your doctor should give such a good report of you.
IRamsey, Allen Beville;a3 have nothing ahead except to visit Cambridge tomorrow, in order to attend a college dinner in honour of the retired Master’s 80th birthday; and from there, on Friday, toShakespeare, WilliamMacbeth;b9 spend the weekend with friends in Bicester and go to ‘Macbeth’ (not one of my favourite Shakespeare plays on the stage) at Stratford. Thentravels, trips and plansTSE's 1952 rest cure in Switzerland;h9;a4 I shall be at home until the 25th, after which I shall be at the Hotel Belle-Vue, Chardonne s/Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland, where I went last year, for three weeks, returning on Sept. 15th. This is thanks to my doctor’s persistence in obtaining for me a licence from the Medical Council, without which I should not be able to be abroad for more than a week on the ‘basic’ allowance of £25 foreign travel. WhenFabers, the1952 Minsted summer stay;i6 I return, I shall probably go to the Fabers (Minsted House, Midhurst, Sussex), for a few days, havingAlliance Françaisecouncil meeting of;b4 to be back in London for a council meeting at the Alliance on Sept. 25th.1
MyLondon LibraryTSE's presidential address to;a7 last public engagement (the London Library) went off well, and'Address to Members of the London Library, An';a1 they propose to print my little speech as a leaflet to advertise the library, which needs more subscribers, having had to raise the subscription fees.2
ByConfidential Clerk, Thenow intended for 1953 Edinburgh Festival;a7 the first of December I must decide whether my play is far enough advanced, and satisfactory enough to myself, to submit for the Edinburgh Festival.
ThisPerkins, Edith (EH's aunt);l6 has been a quiet weekend, John away visiting friends in Cambridgeshire; and I have done little but rest.
I have written to Aunt Edith. It had indeed been preying on my mind for some time past. Of course, my dear if (God forbid) you should pre-decease both Aunt Edith and myself, I would do what I could in the way of regular letters to her.
Ittravels, trips and plansTSE's 1953 visit to St. Louis and America;i1set for June;a1 now seems that I shall come over in June, if I can finance the expedition. My doctor does not want me to come in February, when the Centenary Celebrations proper take place; ChancellorCompton, Arthur Holly;a1 Compton has invited me alternatively for the 9th and 10th of June Graduation Ceremonies.3 So, as I can’t leave London until the end of May, I shall probably fly straight to St. Louis, and hope to have a couple of weeks in Cambridge to recuperate from the St. Louis heat, returning to England early in July.
DoAmericaSeattle, Washington State;h1EH visits on 1952 tour;a8 send me postcards from Los Angeles and Seattle: you will be too tired to write letters.
1.TSE stayed with the Fabers at Minsted House, 18–25 Sept. 1952.
2.‘An Address to Members of the London Library’: CProse 7, 756–72.
3.ArthurCompton, Arthur Holly Holly Compton (1892–1962), physicist – winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, 1927 – was Chancellor of Washington University, St Louis, Missouri, 1945–53. See TSE, ‘American Literature and the American Language’: CProse 7, 792–810.
3.ArthurCompton, Arthur Holly Holly Compton (1892–1962), physicist – winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, 1927 – was Chancellor of Washington University, St Louis, Missouri, 1945–53. See TSE, ‘American Literature and the American Language’: CProse 7, 792–810.
5.DwightEisenhower, Dwight D. ('Ike') D. (‘Ike’) Eisenhower (1890–1969), soldier and Republican politician, served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe: he led operations including the invasion of North Africa, and of Normandy, 1944–5. US Army Chief of Staff, 1945–8; Supreme Commander of NATO, 1951–2. 34th President of the USA, 1953–61.
2.RuthGeorge, Ruth George (1880–1959), Associate Professor of English, Scripps College, Claremont, California, had become a close friend of EH at Scripps in 1932–4. EH was to donate thirty-two inscribed books to Scripps; five inscribed items to Princeton University Library.
8.AllenRamsey, Allen Beville Beville Ramsey (1872–1955): Master of Magdalene College, 1925–47.