[No surviving envelope]
I have not written for three! weeks: when I go up to town on Tuesday I shall send a cable (Western Union, if I have time to get round there) of explanation which will convey the Christmas greeting as well. JustShamley Wood, SurreyTSE quarantined from;b3 over a fortnight ago, I returned from a busy week in town, and by the next morning had developed the current influenza. The regular doctor was away with it himself; as by the Monday, when he came to see me, I was no better, but rather worse, under the mild ministrations and camphor juleps of his substitute (who, like most substitute doctors nowadays, was an elderly retired practitioner living in the neighbourhood) he decided to pack me off – for the first time in my long life, in an ambulance! – to a local nursing home a couple of miles away. I was very glad of this, for one does not like having an infectious illness in a house with two old ladies, one of whom is a Christian Scientist; and the nursing home was very pleasant, and Miss Flint who runs it very efficient. It is only a small cottage with none of the usual sanatorial atmosphere, but comfortable. There I was treated with M. & B., to which I responded well; and I have now been back at Shamley for several days. There were only two outs about the home: one, that there was another patient recovering from double pneumonia in a room which could only be entered by passing through mine. One doesn’t notice this while very ill, but later it becomes irksome knowing that somebody may come in at any moment. IEducational Reform bill (1944 Education Act)TSE fears being asked about;a3 was particularly terrified of the local vicar, who came constantly to see the other patient, for fear he should feel it his duty to comfort me and perhaps want to talk about the Education Bill and even ask me to contribute to his parish magazine (Miss Flint did hint that something would be welcome) but he did not molest me. The other out is that Miss Flint likes to introduce her convalescent guests to each other, to cheer each other up with a little society; so I had, later, rather more than I wanted of the company of a poor little pathetic orphan WAAF, who, not having a very stout constitution, had rather broken down under the strain of radio-location. TheBehrens, Margaret Elizabeth (née Davidson)takes refuge from Shamley's dogs;a9 Field Marshal (Margaret Behrens) has become practically a permanent resident of this home, having left Shamley Wood ‘to get away from the dogs’ – though one of the dogs is here (however, it is a peke which she bought for somebody else and then couldn’t get rid of, and I admit that it is the least offensive of all the five). She taps away on a typewriter at her reminiscences of France in 1941, though I fear that they are already too late for the market for this kind of memoir.
IFabers, the;g2 am feeling pretty well now. I shall try London for two nights before Christmas: it will not be very comfortable, as Mrs. Pyatt won’t be able to come as her father has just died, and the Fabers won’t be there till after Christmas, so I must do my own breakfast unless I can coax the housekeeper of 24 to get it for me. But there are one or two things I must go up for. I shall not go to early church tomorrow, though I rather particularly like (apart from the obligation) the early service at this time of year in complete darkness except for two candles. IChurch of South India controversy;a6 am trying to clear up a few arrears; after that I must leave such matters as South India and the Education Bill to look after themselves, andUniversity College of North Walesbut subsequently prepares lectures on Dr Johnson;a2 devoteJohnson, Dr Samuelimbibed for lecture;a5 myself to literary criticism – my'Johnson as Critic and Poet';a1 lectures on Johnson.
After a long interval, four letters have arrived within a week: three (Oct. 22, 15 and 29) to Miss Flint’s, and November 9 since my return to Shamley. They form a serial which leaves off at a tantalising point: the collapse of your landlady, which leaves me wondering how you have been looking after yourself since then, and whether you have had to leave the house. I was distressed (1) by your not being able to leave Boerre, and by the incidental difficulties and adventures (2) by your having always to take your evening meal out. I suppose this is now quite a usual thing, but I don’t like it: at the end of a tiring day, or if you don’t feel very well, it is not good to have to go out for a meal in all weathers, and come back in the dark. It is restless. Now I must address you again at Commonwealth Avenue, and must wait again in weekly hope of hearing of a new and I hope better situation. Concord sounds a pleasant place to be, and I am sorry you have to leave it, and I wish you could have had another opportunity of working with the same girls: the first time, not knowing the girls, or the people at the school, must be very difficult. I can read between the lines more difficulties than you speak of. IHale, Emilyas director ('producer');v9Quality Street;a8 don’t know Quality Street1 (justFabers, thetake TSE to Admirable Crichton;g3 before I was ill, I went with the Fabers – toFaber, Anncompletes preparations as Wren;a9 celebrateBarrie, Sir James Matthew ('J. M.')The Admirable Crichton;b2 Anne’s [sc. Ann’s] completion of her preparation as a WREN2 before she is posted – to a revival of The Admirable Crichton3 – good actors are not in abundance at present, and these were like a lot of efficient and practised but mis-cast amateurs – what a bitter play it is – I had not remembered or realised, not having seen it since I was very young, that the Admirable Crichton himself comes to appear no nobler character than anybody else). IBarrie, Sir James Matthew ('J. M.')his estate;a8 don’t know who Barrie’s executors are, and I do not know how anything could be done about the release of his plays for war purposes. IBarrie, Sir James Matthew ('J. M.')Peter Pan;b1 seem to remember that his dispositions were pretty complicated – Cynthia Asquith was to get the royalties for Peter Pan, and others others,4 and it would no doubt be necessary to get the consent of all the beneficiaries. Unless one found somebody who knew the people well, I should think the only way would be for some association or public body to make the appeal formally.
