[Grace Toll Hall, Scripps College, Claremont]
This is only a hurried note to thank you for your letter of the 19th – which only took two days – and so it should, with 18 cents of stamps on it! I must say that you do not yet seem to me quite mollified – speaking of my ‘semi-contrition’ – and I am rather apprehensive about my reception – it was an illchosen moment for asserting myself so defiantly – and you will find me in, I think, a sufficiently abased and grovelling state. For all your arrangements, IEyre, Mary B.offers to lend TSE house;a1 am truly grateful. I have written to Miss Eyre1 – I don’t know why I wrote ‘Evans’ to you, except that I knew some people in San Francisco named Evans, and I know two elderly Miss Evanses in Manchester; and the house sounds truly delightful. Please make any arrangements to use my services in any way whatever – in the way of meeting classes or anything I can do; but I have never had to face a class of young women before, and am rather diffident about it; but all sorts of experience are useful. I shall love it if you take me motoring. IUniversity of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)engages TSE to lecture;a2 am also glad that the Los Angeles talk is to be on the 6th instead of the 4th – that gives me more leisure. You, or Mr. Ament, may be hearing from one or two other universities with which I have been in communication. IPercy Graeme Turnbull Memorial Lectures, The (otherwise The Varieties of Metaphysical Poetry)to cannibalise TSE's Clark Lectures;a3 have still two lectures to write (or rather to piece together out of old stuff) before the end of the week. A bientot.2
Your
——Obedient,
————Humble,
——————Meek,
————————Servant,
—————————— T. S. Eliot
1.TSE would later characterise Miss Eyre as ‘breezy’ (to EH, 12 Jan. 1946).
2.TSEScripps College, ClaremontTSE's visit to;d1n arrived in Claremont, California, on 29 Dec. 1932. Loucks, ‘The Exile’s Return’, 21: ‘Steppingtravels, trips and plansTSE's 1933 westward tour to Scripps;a8described by Havens and others;a8n off the train at 6.20a.m., heHavens, Pauland EH greet TSE at Claremont;a1n was greeted by Emily Hale and Paul Havens, a former Rhodes Scholar who had met TSE at Oxford (Havens). His visit was “primarily a private one to Emily Hale,” who described it as “a quiet rest between heavy lecture engagements” (Havens; Hale). HaleHale, Emilyas teacher;w1EH lectures on TSE;a9, then forty-one, was Head of House, Eleanor Joy Toll Hall, and Assistant Professor of Oral English (Sahak, 1992); she remained there for only two years, 1932–1934 (Havens). AHale, Emilycorrespondence with TSE;w3observed weekly by EH's students;e3n former student recalled “the weekly letters that came to her in blue envelopes with British postage from the great poet. She had a leather folder in her room with two pictures of Mr Eliot, autographed to her” (Hume).’ Lorraine Havens relates too that Hale ‘spoke of him often, always as “Tom”, and was obviously much in touch with him, andHale, Emilybirthdays, presents and love-tokens;w2EH wearing TSE's ring;a6n wore a ring that he had given her … [T]here was much excitement when Emily announced that he would visit her shortly after Christmas.’ Loucks adds: ‘Staying at the home of Miss Mary B. Eyre, near the college campus, TSEStephenson, Nathaniel Wright;a1 was entertained by Nathaniel Wright Stevenson and by Paul and Lorraine Havens. TheShakespeare, William;a2n latter recalls TSE’s imbibing numerous cups of tea in her home during an animatedDonne, Johndiscussed in Claremont;a2n discussionMilton, John;a1n ofDryden, Johndiscussed at Lorraine Havens's;a2n Shakespeare, Donne, Milton, Dryden, and other English poets (Havens).’ In early January, Loucks continues, ‘Lorraine Havens escorted TSE to Ellen Browning Hall at Scripps for tea. TSE seemed “somewhat reserved and formal, but very courteous, and obviously devoted to Emily [Hale]” (Havens). HeSweeney Agonistescopy inscribed to EH;a2n inscribed a copy of Sweeney Agonistes “For Emily Hale / from the author / T. S. Eliot / Claremont / California. / January 1933” (Sahak 1994).’ On another day, ‘TSE attended one of Paul Havens’s seventeenth-century literature classes and joined in the discussion (Havens). DuringLear, Edwardillustrates Scripps talk on English humour;a1 anCarroll, Lewisillustrates talk on English humour;a2n informal evening meeting with students in the Toll Hall browsing room at Scripps, TSE discussed English humor, drawing mainly upon Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear. “His voice was pleasant, modulated and with little noticeable accent. (He admitted to impatience with having been born in St Louis instead of New England)” (Sands).’
A Scripps student, LaurabelHume, Laurabelreports on TSE's Scripps visit;a1n Hume, wrote in The Scripture on 9 Jan. 1933: ‘As might be expected from a master poet, Mr T. S. Eliot is a master of spaced phrases; and he is not too sparing with them. In our exuberance we asked Mr Eliot if he were not eager to produce a gem about our California to our campus [sic]. Smiling gently, Mr Eliot instilled fear and delight into us by saying, “It is difficult to produce gems without making a fool of oneself.” … He had revealed one of the charms of his success when he refused to be impressed at once with a striking difference between California and St Louis, or between the Oxfords of the east and of the West …
‘HeAmericaand the Great Depression;a5St. Louis
Laurabel Hume would later recall for Kay Koeninger, 12 Nov. 1981: ‘I graduated in the class of 1933, and “I was there” when that very charming, shy man came to the campus …
‘AboutHale, Emilyas teacher;w1as described by Scripps student;b2n Miss Hale – she was a vivid, interesting person who attracted a large following of stage-struck girls; I was one of them. Part of her charm was her dignity and gaiety, and her Bostonian accent … [S]he lived on campus, and her living-room was a mass of color. She wore a black silk dressing gown (you can see that we visited her informally, and often), covered with gold brocaded Chinese dragons’ (Scripps).
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.