[22 Paradise Rd., Northampton, Mass.]
Your most recent letter is that of Oct. 23 (numbered 9 – but the one before that, of Oct. 18, was also numbered 9: otherwise they are all in orderr[)]. IChristian News-Letter (CNL);a5 meant to write earlier in the week, but have to give one morning to business correspondence, and another to criticising a memorandum on Evacuation for the News Letter.1 IWoolfs, theTSE's Sussex stay with;e2 went to the Woolfs on Saturday morning:2 going anywhere by train is something of an adventure because you cannot be sure what train there will be for where until you get to the station. They had told me to take the 11.45 for Lewes, but I found that train was off, and I had to run very fast to catch the 11.28 for Brighton, where I changed. Of course, when I arrived at Lewes finally, there was no bus. I meant to take the bus because petrol is rationed, and one wants to spare one’s hosts’ supply: but although the trains are different the buses which formerly connected seem to stick to the same time table. So they had to fetch me after all. A pleasant quiet weekend, with wet gusty weather blowing leaves off the trees (which have turned a very fine brown this year) and a dish of late raspberries, which have been surprisingly late this year. LunchBell, Vanessahosts TSE and Woolfs at Charleston;a1 on Sunday with Virginia’s sister and family who live a little way off. The Woolfs have moved from Tavistock to Mecklenburgh Square, but now spend most of their time in Sussex. People find that they do not mind the darkness so much in the country. Why they have had no one billeted on them I do not know: the other house is full of members of the family. IOldham, Joseph;d3 had expected to come up on Sunday for an emergency meeting of Oldham’s in connexion with peace aims, but that was postponed, so I could stop until Monday. ItSociety of the Sacred Mission, Kelham Hall, Nottinghamshirecompared to weekend in Sussex;c1 was more restful than Kelham: thisFaber, Geoffreytakes TSE to Oxford;g9 weekendDragon School, OxfordTSE watches The Mikado at;a1 will not be so restful – IFaber, Thomas Erle ('Tom', TSE's godson)in school Mikado;b3 spend Saturday night at All Souls’ with Geoffrey, witnessing Tom’s performance in The Mikado in the afternoon,3 andStudent Christian Movementpoetry reading for;a1 come back Sunday morning in order to give a poetry reading for the S.C.M.4 in the afternoon.
IBoutwood Lectures (afterwards The Idea of a Christian Society)reception;b4 send separately the T.L.S. review, which you will see is a fine splash for them to give.5 The book has not moved very fast yet, having had only one other review, a rather dull one by Evelyn Underhill in Time and Tide:6 butOld Possum’s Book of Practical Catsbeing reprinted;d2 Cats are being reprinted! They have been selling at upwards of 200 a week, though they have had only two reviews. Frank has just sent me a copy of the American edition, which has a copy of the jacket bound inside it. Geoffrey hasMorley, Frank Vigorsounds less depressed to GCF;j1 just had a letter from him, more encouraging than the one I had: this gives the impression that although he is still very irritated by much about him, and the general attitude of people about Europe being that of spectators at a football match, he is settling down better and getting his mind in order. It is hard enough to do that here!
IDavis, Herbert;a1 was interested to hear of the appointment of your new President.7 IHayward, John;j6 don’t think I ever heard of him: I shall ask John Hayward, who is also an authority on Swift. If he is not coming for another year, I don’t suppose you will have anything more to report about him now. IEliot, Henry Ware, Jr. (TSE's brother)takes pleasure in shouldering Margaret;e6 amEliot, Margaret Dawes (TSE's sister)imposes on Henry;c6 vexed about Henry’s cold; he caught it, of course, helping Margaret move some furniture from storage to his basement. M. imposes on him a good deal; it is a standing grievance with the rest of the family, but I think he likes it. It is very trying to have this suspense prolonged. Welldogs'Boerre' (Norwegian Elkhound);b7taking unaccompanied exercise;c5 I suppose an active animal like Boerre has to be allowed out by himself, as you haven’t time to exercise him all day: I hope that he knows how to keep out of the way of cars and that you know enough not to worry about him.
