[22 Paradise Rd., Northampton, Mass.]
ThereChristianitythe Church Year;d8fatiguing;a9 are very few boats during the week after Christmas, and the ‘Washington’ is the best that I can find. Tomorrow (Friday) IMorleys, theTSE's New Years celebrated with;d5 have to go down to the Morleys for the weekend: my last weekend in the country, I hope, for several months; but a duty, as they have come to expect me annually on New Year’s Eve; andMorley, Frank Vigorheads for New York and Baltimore;h4 particularly this year as Frank is going to New York and Baltimore for some weeks, towards the end of January.
ChristmasSt. Stephen's Church, Gloucester RoadChristmas at;a6 fatiguing, of course, with the combination of secular and religious duties. AfterChristianityliturgy;b9over Christmas;b5 the Midnight Mass I got to bed at 2.30 – then up in time to check the collections of the six morning masses before the 11 a.m. celebrations; andJanes, W. L.his Christmas dinners with TSE;a3 after that off (inEnglandLondon;h1its fogs;a5 the thickest fog of the year) to Janes’s for dinner. Janes very merry, dressed in his tail coat; and Mrs. Webster cooked the joint of Scotch beef and the pudding; and we had Bass with it; and, after dinner, glasses of neat whisky in lieu of coffee! I got away at a quarter to four, went to the club and dozed, andHayward, JohnChristmas Day with;h8 then had a cold supper with John Hayward. JohnTandy, Geoffreyand the original 'Cats' broadcast;c1 reportedBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)Christmas Day 'Cats' broadcast;b2 that Tandy’s recital of Practical Cats on the wireless was quite good – this was confirmed later by one of the curates who listened to it and says he loves cats. OnTandys, theTSE's Hampton weekends with;a1 Sunday, after lunch, I bustled out on a very cold damp day to the Tandys in Hampton1 and spent the night – getting up at 7 on Monday morning to walk two miles to a church where there was an early mass for St. John the Evangelist’s Day – came back to London after lunch and after a cup of tea at the Gloucester Road Station refreshment room dressed for dinner andFabers, theSchool for Scandal with;e1 trapsedQueen's Theatre, Thepresents Guthrie's School for Scandal;a1 [sic] out to Hampstead to get to the Fabers at 6.15 for fireworks before a family dinner, and the whole family, including two of Enid’s sisters, went to ‘The School for Scandal’, veryGielgud, JohnTSE takes against;a1 well done indeed with a star company, but I do not like John Gielgud at all.2 Tuesday up for mass for the Holy Innocents, and went to the office after lunch, only to find that it did not open till Wednesday, and no one had informed me – opened a belated crop of Christmas cards – went to the club for tea: up early on Wednesday for mass of St. Thomas of Canterbury; and went to bed at half past nine and didn’t get up till nine this morning. IFamily Reunion, TheTSE on writing;b4 have done a few pages of the play these last three mornings, however. The weekend will not be very restful, because one can’t expect to get to bed till after midnight on New Year’s Eve, and the first of January is a holy day (Feast of the Circumcision); and I shall not get back to work again until Tuesday morning. After that I really ought to be able to finish the play in about a month; and then begin on re-writing.
IHale, Emilybirthdays, presents and love-tokens;w2TSE given diary and hairbrush box;d6 have received a very handsome diary with a sweet card from you, which I shall keep at home; and also a handsome green leather oval box arrived mysteriously from the Time Book Club, with the enclosed card. Is it from you? My conjecture is that it is to keep my hairbrush in; it does fit my hairbrush exactly, and I can only think that you must have measured my hairbrush, when I was at Stamford House, and had this box built to fit it. But I should like to be assured on this point. Anyway, it makes a very fine hairbrush box; and thank you, my dear, for all your careful planning for my Christmas.
I wait eagerly for news of your Christmas; and I hope that you have had a few restful days in New Bedford, before beginning your work again. (I wrote once to 39 Brimmer Street, and once to New Bedford, the last letter before this). Christmas is not what it should be; it is tiring for everyone; but especially so for those who are wishful to observe their duties toward God, and at the same time conscientious of their duties toward the world; I only hope that it has brought you some spiritual refreshment to compensate the inevitable fatigue. I wish that Christmas did not also involve a space of time (due to several causes, duties, moving about, and infrequency of mail boats) between our letters.
My next letter will sail on Jan. 6th on the Europa. This will sail on New Year’s Eve, and it takes with it all my prayers for you for the New Year. God bless you, my dear.
1.The Tandys lived at Hope Cottage, 82 High Street, Hampton-on-Thames, Middlesex.
2.Tyrone Guthrie directed The School for Scandal at the Queen’s Theatre, London, with John Gielgud as Joseph Surface. The company included Harcourt Williams, Harry Andrews, Michael Redgrave, Peggy Ashcroft, George Devine, Athene Seyler and Alec Guinness.
2.JohnGielgud, John Gielgud (1904–2000), distinguished actor and theatre director. Knighted in 1953; awarded Legion of Honour, 1960; created Companion of Honour, 1977; Order of Merit, 1996.
11.JohnHayward, John Davy Hayward (1905–65), editor and critic: see Biographical Register.
4.W. L. JanesJanes, W. L. (1854–1939), ex-policeman who worked as handyman for the Eliots. Having been superannuated from the police force early in the century, he worked for a period (until about 1921) as a plain-clothes detective in the General Post Office. TSE reminisced to Mary Trevelyan on 2 Apr. 1951: ‘If I ever write my reminiscences, which I shan’t, Janes would have a great part in them’ (‘The Pope of Russell Square’). TSE to Adam Roberts (b. 1940; godson of TSE), 12 Dec. 1955: ‘I … knew a retired police officer, who at one period had to snoop in plain clothes in the General Post Office in Newgate Street – he caught several culprits, he said’ (Adam Roberts). HisJanes, Ada wife was Ada Janes (d. 1935).
4.FrankMorley, Frank Vigor Vigor Morley (1899–1980), American publisher and author; a founding editor of F&F, 1929–39: see Biographical Register.
2.GeoffreyTandy, Geoffrey Tandy (1900–69), marine biologist; Assistant Keeper of Botany at the Natural History Museum, London, 1926–47; did broadcast readings for the BBC (including the first reading of TSE’s Practical Cats on Christmas Day 1937): see Biographical Register.