[No surviving envelope]
I have your letter of January 21st, and am distressed that you had not heard from me for so long, especiallyHale, Emily Jose Milliken (EH's mother)final illness;c9 at a time when you have had such a distressing burden to bear all alone. I wish that I could be with you at this time, to share, if not to lighten it. I can only hope that now it will not be long, and will not be painful for her; and it is also for you that I pray in this crisis, in your great solitude. I know you have friends who will be altogether sympathetic and helpful, but that is not the same as having others who suffer directly as you do – brothers and sisters. ThisSheffield, Ada Eliot (TSE's sister)TSE on her final illness;k4 is therefore much harder to bear for you than Ada’s illness for me (though I sometimes think, if it could only have been postponed for two years – yet I never felt any regret at not having been able to visit her during the last illness: if I could have come before it, or if I could have been there at the end, that would be different). IPerkins, Edith (EH's aunt);h2 wish that Mrs. Perkins might be a little different – but that is wishing so much! And with the future so uncertain for you.
During19 Carlyle Mansions, Londonrefurbishments to;a5 the last fortnight – for it is a relief to speak of ordinary affairs – the flat has proceeded apace. JohnHayward, Johnhis furniture;m3 has been up for the day, and, with the assistance of four lady [sic] and one gentleman friend, has seen his furniture moved in. Since then my builder (who is ready to make himself useful in any way) has set up his bookcases and filled them with books, and is getting up the boards and runners for curtains and polishing the floors. The electricity and gas are on, but the gas heaters will be of no use until the gas company repair them; however, most of the rooms have points for electric heaters as well. The carpets may be down this week, and then the only need will be some temporary curtains. IMme Frenaydescribed;a1 have also engaged a housekeeper – the middle-aged Frenchwoman.1 As she is at Worthing, and can’t find a temporary room in London, I hope to have the kitchen ready, and her bedroom, first, put her in for a few nights, to give her time to see what stores are needed, and acquaint herself with the local shops; thenRothschild, Victor;a5 I shall take up residence myself, and John last of all, as Victor Rothschild needs him in Cambridge during most of February. It is a large flat, though I think, with all our books, we shall pretty well fill it; but I fear that the very long passage way will require some sort of heater when we can get it. I do not know what Madame Frenay’s cooking is like, for she has lived in England for twenty-five years, and since the death of her husband, she has usually been a nursery governess. But she seems a very practical, economical French type, not waspish and grumbly, who ought to be a good manager.
I'Preface' (to The Dark Side of the Moon)finished;a3 have been busy also with the preface to the book about Poland, which I have now finished,2 and'Unity of European Culture, The'proliferates into three broadcasts;a3 with turning one broadcast for Germany into three – I have done the first.3 AndBooks Across the SeaAGM;a4 this week brings some of the little jobs. The general meeting of Books Across the Sea, at last,4 andBooks Across the Seaand South Audley Street library;b8 I trust my last one; and also the opening of the new quarters in a public library in South Audley Street – IRoosevelt, Eleanorguest of honour at library-opening;a3 have to be there to greet the Mayor of Westminster, and the guests of honour, Mrs. Roosevelt and Miss Wilkinson, if they arrive.5 AndStudent Movement House, Gower Streetpoetry reading for;a2 a verse reading on Saturday night at the Student Movement House. NothingGwynne, M. Brookeimportunes another reading from TSE;b4, I think, in February, but in March I have to go to Pusey House (Oxford) to read some of the material for one of my books; and also, I have to do another reading for Moira Brook[e] Gwynne’s pupils at the Institute of Education. (At least, you can’t reproach me for the last item, as I only do it because of her being a friend of yours.) DidThorp, Margaret (née Farrand)F&F publish book by;b8 IThorp, Margaret (née Farrand)America at the Movies;c9 tell you that we are publishing Margaret Thorp’s book on the cinema this year?)6
The weather has been much milder – to-day foggy, but the sun came through later: so the gas pressure has been good. I am getting on pretty well in health, too. ThankPound, Ezrahis legal situation;d2 you for sending the cutting about Ezra:7 I file everything I get about his case, though it does not as a rule give me as good information as I receive privately (your reporter said he was translating Cicero – it was Confucius!) but I like to know what the American papers say. But the man Col. Donaghy seems intelligent and sympathetic.8 It is possible that the case will never be tried. The future will be hard for him in any case, though I dare say that political events in international politics will help to alter his status: though for every other reason they give rise to the gravest anxiety. I return at the end, my dear, to my thoughts of you in your great distress.
