[22 Paradise Rd., Northampton, Mass.]

T. S.Eliot
EmilyHale
TS
[Blank page]
6
26 September 1939

Fig.1. Censor reading this letter.
Dear Lady

I was delighted to get your letter of the 18th, which arrived yesterday, withMorley, Frank Vigorfirst wartime letter from;i7 one from Frank presumably by the same route: I have no news yet from any of my family. Your news, what there is of it, is very welcome; and I am glad that you have had a few days at the sea with friends before beginning the grind of pupils. ThisCheetham, Revd Ericremembers TSE's birthday;d9 morning the vicar came up to wish me happy returns – either he had made a note of it or you had reminded him. ISt. Stephen's Church, Gloucester Roadvestry goings-on;a2 have just written a letter sacking the organist, and another recommending a curate for a job at Ely: that is one of the kinds of occupation for the moment – and I must go presently to see how big an overdraft the church will need. We were hard at it at Golders Green on Saturday and Sunday: two days of about ten hours continuous talk each. ReinholdNiebuhr, Reinholdspeaks passionately;a3 Niebuhr in good form (he is giving Gifford lectures in Edinburgh) and very anti-German; several others spoke well. Yesterday afternoon business committee, andOldham, Josephwhich meets;c9 in the evening a committee with Oldham at Hambleden’s. TonightPickthorn, Kenneth;a7 dinner with Pickthorn. ThisRichardses, thehost TSE before departing Magdalene;b1 weekend at Cambridge. I am still finding it difficult to get down to a routine, with regular reading: there are so many odds and ends; butreading (TSE's)City of God;f7 Ireading (TSE's)St. John of the Cross;f8 haveSt. AugustineCity of God;a1 itSt. John of the Crosswartime reading;a7 much on my mind to read St. Augustine’s City of God, and to get back to St. John of the Cross, who is always grist for my little mill. Your blue tie has been admired on two occasions by the right people; your steamer letter I keep in my pocket, as I hardly expect another quite like it for some time! IHale, Irene (née Baumgras);c2 applaud your attitude about Aunt I.,1 but remember that you must learn to preserve yourself, and with the minimum disturbance of your calm. Firmness, with people like that, is not only necessary to defend oneself; it is good for them too, and provides something that they need, even when they think they don’t like it. I must go on to my church business now, but will write again this week.

Your
T.

1.Irene Hale.

Cheetham, Revd Eric, TSE's rent to, as landlord at 9 Grenville Place, asks TSE to be churchwarden, to which TSE agrees, invited to Sweeney Agonistes, taken ill, offers prayers for EH's passage, his pageant for Mothers' Union, on London colds, given wine for Christmas, possible flatmate, pleased to welcome EH, advice in case of fire, unfolds tale of French holiday, and St. Stephen's wartime finances, remembers TSE's birthday, indifferent to rationing, during Blitz, paid to house TSE's books, starts lending library in tube, living in modern penthouse, TSE drafts testimonial letter for, hosts TSE in penthouse, his testimonial, requests TSE's presence for Bishop of London, by whom he is chastened, and Elvaston Place, exhausted by war, prevented from giving TSE customary birthday greeting, one of TSE's few intimates, TSE on, hounded by Time, and the Bishop of Tokyo, retires under doctor's orders, TSE's outgoing tribute and succession, apparently in Hong Kong, leaves affairs in a mess, insouciant letter to parishioners,

4.RevdCheetham, Revd Eric Eric Cheetham (1892–1957): vicar of St Stephen’s Church, Gloucester Road, London, 1929–56 – ‘a fine ecclesiastical showman’, as E. W. F. Tomlin dubbed him. TSE’s landlord and friend at presbytery-houses in S. Kensington, 1934–9. See Letters 7, 34–8.

Hale, Irene (née Baumgras), descends on Campden, TSE on, compared to Mrs Perkins, EH reaches limit with, and Orlando and the parrots, EH's relations with, shares EH's Oxford lodgings, oppresses EH, her effect on Campden life, menaces Chipping Campden, descends on EH in Northampton, in Northampton, decamps from Northampton, taken less seriously by EH, not to be indulged, less exhausting than Mrs Perkins, yet still exhausting, indifferent to hardships of relations,

3.IreneHale, Irene (née Baumgras) Hale, née Baumgras, widow of Philip Hale, celebrated as the prolific and influential music critic of the Boston Herald. Irene Hale, who was herself an accomplished pianist, had studied at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where she gained the Springer Gold Medal 1881, and continued with her studies in Europe under Raif and Moritz Mosckowski: she later wrote music under the name Victor Rene.

