Letter from Frances Hodgkins to Willie Hodgkins
Date
22 Apr 1941
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Object Detail
Date
22 Apr 1941
Transcript
Corfe Castle April 22nd 41
My Dearest Willie
I think of you all often – and often mean & want to write but life is arduous & seemingly futile and it is hard to feel well in any way in these times.
I won’t talk of all the troubles & difficulties – it’s too enervating. We have now just to endure & fight our way through – if possible.
The horrible winter is past & a cold but lovely Spring has set in with a rush. Every one who has a garden is sowing & planting vegetables, every sort of stuff to eat, because food has become our main preoccupation. I find it difficult to do anything but what just comes to hand at the moment. I have weathered the awful winter – mercifully – it has been an unhappy time of strain & constant anxiety. Just after the New Year I had the Croft filled with evacuees (still here) grand mother, Mother & 3 months old baby. I did my bit keeping stoves & fires going night & day (oh! My, the Coal Bill) but Geoffrey has been generous & helped me out with the house keeping. Never before have I been so glad to see the first crocus, primrose, daffodil & eat the first lettuce. The bombing in nearby towns has surpassed anything in destruction & savagery, but on the whole our village escaped all but an incidental land mine on edge of village. Of course we have had noisy nights and our village is still, touch wood, a quiet spot. Luckily no one has yet been killed. The cold, as much as the war has put me off my stroke and there has been no painting. My pictures are much in request – for exhibition, mostly in the provinces with travelling shows – outside the London zone. These travelling shows are greatly appreciated – young lecturers accompany them – all is free – delightful & cultured & they generally stay in one Town for 3 weeks then move onto the next & so round poor old England. So terribly scarred & valiant – so is Germany scarred don’t make any mistake.
Later Croft May 24th 41
You will see this letter is dated from Corfe Castle. I started it, mislaid it & must have written you another version so if I repeat myself you’ll understand & excuse. I had a perfectly quiet 2 weeks at Corfe, quiet but bitter cold & came back here feeling a little more sane & healthy than I did. I felt mean to be cosy & warm in bed on windy nights when my poor ARP friend was on duty. I find it impossible to paint with the war, & nearer home, the food problem eternally on my mind. The food complex has reached the monotonous stage enough but stodgy & dull – nothing you fancy – at least not enough of it. I have lost 3 stone in 6 months. Not at all a bad thing if I keep fit. A fattening process would now be difficult. I can hardly keep the skirts up on me – such a bore. How do you thin ones manage – like Jean? Braces you wear of course.
I was awfully glad to get a letter from you the other day – dates blurred in my tired mind. I specially liked hearing of Ethel Lee – Stilling – Maitland. She lives in my memory as a very sweet strong personality, her thin brown face shy & sensitive & whimsical – gentle. Give her my love – she is a sweet soul. I wish I could return & eat trout by the lakeside. It looks as if this is the last peace of mind we shall know for some time – war is blowing up it blows closer every day and to us all & the B. Empire – Hitler now means business. So does England. The Hess mystery has fluttered the dovecote – so far nothing convincing has emerged by way of explanation & what was meant as a bomb is now a damp squib. It remains a first class mystery. Well this is about all I think. Lots of love & I wish you peace & health. PS Dish of asparagus today, Sunday, first of the season but no melted butter.
My Dearest Willie
I think of you all often – and often mean & want to write but life is arduous & seemingly futile and it is hard to feel well in any way in these times.
I won’t talk of all the troubles & difficulties – it’s too enervating. We have now just to endure & fight our way through – if possible.
The horrible winter is past & a cold but lovely Spring has set in with a rush. Every one who has a garden is sowing & planting vegetables, every sort of stuff to eat, because food has become our main preoccupation. I find it difficult to do anything but what just comes to hand at the moment. I have weathered the awful winter – mercifully – it has been an unhappy time of strain & constant anxiety. Just after the New Year I had the Croft filled with evacuees (still here) grand mother, Mother & 3 months old baby. I did my bit keeping stoves & fires going night & day (oh! My, the Coal Bill) but Geoffrey has been generous & helped me out with the house keeping. Never before have I been so glad to see the first crocus, primrose, daffodil & eat the first lettuce. The bombing in nearby towns has surpassed anything in destruction & savagery, but on the whole our village escaped all but an incidental land mine on edge of village. Of course we have had noisy nights and our village is still, touch wood, a quiet spot. Luckily no one has yet been killed. The cold, as much as the war has put me off my stroke and there has been no painting. My pictures are much in request – for exhibition, mostly in the provinces with travelling shows – outside the London zone. These travelling shows are greatly appreciated – young lecturers accompany them – all is free – delightful & cultured & they generally stay in one Town for 3 weeks then move onto the next & so round poor old England. So terribly scarred & valiant – so is Germany scarred don’t make any mistake.
Later Croft May 24th 41
You will see this letter is dated from Corfe Castle. I started it, mislaid it & must have written you another version so if I repeat myself you’ll understand & excuse. I had a perfectly quiet 2 weeks at Corfe, quiet but bitter cold & came back here feeling a little more sane & healthy than I did. I felt mean to be cosy & warm in bed on windy nights when my poor ARP friend was on duty. I find it impossible to paint with the war, & nearer home, the food problem eternally on my mind. The food complex has reached the monotonous stage enough but stodgy & dull – nothing you fancy – at least not enough of it. I have lost 3 stone in 6 months. Not at all a bad thing if I keep fit. A fattening process would now be difficult. I can hardly keep the skirts up on me – such a bore. How do you thin ones manage – like Jean? Braces you wear of course.
I was awfully glad to get a letter from you the other day – dates blurred in my tired mind. I specially liked hearing of Ethel Lee – Stilling – Maitland. She lives in my memory as a very sweet strong personality, her thin brown face shy & sensitive & whimsical – gentle. Give her my love – she is a sweet soul. I wish I could return & eat trout by the lakeside. It looks as if this is the last peace of mind we shall know for some time – war is blowing up it blows closer every day and to us all & the B. Empire – Hitler now means business. So does England. The Hess mystery has fluttered the dovecote – so far nothing convincing has emerged by way of explanation & what was meant as a bomb is now a damp squib. It remains a first class mystery. Well this is about all I think. Lots of love & I wish you peace & health. PS Dish of asparagus today, Sunday, first of the season but no melted butter.
Pages
6 pages
Sender's address
Corfe Castle
Institutional No.
MS-Papers-0085-45
Credit Line
Letters
from
Frances
Hodgkins.
Field,
Isabel
Jane,
1867-1950
:
Correspondence
of
Frances
Hodgkins
and
family
/
collected
by
Isabel
Field.
Ref:
MS-Papers-0085-45.
Alexander
Turnbull
Library,
Wellington,
New
Zealand.
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22397035
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22397035