[No surviving envelope]
IShamley Wood, SurreyTSE's post-war week's holiday at;b8 am trying out this small typewriter again to see whether it is in good enough order to take down to Shamley on Friday: if it is, then I shall be able to write letters and not just brief scrawls. I shall be glad of a week in the country, as a respite after the fatigue of getting used to the old routine, which is felt after the arduous, but certainly not routine, life of these two months. IHayward, John;m6 shall ask John to forward any letters that come up to the last few days, in the hope that I shall not be a whole week and more without a word from you: the truth is that I am insatiable, and two days after a letter begin to feel as if I had not heard from you for weeks: so I hope you will practise yourself what you ask of me, and write very brief notes often, rather than long letters rarely. Yet on another hand I do want your news too, not only your health, but to understand as much of your daily life as is possible at such a distance. But what I most need, day to day, is the constant reassurance of your love, which always seems such an incredible gift that I sometimes tend to fear that I have merely dreamt it, and now I crave always more and more of your spiritual gifts to me. So remember that every word will make me better able to bear the grief of separation from you.
IHale, Emilyleaves TSE portrait in event of predeceasing him;p6 do not know whether I could bear possessing the pink portrait. ItEliot Houserepository for Eliotana;b8 gave me such a sharp ecstasy of pain to look at it even when you were near – what would it be if it meant that I should not see you again in my life? And yet I should want it to be with me and nowhere else. AndEliot, Henry Ware, Jr. (TSE's brother)as curator of Eliotana;e9 to whom should I leave it? except to Henry’s collection at Eliot House – that is where I should like it to find its last restingplace.
If I keep on writing as I do, you will perhaps begin to complain that I never tell you my news – or even that I am suppressing it! Still, I think you can bear it for a while; and I do not like to put any of my humdrum news into a letter of this kind. Iappearance (TSE's)hernia;b9described;a1 might observe, however, that I am thinking of having the hernia operation in October or November: my doctor says it only means two weeks in a nursing home;1 and19 Carlyle Mansions, LondonTSE's first home for years;b3 now, for the first time, I have a kind of home of my own in which I can idle if necessary for a week afterwards, and be looked after. MyMilton Academy, Boston;a4 hernia is very slight: I had it as a child, but from the time I went to Milton until I was examined for the American army I was supposed to be cured (andHarvard UniversityTSE's student bodybuilding regime at;b9 in the years when you first knew me I took a great deal of violent exercise and was very muscular, not the skeleton I am now).
I could get on quite well as I am; but during the fly-bomb period I always slept in my truss, for fear of being blasted and being unable to find it, and therefore not able to make any violent exertion; and that was uncomfortable: and if I live long enough I may see more wars and disasters, or end in a concentration camp, and it is as well to be prepared, so there may be a fortnight then during which I shall be unable to write, but I shall give you due warning when the time comes. My doctor is on holiday during September, and will take me to the specialist for examination on his return.
This machine is not so bad: it looks as if I should be able to write next week. But I hope, faintly, for another air-letter from you before Friday.
1.Valerie Eliot to Stephen Spender, 8 Oct. 1974: ‘Tom’s operation for double hernia was in 1947 not the fifties. He was born with this condition; rowing at Oxford corrected it, but it recurred when he led a sedentary life. During the war he was afraid he might lose his truss from blast when doing his duty as an air-raid warden and decided on surgical correction’ (EVE CC).
Initially scheduled for Jan. 1947, the operation was ultimately performed in July 1947.
3.HenryEliot, Henry Ware, Jr. (TSE's brother) Ware Eliot (1879–1947), TSE’s older brother: see Biographical Register.
11.JohnHayward, John Davy Hayward (1905–65), editor and critic: see Biographical Register.