Letter from Frances Hodgkins to Isabel Field
Date
27 Jan 1903
See full details
See transcription
Object Detail
Date
27 Jan 1903
Transcript
Villa Valentina Tangier 27th 03
Your poor dear old Sis
Will your troubles never end? I have been very unhappy about you since Will’s letter telling me how ill poor little Jack has been. What a dreadful fright you must have got & it was terrible for you being by yourself. Convulsions paralyze one with fear, you feel so helpless & it must have been such agony to watch the poor mite’s sufferings. What happened to the poor little man – was it teething or something he had eaten? You will have to keep a lynx eye on him in future & do beware of green gooseberries & unripe fruit. You poor mothers do go through a lot of trials, & there is a good deal more difficulty in bringing up of children than meets the eye. It takes one all one’s care & devotion & watchfulness to steer safely thro’ those anxious years of childhood. I am afraid you were all to anxious & worried to get much pleasure out of the elections – tho’ I expect you are feeling very proud of that husband of yours. Please give him my best love & congratulations – tho’ the congratulations should really be all for Otaki. It was of course a foregone conclusion but none the nicer for all that. I had a letter from Edith McLaren last mail, she quite fell in love with Will only don’t tell him so – she wrote me a long letter telling me of her visit to you. I had at once to write her a dust & ashes letter back which wasn’t pleasant, coals of fire always singe a bit. Very shortly after you get this I expect you will see the Von Haasts – they are leaving on the 30th for Wellington with the intention of settling out there. They said they would look you up – if you have any time to spare I should be glad if you could show them a little attention – they were kind to me in London. You will like her – she is so sensible & kind & motherly, just the wife for the melancholic Heinrich. Heinrich has not treated me fairly – I wrote him a letter shortly after I came here & the wretch has published it in his odious colonial letter. There was nothing new or original in it – only a re-hash of a letter to Mother. Once you have said a thing one way it is impossible to put it into different language again. I try & make one letter do champion service among my friends. I am beginning to dream of the time when I shall see you all again – you& Mother & Will standing waiting for me on the wharf & old Bert shedding tears of welcome in the background. I don’t expect we’ve changed much – a few more grey hairs – every picture I paint brings a new grey hair, & every picture that doesn’t sell brings a dozen! You & I were rather out of it at the Nov. show I’m thinking – can it be possible the public has had enough of us = Heaven forbid! You & Will will have to trip it to Europe before very long – when I return to take care of the children. I enclose you a letter from Miss Richmond with an amusing description of Mrs Oliver’s opinion of my painting. She is a lady who considers that nothing good can come from N.Z. but what can you expect from a lady whose ancestor was a Cornish pilchard. She thinks with a few others of my friends that nothing can be learnt out of a Paris Studio – but I find Nature good enough for me & less expensive. My experience of Studio pupils is that they can never do anything once they leave it, with a top light & a master at their backs to tell them what to do & I doubt if many of them could have supported themselves in Europe for 2 years on what they earned from their easels. I get fierce when people tell me I should be in a studio & personally can’t see any more reason why I should be in a studio than that they should be in an asylum. I have put all my news in Mother’s letter – there is nothing new here, all quiet & safe – weather lovely – work mediocre, spirits equable & health A.1 Take care of your self. Love to all. Your loving Fanny. I was so glad to hear of Willie’s promotion – I wish Percy could get a billet – it must be very disheartening for him waiting so long .
Your poor dear old Sis
Will your troubles never end? I have been very unhappy about you since Will’s letter telling me how ill poor little Jack has been. What a dreadful fright you must have got & it was terrible for you being by yourself. Convulsions paralyze one with fear, you feel so helpless & it must have been such agony to watch the poor mite’s sufferings. What happened to the poor little man – was it teething or something he had eaten? You will have to keep a lynx eye on him in future & do beware of green gooseberries & unripe fruit. You poor mothers do go through a lot of trials, & there is a good deal more difficulty in bringing up of children than meets the eye. It takes one all one’s care & devotion & watchfulness to steer safely thro’ those anxious years of childhood. I am afraid you were all to anxious & worried to get much pleasure out of the elections – tho’ I expect you are feeling very proud of that husband of yours. Please give him my best love & congratulations – tho’ the congratulations should really be all for Otaki. It was of course a foregone conclusion but none the nicer for all that. I had a letter from Edith McLaren last mail, she quite fell in love with Will only don’t tell him so – she wrote me a long letter telling me of her visit to you. I had at once to write her a dust & ashes letter back which wasn’t pleasant, coals of fire always singe a bit. Very shortly after you get this I expect you will see the Von Haasts – they are leaving on the 30th for Wellington with the intention of settling out there. They said they would look you up – if you have any time to spare I should be glad if you could show them a little attention – they were kind to me in London. You will like her – she is so sensible & kind & motherly, just the wife for the melancholic Heinrich. Heinrich has not treated me fairly – I wrote him a letter shortly after I came here & the wretch has published it in his odious colonial letter. There was nothing new or original in it – only a re-hash of a letter to Mother. Once you have said a thing one way it is impossible to put it into different language again. I try & make one letter do champion service among my friends. I am beginning to dream of the time when I shall see you all again – you& Mother & Will standing waiting for me on the wharf & old Bert shedding tears of welcome in the background. I don’t expect we’ve changed much – a few more grey hairs – every picture I paint brings a new grey hair, & every picture that doesn’t sell brings a dozen! You & I were rather out of it at the Nov. show I’m thinking – can it be possible the public has had enough of us = Heaven forbid! You & Will will have to trip it to Europe before very long – when I return to take care of the children. I enclose you a letter from Miss Richmond with an amusing description of Mrs Oliver’s opinion of my painting. She is a lady who considers that nothing good can come from N.Z. but what can you expect from a lady whose ancestor was a Cornish pilchard. She thinks with a few others of my friends that nothing can be learnt out of a Paris Studio – but I find Nature good enough for me & less expensive. My experience of Studio pupils is that they can never do anything once they leave it, with a top light & a master at their backs to tell them what to do & I doubt if many of them could have supported themselves in Europe for 2 years on what they earned from their easels. I get fierce when people tell me I should be in a studio & personally can’t see any more reason why I should be in a studio than that they should be in an asylum. I have put all my news in Mother’s letter – there is nothing new here, all quiet & safe – weather lovely – work mediocre, spirits equable & health A.1 Take care of your self. Love to all. Your loving Fanny. I was so glad to hear of Willie’s promotion – I wish Percy could get a billet – it must be very disheartening for him waiting so long .
Pages
4 pages
Sender's address
Villa Valentina, Tangier
Institutional No.
MS-Papers-0085-13
Credit Line
Letters
from
Frances
Hodgkins.
Field,
Isabel
Jane,
1867-1950
:
Correspondence
of
Frances
Hodgkins
and
family
/
collected
by
Isabel
Field.
Ref:
MS-Papers-0085-13.
Alexander
Turnbull
Library,
Wellington,
New
Zealand.
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22363709
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22363709