The Letters of T. S. Eliot, Volume 1: 1898-1922 by T. S. Eliot Page B
Authors: T. S. Eliot
Ads: Link
get up sympathy with Sex Hygiene. It is a questionable fad.
I do not approve of public instruction in Sexual relations. When I teach my children to avoid the Devil I don’t begin by giving them a letter of introduction to him and his crowd. I hope that a cure for Syphilis will never be discovered. It is God’s punishment for nastiness. Take it away and there will be more nastiness, and it will be necessary to emasculate our children to keep them clean.
So there!
Yr
H
1–Unidentified, but probably Thomas Dawes Eliot.
FROM His Father
MS Houghton
11 April 1914
[St Louis]
My dear Tom:
I am much pleased that you have rec[eive]d the Scholarship,1 on ac[coun]t of the honor, as you couldn’t get it unless you deserved it. You have never been a ‘burden’ to me, my dear fellow. A parent is always in debt to a son who has been as dutiful and affectionate as you have been.
Yrs.
P.
1–On 31 Mar., the President and Fellows of Harvard University had appointed TSE a Sheldon Fellow in Philosophy for the academic year 1914–15. He planned to use this travelling award, worth $1000, at Merton College, Oxford, after attending a summer school in Marburg.
TO The Secretary of the Bureau of Information, University of Marburg
MS Bundesarchiv 1
15 June 1914
[London]
Dear Sir,
I have received the announcement of your summer courses, and should like to ask a few questions, if I may impose upon your courtesy.
1) Do the July and August courses cover the same ground, or is the latter more advanced?
2) As it is impossible for me to reach Marburg till the 10th or 11th of July, could I still join the July course?
3) Is it possible for a foreigner to attend lectures without attending every series?
If the two courses (July and August) cover the same ground, I will subscribe to the August course, though I shall be in Marburg in July.
Perhaps these questions are answered in your pamphlet, but you will forgive a foreigner his uncertainty. Would you be so good as to reply (in either English or German – I read the latter readily enough) to me care of the British Linen Bank, Threadneedle St, London, England.
Very sincerely yours
T. S. Eliot
(Sheldon travelling fellow, Harvard University).
1–Eventually returned after being taken to the USA in German Captured Documents, container 189.
TO Eleanor Hinkley
TS Houghton
[Postmark London 7 July 1914]
[Crossing the Atlantic]
Dear Friend:
I thought that I would while away a weary hour by culling for you a few of the fruits of my excursion upon Neptune’s empire. Free from the cares and irks of city life, indifferent to my whilom duties, I sit in my snug little cabin lazily watching the little clouds slip across the sky and the trunks slide across the floor. From my tiny round window I can see a flock of lovely birds dip and skim athwart the zenith (sparrows I believe – I am not much on ornithology). There are not a few interesting people among our company; many from the West. Some seventy, inspired by devotion to Art, join together in a University Tour (pronounced Tewer). There are about the same number of men and girls – 98 girls and 18 men, 1 so that we have great fun, especially when it comes to dancing to the sound of the captain’s phonograph. There are diversions aplenty: shuffleboard, ringtoss, bridge, checkers, and limericks. Wednesday last we held a field day. Twould have given you keen delight to have seen me in the Pillow Fight, astride a pole, a pillow in each hand. The master of ceremonies was a real charming man, he introduced me as the champion of Russia. Some of his remarks were real witty and bright, for instance: ‘We have here Mr Williams and Miss Williams in the driving contest. Mr Williams and Miss Williams are not related yet’. I was also entered in the Thread the Needle contest, with my partner, Miss Mildred Levi Of Newton, the belle of the boat. Then last night we held a concert, for somebody’s benefit. Miss Mazie
I do not approve of public instruction in Sexual relations. When I teach my children to avoid the Devil I don’t begin by giving them a letter of introduction to him and his crowd. I hope that a cure for Syphilis will never be discovered. It is God’s punishment for nastiness. Take it away and there will be more nastiness, and it will be necessary to emasculate our children to keep them clean.
So there!
Yr
H
1–Unidentified, but probably Thomas Dawes Eliot.
FROM His Father
MS Houghton
11 April 1914
[St Louis]
My dear Tom:
I am much pleased that you have rec[eive]d the Scholarship,1 on ac[coun]t of the honor, as you couldn’t get it unless you deserved it. You have never been a ‘burden’ to me, my dear fellow. A parent is always in debt to a son who has been as dutiful and affectionate as you have been.
Yrs.
P.
1–On 31 Mar., the President and Fellows of Harvard University had appointed TSE a Sheldon Fellow in Philosophy for the academic year 1914–15. He planned to use this travelling award, worth $1000, at Merton College, Oxford, after attending a summer school in Marburg.
TO The Secretary of the Bureau of Information, University of Marburg
MS Bundesarchiv 1
15 June 1914
[London]
Dear Sir,
I have received the announcement of your summer courses, and should like to ask a few questions, if I may impose upon your courtesy.
1) Do the July and August courses cover the same ground, or is the latter more advanced?
2) As it is impossible for me to reach Marburg till the 10th or 11th of July, could I still join the July course?
3) Is it possible for a foreigner to attend lectures without attending every series?
If the two courses (July and August) cover the same ground, I will subscribe to the August course, though I shall be in Marburg in July.
Perhaps these questions are answered in your pamphlet, but you will forgive a foreigner his uncertainty. Would you be so good as to reply (in either English or German – I read the latter readily enough) to me care of the British Linen Bank, Threadneedle St, London, England.
Very sincerely yours
T. S. Eliot
(Sheldon travelling fellow, Harvard University).
1–Eventually returned after being taken to the USA in German Captured Documents, container 189.
TO Eleanor Hinkley
TS Houghton
[Postmark London 7 July 1914]
[Crossing the Atlantic]
Dear Friend:
I thought that I would while away a weary hour by culling for you a few of the fruits of my excursion upon Neptune’s empire. Free from the cares and irks of city life, indifferent to my whilom duties, I sit in my snug little cabin lazily watching the little clouds slip across the sky and the trunks slide across the floor. From my tiny round window I can see a flock of lovely birds dip and skim athwart the zenith (sparrows I believe – I am not much on ornithology). There are not a few interesting people among our company; many from the West. Some seventy, inspired by devotion to Art, join together in a University Tour (pronounced Tewer). There are about the same number of men and girls – 98 girls and 18 men, 1 so that we have great fun, especially when it comes to dancing to the sound of the captain’s phonograph. There are diversions aplenty: shuffleboard, ringtoss, bridge, checkers, and limericks. Wednesday last we held a field day. Twould have given you keen delight to have seen me in the Pillow Fight, astride a pole, a pillow in each hand. The master of ceremonies was a real charming man, he introduced me as the champion of Russia. Some of his remarks were real witty and bright, for instance: ‘We have here Mr Williams and Miss Williams in the driving contest. Mr Williams and Miss Williams are not related yet’. I was also entered in the Thread the Needle contest, with my partner, Miss Mildred Levi Of Newton, the belle of the boat. Then last night we held a concert, for somebody’s benefit. Miss Mazie
Similar Books
