Letter from Frances Hodgkins to Rachel Hodgkins
Date
circa Jul 1908
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Object Detail
Date
circa Jul 1908
Transcript
Rijsoord July
My darling Mother
It was very comforting to get a nice long letter from you today, the one written in pencil before the fire. You & I can never be comfortable about the weather at the same time. When you are hot I am cold, my days are long when yours are short. I am much cheered to hear you are so well & in spite of washing day sitting down to write a nice long letter on the back of a book. If it did take me a little bit of time to read it I don’t suppose it was much longer than you sometimes take to mine. Yes it’s time Madam you said something decent about your daughter’s pictures, your last letter cut into me a little. It daresay it came at a crisis when everything seemed pretty well stripped to the bone & nothing left over but things are right again now and I am £30 to the good and the prospect of 2 pupils coming along in August. Directly I can get out into the world again & see the right sort of people I shall find business a little brisker I hope. You must be en evidence & advertise your wares if you want to sell & this little mudflat where I am now is not exactly the place one wants to stay in longer than is necessary. One leads a very simple early to bed & early to rise sort of existence & it is a real refuge if you want to rest or you want to economise or vegetate paint sunsets & black spotted cows but for all other purposes it is a ghastly little hole of dulness . At present there are is a party of Americans here, all very noisy & over dressed who were got here by mistake I think. They wear the very latest thing in smart clothes, large hats worn on the shoulder and sleeveless “waists” & coats with Directoire tails to them. Every day they go off sight seeing, making this a centre & when they come back it is like a rookery. They tickle your ear for a little while with their apparent smartness but very few of them touch your heart. Two of the young girls are quite beautiful with small classic heads & lovely little figures & if they only would remain silent you could wish for nothing better. The Chicago lingo is quite unlike anything in the English language. They understand to a nicety how to condense their words but it is so slangey & pert & makes you wonder if their fathers & brothers are all employed in the stock-yards which by the way you are not 5 minutes in their company before they mention the fact that they are the biggest in the world! Having finished all my work here & reinforced with my £30 I am leaving here on Sat: for Dordrecht where I will spend 2 days packing up & collecting my goods & then go on to Katwyk the little fishing place I told you of & where I shall hope to get some nice subjects. There is a large artists’ colony here & I ought to find some kindred spirits. I have been writing this more or less in the dark – I am frightened to light the lamp lest the mosquitoes come in – the only way to keep them at bay is to close down the hatches & sit in the dark & anoint yourself with oil of cloves. A choir invisible can be heard round my head but the cloves keep them from biting. I have been very lonely since Gertrude left and perhaps a little weary of painting. I wish I could lay down my arms for a bit & drop the fight. One’s whole soul gets engrossed in the struggle. I long so passionately for success and recognition, not a cheap popularity quick to arrive & quick to vanish, but something more genuine & abiding than that, something that may yet come & place me securely & firmly on the side of the sheep & not of the goats!
As troubles never come singly they say, we will hope & believe, that joys will do ditto.
Since writing this last sentence I have lighted the lamp & sent hundreds of mosquitoes to their death & now dear I must go to my beddy bye – it is ever so late but I have an idea that the mail goes out in the morning. In my next letter I hope to have more to tell – I have been leading the life of a hermit crab for so long I feel my wits are much in need of a little burnishing. Much love to you & Bert & Sis & the girlies. From your loving Frances
[Envelope: Postmark Kwsoord 24 Apr ‘08]
Addresssed: Mrs Hodgkins Central Terrace Kelburne Wellington New Zealand Via Suez
My darling Mother
It was very comforting to get a nice long letter from you today, the one written in pencil before the fire. You & I can never be comfortable about the weather at the same time. When you are hot I am cold, my days are long when yours are short. I am much cheered to hear you are so well & in spite of washing day sitting down to write a nice long letter on the back of a book. If it did take me a little bit of time to read it I don’t suppose it was much longer than you sometimes take to mine. Yes it’s time Madam you said something decent about your daughter’s pictures, your last letter cut into me a little. It daresay it came at a crisis when everything seemed pretty well stripped to the bone & nothing left over but things are right again now and I am £30 to the good and the prospect of 2 pupils coming along in August. Directly I can get out into the world again & see the right sort of people I shall find business a little brisker I hope. You must be en evidence & advertise your wares if you want to sell & this little mudflat where I am now is not exactly the place one wants to stay in longer than is necessary. One leads a very simple early to bed & early to rise sort of existence & it is a real refuge if you want to rest or you want to economise or vegetate paint sunsets & black spotted cows but for all other purposes it is a ghastly little hole of dulness . At present there are is a party of Americans here, all very noisy & over dressed who were got here by mistake I think. They wear the very latest thing in smart clothes, large hats worn on the shoulder and sleeveless “waists” & coats with Directoire tails to them. Every day they go off sight seeing, making this a centre & when they come back it is like a rookery. They tickle your ear for a little while with their apparent smartness but very few of them touch your heart. Two of the young girls are quite beautiful with small classic heads & lovely little figures & if they only would remain silent you could wish for nothing better. The Chicago lingo is quite unlike anything in the English language. They understand to a nicety how to condense their words but it is so slangey & pert & makes you wonder if their fathers & brothers are all employed in the stock-yards which by the way you are not 5 minutes in their company before they mention the fact that they are the biggest in the world! Having finished all my work here & reinforced with my £30 I am leaving here on Sat: for Dordrecht where I will spend 2 days packing up & collecting my goods & then go on to Katwyk the little fishing place I told you of & where I shall hope to get some nice subjects. There is a large artists’ colony here & I ought to find some kindred spirits. I have been writing this more or less in the dark – I am frightened to light the lamp lest the mosquitoes come in – the only way to keep them at bay is to close down the hatches & sit in the dark & anoint yourself with oil of cloves. A choir invisible can be heard round my head but the cloves keep them from biting. I have been very lonely since Gertrude left and perhaps a little weary of painting. I wish I could lay down my arms for a bit & drop the fight. One’s whole soul gets engrossed in the struggle. I long so passionately for success and recognition, not a cheap popularity quick to arrive & quick to vanish, but something more genuine & abiding than that, something that may yet come & place me securely & firmly on the side of the sheep & not of the goats!
As troubles never come singly they say, we will hope & believe, that joys will do ditto.
Since writing this last sentence I have lighted the lamp & sent hundreds of mosquitoes to their death & now dear I must go to my beddy bye – it is ever so late but I have an idea that the mail goes out in the morning. In my next letter I hope to have more to tell – I have been leading the life of a hermit crab for so long I feel my wits are much in need of a little burnishing. Much love to you & Bert & Sis & the girlies. From your loving Frances
[Envelope: Postmark Kwsoord 24 Apr ‘08]
Addresssed: Mrs Hodgkins Central Terrace Kelburne Wellington New Zealand Via Suez
Pages
7 pages
Sender's address
Rijsoord
Institutional No.
MS-Papers-0085-21
Credit Line
Correspondence
-
Frances
Hodgkins.
Field,
Isabel
Jane,
1867-1950
:
Correspondence
of
Frances
Hodgkins
and
family
/
collected
by
Isabel
Field.
Ref:
MS-Papers-0085-21.
Alexander
Turnbull
Library,
Wellington,
New
Zealand.
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22858270
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22858270