Letter from Frances Hodgkins to Rachel Hodgkins
Date
22 Nov 1922
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Date
22 Nov 1922
Transcript
Burford Nov 22nd
My dearest Mother
I am just back from Manchester & feeling more full of hope & cheerfulness than when I went. Everyone was so kind to me & I really enjoyed my visit and was quite sorry to come back. I have promised to go back after Xmas for 3 months if a Studio can be found for me – all expenses to be paid by my two kind pupil friends – rent coal etc & I am to live with them at their flat. I should do well – relieved of financial worries – and secure, or temporarily secure at any rate, for a time. The enemy has been sleeplessness. I have been dreading another winter in Burford. I can stick it till Xmas but after that no thank you not again if I can possibly avoid it. The Bryces have gone to London where they have a Studio-flat for the winter. My first act after my return was to get the stove set right. It has been dealt with & now gives out a glorious heat – the pipe goes straight up through the roof & it roars & draws & is a joy. Another good friend has offered to be responsible for my coal bills & has given me carte blanche with the coal! So I am in clover so to say. I must make good with my painting & justify all this benevolence on the part of my kind friends. Of course it makes all the difference in life to me – having unstinted warmth.
I had a little violet woolley sent me yesterday dear – wh I am posting on to you. It is more yr colour than mine isn’t it? It is about the colour of this ink.
I just missed the Coué lectures in Manchester. I enclose a cutting about him – tho it has all been in print before & I expect is quite familiar to you. The kitten has grown ingloriously fat – but very jolly. Some cat now! One night when I was away Miss Falkner locked the wrong cat in (and the right one out) by mistake. I draw a veil.
I am expecting Lydia for a week. We are all getting windy again over Turkey. I am glad Lydia is safely here & Sis must be gladder. What a foul business it all is.
I must not write a long letter tonight dearest. This is strictly speaking a “coal” letter, all about fuel, plenty of it without considering how fast it goes! Think of it! This is what makes the world go round. The well off ones must help the poorer these difficult times & no one is proud or stiff about accepting help. I am grateful from the bottom of my soul. So I end up on a cheery note wishing you all the best & brightest for Xmas & the New Year and for your own dear self continued good health & spirits for a long long time to come. Your loving Fanny.
My dearest Mother
I am just back from Manchester & feeling more full of hope & cheerfulness than when I went. Everyone was so kind to me & I really enjoyed my visit and was quite sorry to come back. I have promised to go back after Xmas for 3 months if a Studio can be found for me – all expenses to be paid by my two kind pupil friends – rent coal etc & I am to live with them at their flat. I should do well – relieved of financial worries – and secure, or temporarily secure at any rate, for a time. The enemy has been sleeplessness. I have been dreading another winter in Burford. I can stick it till Xmas but after that no thank you not again if I can possibly avoid it. The Bryces have gone to London where they have a Studio-flat for the winter. My first act after my return was to get the stove set right. It has been dealt with & now gives out a glorious heat – the pipe goes straight up through the roof & it roars & draws & is a joy. Another good friend has offered to be responsible for my coal bills & has given me carte blanche with the coal! So I am in clover so to say. I must make good with my painting & justify all this benevolence on the part of my kind friends. Of course it makes all the difference in life to me – having unstinted warmth.
I had a little violet woolley sent me yesterday dear – wh I am posting on to you. It is more yr colour than mine isn’t it? It is about the colour of this ink.
I just missed the Coué lectures in Manchester. I enclose a cutting about him – tho it has all been in print before & I expect is quite familiar to you. The kitten has grown ingloriously fat – but very jolly. Some cat now! One night when I was away Miss Falkner locked the wrong cat in (and the right one out) by mistake. I draw a veil.
I am expecting Lydia for a week. We are all getting windy again over Turkey. I am glad Lydia is safely here & Sis must be gladder. What a foul business it all is.
I must not write a long letter tonight dearest. This is strictly speaking a “coal” letter, all about fuel, plenty of it without considering how fast it goes! Think of it! This is what makes the world go round. The well off ones must help the poorer these difficult times & no one is proud or stiff about accepting help. I am grateful from the bottom of my soul. So I end up on a cheery note wishing you all the best & brightest for Xmas & the New Year and for your own dear self continued good health & spirits for a long long time to come. Your loving Fanny.
Pages
4 pages
Sender's address
Burford
Recipient's address
Mrs Hodgkins, 151 The Terrace, Wellington, New Zealand
Institutional No.
MS-Papers-0085-40
Credit Line
Letters
from
Frances
Hodgkins.
Field,
Isabel
Jane,
1867-1950
:
Correspondence
of
Frances
Hodgkins
and
family
/
collected
by
Isabel
Field.
Ref:
MS-Papers-0085-40.
Alexander
Turnbull
Library,
Wellington,
New
Zealand.
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/23181981
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/23181981