Peter Llewelyn Davies to Mary Hodgson - 1946
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Page 7 of a letter from Peter Llewelyn Davies to Mary Hodgson, dated 25 November 1946(Read More)
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Page 7 of a letter from Peter Llewelyn Davies to Mary Hodgson, dated 25 November 1946
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dani1923
I am not perfectly convinced, and probably never shall be, whether what I am trying to do is a vain and foolish thing or worth while. But I shall go on with it anyway, now, in my spare time. It isn’t so painful a task as I should have found it a few years ago; and I think it will, on the whole, preserve something fine and worth preserving for J. and N. and myself and possibly for our children. It is not, of course, for publication in any circumstances. <br /> Most of the points which crop up from time <br /> to time I find I can deal with more or less accurately. But there are very, very few of mother’s letters, and hardly any from other people, why give any revealing picture of her last years, 1907-1910. Consequently the “portrait” of her, which I should have wished to be the clearest of all, or at any rate as clear as that of father, will be blurred and unworthy and inadequate. <br /> Anything you could tell me, if not too painful to you, would be of immense value to me. <br /> I will make out a sort of questionnaire, with spaces for you to answer in, if you find you can and will. Some of the things may strike you as trivial— but trivialities are often unimportant in such a record. And if you feel unable or unwilling to revive painful old memories to the extent which the answering of these questions involves, please first say so and let’s forget it. <br /> Nico seems very well and flourishing. Jack I think too, though I am sorry to say when we took Rivvy and George down to stay with him in Cornwall this summer we began quarreling in less than no time. The children weren’t involved. And Jack’s interest in the record which I am compiling survives the quarrel. In fact we’re all right as long as we don’t meet. <br /> Do you ever come to London?<br /> Yours with much affection,<br /> Peter <br />
dani1923
2. A very full series of father’s letters home from Marlborough.<br /> 3. A ? full series of his letters from Cambridge.<br /> 4. A number of letters from him and others up to and including his engagement to mother.<br /> 5. A few letters from him and others from the time of the marriage to 1906.<br /> 6. An almost complete series of his letters to Margaret LLD and to the Rev. J.LL.D. from the first signs of fatal illness to the time of his death; as well as letters from other people, and pencilled notes of conversations when he was unable to talk, etc: The whole forming a dreadful but infinitely moving record of the whole tragic business.<br /> 7. A considerable number of letters from George at Eton, 1908-1910, and a few from mother and from J.M.B. and others during the same period, and two “wills” or “last words” written by mother.<br /> 8. Some, but not many, letters from George and myself, and a good many from JMB to George, 1911-1914; and a rant number between J.M.B. and Michael during the same period. <br /> 9. A very complete series of letters between J.M.B. and George up to the day George was killed. <br /> 10. A great many letters between J.M.B. and Michael (how full I’m not yet sure) up to the time of Michael’s death; and a few other letters from the same period, i.e. 1915-1921.
dani1923
Letter- Peter Davies to Mary Hodgson 25 November 1946:<br /> <br /> Dear Mary,<br /> Nico tells me on the telephone that he has had a most charming birthday present from you. It brought tears to his eyes, and he is entirely ? with it and look<br /> …..<br /> thing called the Eton War Memorial Fund) as things are ? now— as to the future, that will depend on how “the ?” goes. George, now 8 1/2, we are going to send to a boarding- school next term, after a lot of hard thinking.<br /> He is as bad at his books as Rivvy, and we think he will get a better start that way, particularly as the school (Rivvy’s private school, which he liked) has offered to take G. in cheap! The not quite 7 year old Peter is quite bright by comparison with his older brothers, and reads, adds and multiples far better than George, which makes a bit of a problem. <br /> At present they are at two different day-schools here. All three are great fun and present us with different puzzles to solve every other day or so. Mildred is still with us and I don’t know what we should have done without her. <br /> I am going to ask you one or two questions which you may not care to answer. If you don’t want to, that’s alright of course. If you find you can, I shall be grateful to you. <br /> Through J.M.B., and through Margaret Ll. D., I came into possession of a large number of old letters. Some years ago I began destroying them, but hadn’t the heart to complete the destruction. And a year or so ago it occurred to me to have what remained typed out, with fairly full explanatory notes by myself, so that something should be preserved. I propose to give copies to Jack and Nico and then I shall burn everything. It will be many months before it is all done.<br /> What I have consists of the following: <br /> 1. A sort of record of her family, written by great-aunt Emily Davies shortly after Uncle Theodore’s death (he had asked her to do it) with a certain amount of information about her parents and brothers and sisters and early life.<br />