Why do you say that you feel ‘neither one thing nor the other?’ [sic] Neither of what things? One must always be aware, I think, of one’s own negativity – the extent to which one is neither good nor bad, living from hand to mouth, mentally and spiritually slothful, killing time, influenced by circumstances. One does not appear quite that to others: it is worth while remembering (toChristianityvirtues heavenly and capital;e1distinguished from inferiority;d3 keep a right sense of humility from being infected by a wrong sense of inferiority) that to other people one seems a much more positive person than to oneself: they are probably more conscious of their own weakness than of yours, or if they are not, they are probably not conscious enough to see anything clearly. (I mean too, that understanding of other people goes with understanding of oneself, and the man who never sees himself clearly cannot see others clearly). Also, there is a sense I think in which what one really is is as much what one is to others as what one is to oneself. And every advance in spirituality brings with it its own new dangers, temptations and pitfalls.
AboutWare, Mary Leeincludes EH in will;c9 the Ware bequest, do you mean that the estate was smaller than anticipated, so that your inheritance was not so large as expected? or that this is half of what you will get altogether? Anyway, I am happy that you should have a little addition to your income. I, like everyone else, will know better where I stand after the new year: there will be many people, some with much larger incomes than mine, who will be more embarrassed than I; but I am glad that I had not just embarked on a larger scale of living in rooms of my own – this is not a time to tie oneself down to financial commitments. AsSecond World WarTSE refrains from commenting on;b1 forHale, Emilycorrespondence with TSE;w3constrained by war;g8 the war, I don’t know whether to talk about that or not: but as anything I have to say will consist of opinions, and not of information (of which I have but little anyway) I think I will try, in separate letters, to put down reflexions from time to time.
1.‘Evacuation – A Social Landmark’, Christian News-Letter, supp. 3 (15 Nov. 1939): CProse 5, 775–82.
2.VirginiaWoolf, Virginiaon TSE's wartime Sussex stay;d1n Woolf’s diary, 9 Nov.: ‘Oh, yes, Tom for the week end: more supple, less caked & rigid than of old. His teaching he told me, is that one improves with age. I suppose the working of the divine spirit which as usual he adored at 8 on Sunday morning, receiving communion from Mr Ebbs – who did not impress him’ (Diary 5, 245).
3.Geoffrey Faber’s diary, 11 Nov.: ‘TSE joined us after breakfast, & we drove down to Oxford. Picnic lunch at Copse side. The Mikado at Dragon School, with Tom [Faber] as Pitti Sing.’
4.Student Christian Movement.
5.‘A Christian Society: Mr Eliot on Ideals and Methods: Democracy’s Spiritual Problem’, TLS, 4 Nov. 1939, 640, 642.
6.Evelyn Underhill, ‘Poet-Prophets’ – on Idea of a Christian Society, and Charles Williams, The Descent of the Dove: A Short History of the Holy Spirit in the Church – Time & Tide, 4 Nov. 1939, 1417–18.
7.HerbertDavis, Herbert Davis (1893–1967).
6.VanessaBell, Vanessa Bell, née Stephen (1879–1961) – sister of Virginia Woolf; wife of Clive Bell – was an artist, illustrator and designer; member of the Bloomsbury Group. See Frances Spalding, Vanessa Bell (1979).
3.HenryEliot, Henry Ware, Jr. (TSE's brother) Ware Eliot (1879–1947), TSE’s older brother: see Biographical Register.
6.MargaretEliot, Margaret Dawes (TSE's sister) Dawes Eliot (1871–1956), TSE's second-oldest sister sister, resident in Cambridge, Mass. In an undated letter (1952) to his Harvard friend Leon M. Little, TSE wrote: ‘Margaret is 83, deaf, eccentric, recluse (I don’t think she has bought any new clothes since 1900).’
11.GeoffreyFaber, Geoffrey Faber (1889–1961), publisher and poet: see Biographical Register.
4.ThomasFaber, Thomas Erle ('Tom', TSE's godson) Erle Faber (1927–2004), TSE’s godson and principal dedicatee of Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, was to become a physicist, teaching at Cambridge, first at Trinity, then for fifty years at Corpus Christi. He served too as chairman of the Geoffrey Faber holding company.
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.
8.JosephOldham, Joseph (‘Joe’) Houldsworth Oldham (1874–1969), missionary, adviser, organiser: see Biographical Register.
3.MaryWare, Mary Lee Lee Ware (1858–1937), independently wealthy Bostonian, friend and landlady of EH at 41 Brimmer Street: see Biographical Register.
1.VirginiaWoolf, Virginia Woolf (1882–1941), novelist, essayist and critic: see Biographical Register.