The Letters of T. S. Eliot, Volume 1: 1898-1922 (27 page)

MS
Chicago

Monday [16 August 1915]

Eastern Point [Gloucester]

Dear Professor Woods

I forgot to answer your questions. The first notes I copied myself; the last were a duplicate of a copy ordered by a friend for himself. So there was no expense involved. I shall bring back
de
An
. and
Organon
.

R. P. Hardie
¹
is an authority on Greek Philosophy and I believe professes at Edinburgh, whether in a school or at St Andrews I do not know; nor do I know how rich he is. I don’t see why Harvard should not accept his offer; on the other hand I do not see any reason for his not taking the market price for the volumes.

Sincerely yours
T. S. Eliot

1–R. P. Hardie (1864–1942), Professor of Philosophy at Edinburgh University 

MS
Beinecke

4 September [1915]

Eastbourne
¹

Dear Scofield

I have just returned to England after my brief visit to my family in Gloucester. Now that I detach myself from the excitement and fluster of a hurried trip, I regret very much not having seen you. And, though I could not have come, I realise that my letter was a very shabby one. It was certainly very kind of you to ask me to Edgartown,
²
and I really should have enjoyed seeing you. However, I do hope it will not be very long before you exhaust the limited resources of New York society, and return to your proper environment in London. When that happens, I look forward to seeing a good deal of you. I hope you will write and tell me your plans very soon. My address (anyhow till Christmas) will be care of Bertie Russell, 34 Russell Chambers, Bury Street, w.c. He is lending us his flat for a time.
³

Do accept my regrets for a petty irritation which should have evaporated long before I wrote, and believe me

yours ever
Tom.

1–The Eliots were having a belated honeymoon, following TSE’s return from the US.

2–Believing that the USA was about to enter the war, Thayer had abandoned his planned thesis on Aesthetics and left Oxford in the summer, returning home to Edgartown, Mass.

3–Russell was allowing them to stay at his flat, and he was also there much of the time. Russell had first met VHE on 9 July 1915, two weeks after her marriage. He told OM by letter that VHE was ‘light, vulgar, adventurous, full of life’, and that ‘she says she married [TSE] to stimulate him, but finds she can’t do it’ (Texas). On 2 Aug. VHE wrote to Thayer that she was ‘popular with Tom’s friends’, particularly Russell: ‘He is all over me, is Bertie, and I simply love him’ (Beinecke). By the time TSE returned from the USA at the beginning of Sept., it was decided that the Eliots would move into the spare bedroom in Russell’s Bury Street flat: they stayed there until Christmas 1915. 

MS
Houghton

10 September [1915]

c/o British Linen Bank,
Threadneedle St, London
E.C.

My dear father,

I have written to mother by this mail, and you will see her letter.
¹
I said that I felt that my great mistake was in hurrying home before I had got your letters, and so failing to get a balanced view of the situation; and 
secondly in blundering into a change of plan which was unjustified and unnecessary.

I cannot say very much now, as I have been delayed in writing this and must get it off in a few minutes. I am thankful to have found High Wycombe
²
still open. Without Wellesley
³
too, we should have been almost entirely dependent upon you. I have put our position as clearly as I could. You will see that until January we shall be in urgent need of funds, and that we shall need some money very soon. We have planned a very economical mode of life, and Vivien’s resourcefulness and forethought are inexhaustible. We are not planning how to make living easier: the question is how to live at all.

I know that I have made matters hard for you by the blunders of which I spoke. Had I avoided them, I am sure that you would have felt at ease. Nevertheless, I feel that I shall make matters right by returning to my original course.

Always your affectionate son
Tom

I shall write again in a few days.
Will you ask mother to send my clothes on as soon as she can?

1–Not preserved.

2–For a salary of £140 a year with free dinners, TSE spent the winter term teaching French, mathematics, history, drawing and swimming at Wycombe Grammar School, High Wycombe.

3–Mary Whiton Calkins (1863–1930), Professor of Philosophy and Psychology at Wellesley College, had written to J. H. Woods on 17 June saying she wished to recommend TSE to her department for the purpose of directing ‘small divisions of students in introduction courses in philosophy and psychology’. He was offered the post but declined it. 

MS
McMaster

11 September [1915]

8 Hartington Mansions,
Eastbourne, Sussex

Dear Mr Russell,

Your letter
²
coming on top of all your other kindnesses, has quite overwhelmed me. Such generosity and encouragement means a great deal to me at present, above all coming from you. I have been intending to write 
to you ever since I got here, but have had so many and such worrying American letters to write, that I have been quite exhausted each day when I have done them.

When you first spoke to me about the flat, I was too overpowered by such a generous offer to discuss the practical details. Vivien and I both feel very strongly that, although you speak of our staying until Christmas, we wish it to be part of the arrangement that we should vacate the flat at any moment should you need it exclusively to yourself. Circumstances might alter your plans, and then we cannot endure the thought that you should hesitate to let us know. We shall keep this possibility always in view, so that you may feel assured that your flat is your own at any moment you want to have it.

As to your coming to stay the night at the flat when I am not there, it would never have occurred to me to accept it under any other conditions. Such a concession to conventions never entered my head; it seems to me not only totally unnecessary, but also would destroy for me all the pleasure we take in the informality of the arrangement.
³

I had been counting upon seeing you and having a talk with you in London before leaving for High Wycombe. Vivien understood from your letter that you would be staying Wednesday night in town, and it stupidly did not occur to me that you would be leaving so early Thursday as to prevent us seeing you. Otherwise we should not have consented to the arrangement to which we are now bound. I am so anxious to see you that I cannot help trying to persuade you to spend Wednesday night in Eastbourne. Is this possible? It would give us both great delight. Vivien is still so unwell, that we are having a doctor come to set our minds at rest; but by that time she ought to be much better, and in any case it would be a great satisfaction to us if I could see you.