Morley, Frank Vigor, TSE on sharing an office with, Criterion monthly meeting regular, returns from New York, indispensable in proofing Selected Essays, Criterion lunch in company with, joins farewell lunch for Hodgson, offers TSE post-separation refuge, acts for TSE during separation, spirits TSE away to Surrey, on TSE at Pike's Farm, as châtelain, acting as TSE's courier, on TSE's relationship to children, music-hall evening with, suggests tour of Scotland, which he plans out, suggests trip to Paris, thanks Joyce for hospitality, on TSE's 1933 tour of Scotland, negotiating for Ulysses, his absence means more work, treasured and missed, gets on famously with Ada, mercifully returned to F&F, produces birthday-cake, peacekeeper between Rowse and Smyth, in on Sherlock Holmes prank, encourages TSE to go to Finland, on TSE's 1935 tour of Scotland, and TSE drink GCF's whisky, takes TSE to Wimbledon, monopolises typewriter for joint story, as tennis-player, overawes GCF, TSE and EH's elected emergency go-between, good with thrusting young authors, backs publication of Nightwood, helps deal with Joyce, naturally projects strength, his French, escapes Criterion gathering to catch last train home, unusually subdued among the French, submits his Johnson Society paper, depends on TSE, on TSE's 1937 tour of Scotland, which Morley describes, two nights' sleep in a caravan with, potential reader for Family Reunion, his father dies, Spender discussed with, sends TSE corrected Anabasis, heads for New York and Baltimore, his energy, returns from America, visiting dying mother, shoulders burden of EP, insufficiently honours EP, Boutwood Lectures submitted to, accepts Harcourt Brace position, what his leaving F&F will mean, taken to tea with Woolfs, remembers EH taking priority, first wartime letter from, which reports on TSE's family, sounds depressed in America, sounds less depressed to GCF, among TSE's closest friends, his conversation missed, on Christian Society's American reception, suspected of indiscretion, EH explains 'Defence of the Islands' to, indifferent to Cats, entrusted with emergency Dry Salvages, America's effect on, gives Henry MS of 'Yeats', suggests 'Night Music' over 'Kensington Quartets', Ada too ill to see, his use of 'poised', puts TSE up in New York, on TSE's 1947 New York stay, presently unemployed, but inherits Graham Greene's job,
see also Morleys, the

4.FrankMorley, Frank Vigor Vigor Morley (1899–1980), American publisher and author; a founding editor of F&F, 1929–39: see Biographical Register.

Niebuhr, Reinhold, talks theology for seven hours, TSE on, speaks passionately, offers paper on adolescence, commended to EH, at the Moot, reminds TSE of Babbitt, dines with TSE in Princeton, Human Nature,

3.ReinholdNiebuhr, Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971), influential theologian, ethicist, philosopher, and polemical commentator on politics and public affairs: see Biographical Register.

Oldham, Joseph, lunches with TSE, convenes discussion of contemporary Christianity, at the Unemployment Conference, éminence grise in Council for Life and Work, hearing improved, spearheading anti-Nazi Church movement, puts TSE up to BBC talk, sent TSE's Revelation contribution, which he prizes, organises Lambeth Council, initiates 'Moot', and the Moot, first Moot meeting, bewails mankind, anointed reader of Boutwood Lectures, founds new wartime committee, which meets, sent drafts for CNL, as editor of CNL, views diverge from those of TSE, pleased with TSE's education supplement, needs holiday, convenes education group meeting, propagates yet another religious body, his style, to meet Michael Roberts, Church, Community and State,
see also Oldhams, the

8.JosephOldham, Joseph (‘Joe’) Houldsworth Oldham (1874–1969), missionary, adviser, organiser: see Biographical Register.

Pickthorn, Kenneth, among TSE's Corpus 'friends', hosts TSE in Cambridge, described for EH, politically in sympathy with TSE,
see also Pickthorns, the

8.KennethPickthorn, Kenneth Pickthorn (1892–1975), historian and politician; Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge: see Biographical Register.

reading (TSE's), The Road Back, Hay Fever, sermons of Revd Dr William E. Channing, Racine's Bérénice, in general, the Bible, The Witch of Edmonton again, letters of other authors, a life of Mohammed, a life of Calvin, R. S. Wilson's life of Marcion the Heretic, Living My Life, French detective stories, French novels, recent books on economics and finance, the Epistles of St. Paul, The Lady of the Lake, Letters of Charles Eliot Norton, never deeply or widely enough, The Scarab Murder Case, translation of Dante, detective stories, Letters of Mrs Gaskell and Charles Eliot Norton, second-rate detective story, disinterestedly, for leisure, Vision of God, Faith of a Moralist, Newman's sermons, Birds of the Countryside, Modern Reader's Bible, The Face of Death, René Bazin's Charles de Foucauld, Charles Petrie's Monarchy, Thurber's My Life and Hard Times, Oliver's Endless Adventure (vol. 3), Madame Sorel's memoirs, book on French policing, detective story for committee, The League of Frightened Men, The Garden Murder Case, The Luck of the Bodkins, The House in Paris, The Life of Charles Gore, Middleton Murry's Shakespeare, Dr Goebbels for book committee, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, MS of German gunman in Chicago, Shakespeare, to replenish, Middlemarch, the Gospel, City of God, St. John of the Cross, psalm or two a day, Ibsen, Twenty Best Plays of the Modern American Theatre, poems submitted to Criterion, My Name is Million, psalms, especially Psalm 130, Edmund Burke, Lives of the Poets, Virgil,
Richardses, the, at the Eliots' tea-party, compared to the Pickthorns, host TSE for Cambridge weekend, on TSE's stay, treat TSE to G. C. Coulton and Shakespeare, TSE rewatches The Rock with, leaving England for Harvard, host TSE before departing Magdalene, wartime dinner with,
St. Augustine, City of God,
St. John of the Cross, and Miss Plunket Greene, in Burnt Norton, his obscurity, discussed at JDH's, in Sweeney and generally, on spiritual sin, wartime reading,
St. Stephen's Church, Gloucester Road, EH encouraged to visit, vestry goings-on, churchwarding at, Christmas at, receives TSE's BBC fee, two days' continuous prayer at, Christmas without, Lent without, wartime Easter at, in wartime, wartime Holy Week, TSE reduced to Sundays at, fundraising for,