[Grace Toll Hall, Scripps College, Claremont]
If I have been silent for over a week, itRock, Theon the point of completion;c3 is because I have had to try to finish and complete the text for the pageant in a hurry, together with all the church services of Holy Week: MondayUnderhill, Revd Francis, Bishop of Bath and Wellsconfession with;a4 night to Rochester for my Lenten confession, the other days services evening and early morning; and Thursday night, or rather Friday morning, got up at 2.30 to take an hour and a half of the Vigil before the Sacrament, getting back about a quarter to five, had some whisky and to bed again, but caught a slight cold nevertheless, but well worth it. This is the first year that I have been able to attend all the services. This morning (which is also a Bank Holiday) I lay abed till half past eight, going to the late Mass at 10.30. So I have felt pretty tired. NothingMorley, Frank Vigormercifully returned to F&F;d2 much else has happened, except that Morley has returned from America, in good health and spirits; I am very glad to have him back, and incidentally I shall not have to spend so much time reading manuscripts. Now that he is back, and there is very little to do to my manuscript, I hope to take things a bit easier – this Lent has been a very busy time indeed. In a fortnight or so I shall begin going to rehearsals: I rather dread the experience of finding out what my text will be like when I hear it from the lips of amateurs – some of them very amateur, I dare say; thoughBrowne, Elliott Martinproduction of The Rock;a2well connected in amateur circles;a7 Browne seems to be in touch with all the best amateur organisations about London, at least among parochial circles. I am afraid however that my jokes will sound very flat.
IHale, Emilyas teacher;w1resigns position at Scripps;b6 amScripps College, Claremontyear's leave requested from;d7 anxious to hear more of your news, having had just the one brief letter telling me of your decision to resign, and of your possible plans for next year.1 ItHale, Emilyhealth, physical and mental;w6suffers with sinuses;a8 seems very strange that you should have been afflicted with arthritis and sinus trouble in a climate like that of California: I always supposed them both English complaints, of a dampish climate. (ThoughEnglandthe English weather;c3not rainy enough;a6 the climate here isn’t what it used to be; we no longer get enough rain). I don’t suppose you would have been troubled by them if you had not been overworking; and I gather that rest is what you chiefly need. IHale, Emilyfamily;w4EH encouraged to keep younger company;a4 do hope that, wherever you may spend most of the winter in Europe, it will be where you have the opportunity to make acquaintances; for I know so well what a drain upon one’s vitality and spirits elderly people can be. They don’t know it, and they can’t help it. AndMilton Academy, Boston;a3 IHarvard UniversityTSE's student days at;a2 never had it for more than three months at a time, when I was at Milton and Harvard, but there were moments when I felt nothing would satisfy me but to smash all the windows. One is giving out all the time. What a difficult business living is, and how it seems to have so many more opportunities of going wrong than right. However, I seem to be wandering. And now I must go up to Pall Mall for my lunch, and read until I have a cup of tea, andHayward, John;a9 then back, and then to supper with John Hayward. Fairly serene, but not yet at ease with my life.
1.EH submitted her letter of resignation from Scripps College in June 1934.
4.E. MartinBrowne, Elliott Martin Browne (1900–80), English director and producer, was to direct the first production of Murder in the Cathedral: see Biographical Register.
11.JohnHayward, John Davy Hayward (1905–65), editor and critic: see Biographical Register.
4.FrankMorley, Frank Vigor Vigor Morley (1899–1980), American publisher and author; a founding editor of F&F, 1929–39: see Biographical Register.
2.Revd Francis UnderhillUnderhill, Revd Francis, Bishop of Bath and Wells, DD (1878–1943), TSE’s spiritual counsellor: see Biographical Register.