[Grace Toll Hall, Scripps College, Claremont]
I hope that you are now a little less provoked than you were when you wrote on the 12th instant. I am interested to see how far I may go in provoking; because, as I have said again and again, I am terrified of Emily, which gives a singular pleasure in tempting Providence. ButHale, Emilycorrespondence with TSE;w3which TSE offers to buy;e2 my news is, first, that I have decided on a typewriter, and shall have it; it is to be of light weight, so that You may carry it about, but otherwise as complete as possible. AlsoHale, Emilyphotographs of;w7TSE buys Kodak;a8, I have Purchased a vest-pocket Kodak, which I can leave with you after I have taken all the pictures of you. Thirdtravels, trips and plansTSE's 1933 westward tour to Scripps;a8TSE's itinerary;a4, that I arrive at Claremont, alas, at 6:30 or 7 a.m. on the Saturday morning. Would that I might arrive two days sooner; and alas, at 6:30 a.m. there will be no Emily with a Ford to fetch me. I suppose I shall breakfast (unshaven) in the station, if one can breakfast in the station. The reason is this. IPercy Graeme Turnbull Memorial Lectures, The (otherwise The Varieties of Metaphysical Poetry)to cannibalise TSE's Clark Lectures;a3 still have three lectures to prepare for Baltimore at the end of January. (IClark Lectures, The (1926)resuscitated for Turnbull Memorial lectures;a1 have nearly finished the first, and they are only digestions of my Clark lectures at Cambridge on metaphysical poetry anyway). These have to be done before I start for California. Now I had promised my brother to spend Christmas with him in New York; but I must stay here until the lectures are finished; so I shall leave for New York on the day after Christmas, then I leave New York on the Tuesday evening, arrive in St. Louis the following evening (Wednesday) at 7:40, leave St. Louis at 11:45 by the Santa Fé, and arrive in Claremont on Saturday morning at 6:30 a.m.! There will be at least Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, in the hope that you will not still be provoked. I have to be in St. Louis by the 14th or 15th; and if I don’t get the other possible engagements, I may be hanging about Claremont. But the main thing is, to arrive a few days before your college term begins. YouHale, Emilyrelationship with TSE;w9TSE's terror of renewing in California;b7 cannot possibly realise how terrified I am of confronting you – but I do wish you would try – so as not to be exasperated by my sheepishness. I have never been in such a state of mind as I am. No one can possibly imagine the state of mind of a middle-aged gentleman leaving to visit California, under these conditions, for the first time.
IEyre, Mary B.;a2 perhaps did not express, as I should have done, myAment, William Sheffieldearns TSE's gratitude;a2 appreciation of the kindness of Mr. Ament, and the Miss Evanses1 (I know some elderly Miss Evanses in Manchester); and also my appreciation of my dragoman or cicerone or party; but the whole notion makes me so dizzy that I cannot think or imagine clearly. I look forward to the Treats arranged; but I am glad to think that when I first see you there will be no students about, and that my discomposure will be unobserved. I cannot write about people or give news, now; it seems too trivial. My dear Bird, Birdie, I can only think of seeing you a week from Saturday: and I concentrate on what I have to do in the meantime by disbelieving that I shall ever get there. And yet I have ordered my ticket, and I am billed, I understand, toScripps College, ClaremontTSE's lecture at;c8 speak atUniversity of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)engages TSE to lecture;a2 Scripps and Los Angeles.
1.TSE meant ‘Eyre’.
2.WilliamAment, William Sheffield Sheffield Ament (1997–51), Professor of English, Scripps College.
3.MaryEyre, Mary B. B. Eyre, Professor of Psychology, lived in a pretty frame house on College Avenue, Claremont, where TSE stayed during his visit to EH at Scripps College.