GoodHale, Emilyas director ('producer');v9Hay Fever;b4 luck to Hay Fever. 9 Surely my Xmas cable arrived?
1.TSEMme Frenay to John Hayward, 8 Jan. 1946: ‘I have interviewed Madame Frenay today, and was very well impressed. Her ailment was a cancer of the side, she says, but after five months in hospital her doctor declares her cured and fit to work. She is middle-aged, portly, and pleasant in manner and appearance. I have asked Miss Melton to get on to P. Codrington who has the references, and get her either to take them up or let me have the names and addresses. She has been a nursery governess until her illness, before that kept house until her husband died. P.C. told Miss M. the references looked excellent. Has three sons, one of them a farmer in Devon. Lived in this country since the last war. Knows London well and has friends. She wants £3 a week, says she cant do on less, and I should think she would easily get it. Seemed intelligent and claims to be a good cook, also prepared to do sewing etc.’
2.Preface to The Dark Side of the Moon (1946).
3.Die Einheit der europäischen Kultur (The Unity of European Culture): CProse 6, 709–35.
4.The annual general meeting of ‘Books Across the Sea’ took place on 18 Jan.
5.A collection of more than 2,400 ‘ambassador-books’ on all aspects of American life that had been acquired by the London branch of ‘Books Across the Sea’ was to be presented to the South Audley Street branch of the City of Westminster Libraries. TSE presided over the formal opening of the collection on 31 Jan. 1946: see his brief address ‘Presidential address for Books Across the Sea’, CProse 6, 790–1. The guest of honour, Eleanor Roosevelt, noted that the US–UK exchange of books was ‘a valuable contribution to the aims which the United Nations Organization has set out to achieve’. See ‘Books Across the Sea: Mrs Roosevelt as a valuable tie’, The Times, 1 February 1946, 7; Books Across the Sea Bulletin, Feb. 1946, 1–2.
6.Margaret Farrand Thorp, America at the Movies (F&F, 1946).
7.Not identified.
8.Lt. Colonel Donaghy and Capt. Manus were tasked to escort Ezra Pound by air from Rome to Bolling Field (U.S. Air Force Base), Washington, DC, on 18 Nov. 1945, prior to his trial.
9.EH was to direct Hay-Fever, by Noel Coward, for Concord Academy, 1–2 Mar. 1946.
An unidentified review (Scripps), signed ‘L.M.’, enthused: ‘The sprightly dialogue and whimsical situations were given their full value, and the play moved along at a brisk tempo carrying the audience with it. The actors, who one and all spoke their lines with quite unusual clearness of diction, without in any way sacrificing the characterization of their roles, moved with surprising ease and naturalness about the stage …
‘The cast must be sincerely congratulated on its excellent performance, while to Miss Hale, under whose direction the play was presented, is due the very warm appreciation her work deserves.’
4.M. BrookeGwynne, M. Brooke Gwynne, University of London Institute of Education – ‘a Training College for Graduate students’ – invited TSE on 19 Jan. to participate in their Weds.-morning seminar: ‘Emily Hale suggested that you might possibly consent to come to the Institute to talk to our students; otherwise I should have not felt justified in asking you … The teaching of poetry is the subject most hotly discussed & the subject we should like you to choose if possible.’
11.JohnHayward, John Davy Hayward (1905–65), editor and critic: see Biographical Register.
1.TSEMme Frenay to John Hayward, 8 Jan. 1946: ‘I have interviewed Madame Frenay today, and was very well impressed. Her ailment was a cancer of the side, she says, but after five months in hospital her doctor declares her cured and fit to work. She is middle-aged, portly, and pleasant in manner and appearance. I have asked Miss Melton to get on to P. Codrington who has the references, and get her either to take them up or let me have the names and addresses. She has been a nursery governess until her illness, before that kept house until her husband died. P.C. told Miss M. the references looked excellent. Has three sons, one of them a farmer in Devon. Lived in this country since the last war. Knows London well and has friends. She wants £3 a week, says she cant do on less, and I should think she would easily get it. Seemed intelligent and claims to be a good cook, also prepared to do sewing etc.’
3.Ezra PoundPound, Ezra (1885–1972), American poet and critic: see Biographical Register.
1.TheRothschild, Victor Hutchinsons’ daughter Barbara was engaged to be married, on 28 Dec. 1933, to Victor Rothschild (1910–90), who would become a Fellow of Trinity College Cambridge, 1935–9. In 1937 he was to succeed his uncle as 3rd Baron Rothschild.
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.
16.MargaretThorp, Margaret (née Farrand) Farrand (1891–1970), author and journalist – see Margaret Thorp in Biographical Register.