[No surviving envelope]
Your good letter of the 12th arrived this morning, and I want to answer it, in part at least, at once. First of all, I am very sorry to hear of your increasing anxieties over your aunt and uncle. One could foresee this, of course; and I have been anxious about it – primarily, I admit, on your own account, as I have feared it might mean an increasing and lingering bondage for you, especially if you are to retire from professional work, which to some extent is a protection. I should expect your uncle to go first. I am not clear to what extent your aunt is incapacitated for ordinary activities, and whether she has enough resources in the way of interests which she can pursue. Blindness is a great test in this way, especially perhaps when the sufferer is too old to learn braille, and the other adaptations to the situation which make many blind folk appear so marvellous. I do not like to think of your having to spend some years, now, as an attendant upon her. After Dr. Jenkins’s death, will she have enough means to have an attendant, or not? Is she still able to entertain? I know that hospitality is one of her chief pleasures in life. Forgive me for prying; but I do very much want to know what sort of situation you foresee.
ByEliot, Abigail Adams (TSE's cousin);a8 thetravels, trips and plansTSE's 1947 summer in America;g1;a4 same post with your letter, came a note from Abby asking me to stay with them (I am not quite sure who ‘they’ are, but I imagine that Abby shares her house with a friend[)].1 That is probably the best headquarters I could have. Of course, I should be glad of an excuse to stay in Concord! but of course if there is anywhere quite near to Prescott Street2 (and Francis Avenue is near) I obviously ought to stay there. IHinkleys, the;f2 should not want to stay with the Hinkleys, for two reasons: one being that I expect Eleanor has her hands full looking after her mother, and they have such a fixed, self-contained way of life that a guest, in such circumstances might be a heavy burden; and the other reason is that they are too detached from our family for me to be happy with their company at such a time. IEliot, Dr Martha May (TSE's cousin);a9 don’t know Abby as well as Martha, but she has an Eliot feeling. But it is also means [sic] a great deal to me that 6 Hubbard Street should be possible, so that I may look forward to a weekend or so with you, perhaps two short visits. That, my dear, is the one bright spot in the prospect.
IEliot, Theresa Garrett (TSE's sister-in-law);d8 am sorry that Theresa has not been more forthcoming, and this time, on her account more than on yours! thinking of how lonely she is really, with apparently no relatives or close friends to depend upon. I suppose this is partly the result of twenty years with Henry.
IRichardses, the;b3 expect the Richards’s also would be glad to have me; they also are near, in Kirkland Street, and that would be a congenial environment in such circumstances.
IBrowne, Elliott Martinpossible revue for Mercury Theatre;e4 have not undertaken to do anything extra for Martin. I am very sceptical of his qualifications, or those of any of his associates, for devising a revue: it needs a kind of technique of which I should think he has no experience whatever. Even if I was plaint [sc. pliant] enough to consent, it is simply out of the question for the next six months; and even then, I should be foolish, with my limited time and leisure, to spend my energies on anything so ephemeral. Once I get down to it, a play of my own will take all of my attention for a year. ICheetham, Revd Eric;g7 shallSt. Stephen's Church, Gloucester Roadchurchwarding at;a5 approach Cheetham in Lent about the wardenship (for the annual Vestry election takes place soon after Easter). I do not in fact give much time to it – the other warden takes the chief responsibility for the accounts: but the responsibility alone is a burden. Twelve years is long enough: though I must remember that during the first years, which were difficult years for me, the position and duties were a great moral support to me. The present circumstances make it not only easy, but unquestionable, to refuse new requests: such as the constant demands that I should go abroad – to Italy, to Spain, to Belgium, to Denmark, and now to Buenos Aires! My last letter is from the Mayor of Florence. Some of these have a strong claim upon my conscience, too, in the present state of Europe.
AndHale, Emilyreligious beliefs and practices;x1the issue of communion;a8 now, my dear, I trust that, as you propose yourself, we can omit religious problems from our correspondence, on the ground that they can be much better discussed when we meet. Your promise, meanwhile, is sufficient. But I think you mistake, when you assume that I was not deeply moved by the love you expressed in your letter from Petersham. In another context, it would have made me ever so happy: but, as I said, it came to me with the implication that I had betrayed you, which seemed to me not only unjust, but to show a grave misunderstanding of my motives for criticising your conduct. I feel as strongly about that as ever; I am sorry, but I think that I was right and you were wrong: my consolation is the hope of being able to make you see my point of view when we meet. ForChristianitysacraments;d3Holy Communion;a1 I do not think that it is good for you to take the Sacrament without understanding what you are doing, and without understanding the meaning of ‘The Church’. But it is not true that I have changed. One never comes to the end of understanding anybody, because one never comes to the end of the possible new situations in which one may see them. But the person may have been the same all the time.
1.Abigail Adams Eliot (1892–1992): first cousin, sister of Frederick and Martha; pioneer of the nursery school movement. TSE to I. A. Richards, 21 Nov. 1946: ‘Sheff may have told you that my cousin Abigail Eliot, who lives near by in Francis Avenue, has also offered to have me, but I should like, if convenient, to spend some of the time with you and Dorothea in any case.’
2.84 Prescott Street, Cambridge, Mass.: Henry Eliot’s home.
4.E. MartinBrowne, Elliott Martin Browne (1900–80), English director and producer, was to direct the first production of Murder in the Cathedral: see Biographical Register.
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.
2.RevdEliot, Revd Christopher Rhodes (TSE's uncle) Christopher Rhodes Eliot (1856–1945) andEliot, Abigail Adams (TSE's cousin) his daughter Abigail Adams Eliot (b. 1892). ‘After taking his A.B. at Washington University in 1856, [Christopher] taught for a year in the Academic Department. He later continued his studies at Washington University and at Harvard, and received two degrees in 1881, an A.M. from Washington University and an S.T.B. from the Harvard Divinity School. He was ordained in 1882, but thereafter associated himself with eastern pastorates, chiefly with the Bulfinch Place Church in Boston. His distinctions as churchman and teacher were officially recognized by Washington University in [its] granting him an honorary Doctorate of Laws in 1925’ (‘The Eliot Family and St Louis’: appendix prepared by the Department of English to TSE’s ‘American Literature and the American Language’ [Washington University Press, 1953].)
1.DrEliot, Dr Martha May (TSE's cousin) Martha May Eliot (1891–1978), pediatrician: see Biographical Register.