Failing this, I might possibly be able to come up to town on Wednesday alone, in the hope of having the evening or afternoon with you, leaving Vivien to follow me on Thursday. If you cannot come to Eastbourne, and if you could see me in London, I shall try to do this. 

Hoping to hear from you, and hoping very much that you can spend Wednesday here,

Sincerely yours
Thomas Stearns Eliot

1–Bertrand Russell: see Glossary of Names.

2–Apparently not preserved. ‘As they were desperately poor, I lent them one of the two bedrooms in my flat [in London], with the result that I saw a great deal of them. I was fond of them both, and endeavoured to help them in their troubles until I discovered that their troubles were what they enjoyed’ (Russell,
Autobiography
, II, 19). TSE spent the weekdays at High Wycombe.

3–Fearing that Russell and VHE were or might become lovers, Russell’s ex-mistress OM wrote to him on 9 Sept., ‘I don’t think it would
help her
and help towards making the Eliot life happier to let her fall in love with you.’ She feared he was ‘separating her from Eliot’ and ‘running a great risk’. BR replied on 10 Sept. that he ‘would not for the world have any scandal & as for the Eliots it is the purest philanthropy’. He averred he was ‘fond of [TSE], & really anxious to be of use to him’. 

MS
Professor David G. Williams

[11 September? 1915]

c/o British Linen Bank,
Threadneedle St, London
E.C.

Dear Professor Woods,

I have returned to England, and have finally decided to remain here for the winter. I found Mrs Eliot in very poor health; the strain upon her this summer has been very great, and I should not wish to expose her to the hardships of a winter in a foreign country under such conditions. And, after looking at the matter from both sides of the ocean, I think that it is better to stick to my original plan. Of course it would be an advantage to work directly under the eye of the department. But as I was so near to coming up for my degree over a year ago, I feel that it would be a proof of incapacity were I to take such an advantage to be a necessary condition of satisfactory work. The headmaster of my school understands my situation, and will make it possible for me to have as much time to myself as I should have had if I had taken on work at Wellesley and at Harvard too.

I shall return to take examinations either in the spring or in the fall. May I send on parts of my thesis, from time to time, for inspection and criticism? I propose to offer Ancient Philosophy (through Aristotle), Modern Philosophy (both parts), Psychology, and out of the second division Logic and either Theory of Knowledge or Ethics. I should very much appreciate the kindness if I might have hints from the examiners in regard to the extent and detail of knowledge expected in these fields.

I hope that you will forgive me if I delay sending you the
de Anima
notes for a time; as I shall be too busy to copy them for a month or two. Of course, if Hardie can send you the Zabarella, you will not want my notes.

I hope that you will sometimes find time to write me a line of news or advice – I want to keep as closely in touch with the department as I can. I am very grateful to you – more than I can tell you – for your advice in the past, and for the interest you have taken in my affairs and the kindness you have shown.

Sincerely yours
Thomas Stearns Eliot

MS
Houghton

27 September 1915

c/o Mrs Toone, Sydney Cottage,
Conegra Road, High Wycombe,
Bucks

My dear Father,

I had been hoping to have letters from you this week, but [as] I infer from your telegraphing to the Haigh-Woods and to Pound that you had not yet received any letter from me, I cannot feel certain of getting one for another week. I supposed that my first cable would let you know that I had found it advisable to stay here. You were prepared, I know, for the possibility, and I felt certain that you would be sure that if I were ill I should send you word. Mr Haigh-Wood telegraphed the cable to me, and I cabled at once to reassure you; but I suppose from your cabling to Pound that you never received my cable. I am sorry that you cabled to him, because he is not the sort of person whom I wish to be intimate with my affairs. He has shown a keen interest in my career; and has been and will be useful; but my acquaintance with him is primarily professional.

You will know by this time what the situation is, and that my course of action is well considered – as I could not have shown in a cable – and the one which promises the most happiness, if present embarrassment is got over. I have had a week of the school work, and am beginning to get into the routine. Tuesday and Thursday I am free for the whole afternoon; Monday, Wednesday and Friday after half-past-four. At the beginning the work demands some thought and planning: and every school has its own system, which has to be learned by being used. I arrive at half past nine; have classes till quarter to one; return here for lunch, and (on the three days) go again to the school for two classes of forty minutes each. The boys are of various ages and abilities; I have found the two upper classes quite good at French, the middle boys indifferent at history; and the small boys capable of being interested. The chief difficulty is the presence in the same class of new boys, some knowing much and some little. Wycombe is a place which will do very well for a time.

I shall have time enough to do my work for the degree, but am at present harassed by the question of money. My deposit is reduced to almost nothing, as it is all that I have at present to live upon. If no money comes from you at the end of a fortnight I shall be forced to cable, as I shall be reduced to the last pound by the time you get this. I hate to
cable
for money; though it could come through the British Linen Bank, to be delivered to me in person. I cannot settle down to work upon the degree without the certainty of at least the necessary minimum. You know that I 
should but for the degree have devoted my spare time to writing, which would have pieced out my income. So I must make it clear to you exactly how I am placed now, without waiting for your letter.

I am getting this off at once because I wish you to know, when I do cable, that it is because I am absolutely forced to do so.

Always Your Affectionate son
Tom.