Letter from Frances Hodgkins to Rachel Hodgkins
Date
27 Apr 1919
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Object Detail
Date
27 Apr 1919
Transcript
Polperro April 27th
My Dearest Mother
Really England isn’t a fit country to live in – it has an awful climate. Today it is snowing hard & bitterly cold – the ground quite white. Sunday is a dull day in the country and I have had nothing to read & nobody to talk to. I wrote letters all morning. Had a very stodgy lunch & a very dull tea. I have been here a fortnight now & am getting over my weariness & feeling more alive and if it would warm up a bit so that I could work out of doors I would begin to feel quite my own self again. If it has been fine today I meant to take a Cornish pastie out of doors & eat it sitting on one of those wonderful purple & orange coloured rocks that you find on this coast - with my face to the English Channel - & who knows that Geoffrey may not be sailing past, not very far off – if only we knew. I wonder if he really has started yet.
I had a letter from Mr Waite this mail asking me to paint a portrait group of some friends of his to be send out to Adelaide when it is finished. To fix my own price – size etc. It is Mrs Downer & her two children. As I will be away from London till Sept: it will have to wait till then. It was unfortunate I did not know of this sooner & I could have done it before leaving Town. I must try & make it as winning & attractive as I can. Dear old Mr Waite. He has been a great friend. He writes me much sound advice and I am not sure he did not endanger his life by going down to Melbourne to see my show – which is is now (or then). It was postponed by an out break of Flue – when all public places of entertainment were closed – but the latest account from Judge Rich is that it was opened the end of Feb: when the Flue had abated & masks were off & pubs, picture shows, etc etc were once more open. Next mail I will know its fate. The remnant of the pictures will be stored in Sydney till freight is normal again & then shipped home to me direct. As far as I can gather Melbourne is wagging its head over them. I don’t think there will be very fat pickings when all expenses are paid and I am asking myself - Has it been worth while. No more tonight dearest Mother – I do long for a letter from you dear & hope one is one the way. I shall begin to worry if I don’t hear soon. I hear Will has a motor car! Splendid. When are they coming Home? There isn’t a bed in London. They had better wait until there is! Heaps of love dearest to you all. Yr loving Fanny
My Dearest Mother
Really England isn’t a fit country to live in – it has an awful climate. Today it is snowing hard & bitterly cold – the ground quite white. Sunday is a dull day in the country and I have had nothing to read & nobody to talk to. I wrote letters all morning. Had a very stodgy lunch & a very dull tea. I have been here a fortnight now & am getting over my weariness & feeling more alive and if it would warm up a bit so that I could work out of doors I would begin to feel quite my own self again. If it has been fine today I meant to take a Cornish pastie out of doors & eat it sitting on one of those wonderful purple & orange coloured rocks that you find on this coast - with my face to the English Channel - & who knows that Geoffrey may not be sailing past, not very far off – if only we knew. I wonder if he really has started yet.
I had a letter from Mr Waite this mail asking me to paint a portrait group of some friends of his to be send out to Adelaide when it is finished. To fix my own price – size etc. It is Mrs Downer & her two children. As I will be away from London till Sept: it will have to wait till then. It was unfortunate I did not know of this sooner & I could have done it before leaving Town. I must try & make it as winning & attractive as I can. Dear old Mr Waite. He has been a great friend. He writes me much sound advice and I am not sure he did not endanger his life by going down to Melbourne to see my show – which is is now (or then). It was postponed by an out break of Flue – when all public places of entertainment were closed – but the latest account from Judge Rich is that it was opened the end of Feb: when the Flue had abated & masks were off & pubs, picture shows, etc etc were once more open. Next mail I will know its fate. The remnant of the pictures will be stored in Sydney till freight is normal again & then shipped home to me direct. As far as I can gather Melbourne is wagging its head over them. I don’t think there will be very fat pickings when all expenses are paid and I am asking myself - Has it been worth while. No more tonight dearest Mother – I do long for a letter from you dear & hope one is one the way. I shall begin to worry if I don’t hear soon. I hear Will has a motor car! Splendid. When are they coming Home? There isn’t a bed in London. They had better wait until there is! Heaps of love dearest to you all. Yr loving Fanny
Pages
4 pages
Sender's address
Polperro
Institutional No.
MS-Papers-0085-36
Credit Line
Letters.
Field,
Isabel
Jane,
1867-1950
:
Correspondence
of
Frances
Hodgkins
and
family
/
collected
by
Isabel
Field.
Ref:
MS-Papers-0085-36.
Alexander
Turnbull
Library,
Wellington,
New
Zealand.
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22879615
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22879615