Your account of the birthday party suggested old times, and I am so glad that everyone was at their best; butPerkins, Dr John Carroll (EH's uncle)altered with age;f5 I am very sad over your account (but not surprising from what you have said before) of what is the usual situation. No doubt both you and your uncle have changed; and he will not have appreciated either this change in you or the change in himself – and his inability to see the latter makes it the more impossible for him to see the former. I fear that that is what often happens to people in old age: our adult life is marked by our being conscious of the changes in ourselves; and perhaps, when we are old, we change as children do, without knowing what is happening, only this time, alas, the change is not development. One hopes not to be so oneself, but who can tell what will happen when so much of the cause is physical? I cannot imagine your uncle as ever wholly losing that exceptional charm which endeared him to all kinds and conditions of people, I remember so well, at Campden; but perhaps it only flashes out, when some special occasion, like this party, stimulates him. I do not know what consolation I can offer: all I can give is, I hope, understanding sympathy.
ISheffield, Ada Eliot (TSE's sister);k2 do appreciate all your attentions in connexion with Ada’s death and funeral, to Sheff and to others. YouEliot, Margaret Dawes (TSE's sister)Henry describes moving house for;c9 probably did not know when you wrote, but will by now have heard from me, of the anxieties, exasperations and fatigue from Margaret’s removal, which wore Henry out. He seems to have been fit for nothing for some time afterwards. PerhapsSheffield, Alfred Dwight ('Shef' or 'Sheff')as correspondent;b8 IMcPherrin, Jeanette;e8 had better return the letter from Sheff and that from Jeanie herewith. (Sheff always writes in a strange formal jargon, but he is sincere and cordial!)
This letter was interrupted by a visit from the doctor, who now tells me that he doesn’t want me to go to London for another week – that is, until after Christmas. This is very annoying, but in view of the weather and the fact that I should have to do for myself at Russell Square, I do not feel disposed to disobey.
So I must send my cable from Shamley. I shall pray that you may have at least the one day of peace and affection, without the strain of domestic relationships.
YouPerkins, Edith (EH's aunt);f7 have not yet explained your strange remark about your aunt outliving you. But I do not seem to have had any letter from Milton.
1.EH directed at Concord Academy a production of Quality Street, a four-act play by J. M. Barrie (first produced in 1911).
2.Members of the Women’s Royal Naval Service, the female branch of the Royal Navy, were officially known as Wrens.
3.The Admirable Crichton: popular comic play by J. M. Barrie (1902).
4.TSE is mistaken. Lady Cynthia Asquith (1887–1960), novelist and diarist, who had been J. M. Barrie’s personal secretary in his last years, was the beneficiary of the bulk of his estate; but Barrie bequeathed the rights in Peter Pan to the Great Ormond Street Hospital, London.
5.SirBarrie, Sir James Matthew ('J. M.') James Barrie, Bt, OM (1860–1937), Scottish novelist and dramatist; world-renowned for Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up (1904).
4.MargaretBehrens, Margaret Elizabeth (née Davidson) Elizabeth Behrens, née Davidson (1885–1968), author of novels including In Masquerade (1930); Puck in Petticoats (1931); Miss Mackay (1932); Half a Loaf (1933).
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).’
AnnFaber, Ann Faber (1922–78) was born and registered in Hampshire: her mother would teasingly refer to her as a ‘Hampshire hog’. She was a boarder at Downe House School, Berkshire, and read history at Somerville College, Oxford (where she became engaged to Alan Watt, who was to be killed at El Alamein). After Oxford, she spent time with the Wrens in Liverpool. Following her military service Ann was employed as secretary by the classical scholar Gilbert Murray in Oxford. She then moved to London where she worked for the family firm in editorial and publicity, as well as writing and publishing a novel of her own, The Imago. However, in Aug. 1952 she suffered a life-changing accident when she crashed her motorcycle, which resulted in the loss of the use of her left arm. (In the mid-1960s she was still doing a little freelance work for Faber, reading manuscripts for Charles Monteith and – in 1967 – arranging a lunch party at her home for the science fiction writers James Blish and Brian Aldiss and their wives.) In Apr. 1958 she married John Corlett, who had two children – Anthony and Brione – from his first marriage, which had ended in divorce. Ann and John did not have children of their own. In the early to mid-1960s Ann and John spent some weeks or months of most years in the West Indies. John had launched and Ann helped with a business called Inter-Continental Air Guides: their firm sold advertising space to hotels and other tourist destinations for inclusion in guidebooks which Ann compiled. In 1966 Ann and John moved from their flat in Highgate to Wiltshire. In the late 1960s or early 1970s John contracted polio while on a work trip to Hong Kong. He became a paraplegic and for the remainder of Ann’s life she was his primary carer, with financial assistance from her mother. During all the years that she had her own property, whether in London or in Wiltshire, Ann’s great love was her garden. Ann died of cancer in March 1978. John survived her by two or three years.
2.JeanetteMcPherrin, Jeanette McPherrin (1911–92), postgraduate student at Scripps College; friend of EH: see Biographical Register.
3.DrPerkins, Dr John Carroll (EH's uncle) John Carroll Perkins (1862–1950), Minister of King’s Chapel, Boston: see Biographical Register.
2.AdaSheffield, Ada Eliot (TSE's sister) Eliot Sheffield (1869–1943), eldest of the seven Eliot children; author of The Social Case History: Its Construction and Content (1920) and Social Insight in Case Situations (1937): see Biographical Register.
8.AlfredSheffield, Alfred Dwight ('Shef' or 'Sheff') Dwight Sheffield (1871–1961) – ‘Shef’ or ‘Sheff’ – husband of TSE’s eldest sister, taught English at University School, Cleveland, Ohio, and was an English instructor, later Professor, of Group Work at Wellesley College. His publications include Lectures on the Harvard Classics: Confucianism (1909) and Grammar and Thinking: a study of the working conceptions in syntax (1912).