Letter fragment — reflections on temperament and the 'Philistine,' undated (page 3)
Book 1, Page 502 ·1900–1950
Transcription
[Continued from page 500.]
of Philistine, what to speak not from dislike but from a desire for accuracy, one must call vulgar. Not coarse, naturally, but narrow in mind and heart shut in. —
Ah, I wish I could take you to a quiet little village in England — “a haunt of ancient peace” — or to a chalet in Switzerland beneath the great walls of the mountains, the snowfields above. It seems to me we might find there a real respite and we could rebuild in memory the fabric of our lives from the beginnings in old S.C. I could spend many hours with you talking of fathers and mothers. I dont [sic] of course regard father and mother as faultless, and I dont [sic] wish to remember them as other than they were; but if there are many people to be found of essentially finer qualities, more alive in mind and soul, of a more poetic and vital sense of the meaning of life, I want immensely to have them pointed out to me.
AI Notes
Third sheet of the same letter as pages 499–500, in the same hand and ink. The writer concludes reflections on Philistinism and shares a wish to take the recipient to a quiet village in England or a chalet in Switzerland to talk of fathers and mothers, rebuilding the fabric of their lives ‘from the beginnings in old S.C.’ (South Carolina) — confirming both writer and recipient were born in South Carolina. Lower half of the page is ruled but blank, suggesting the letter ends here (with no signature visible on this sheet — the signature may be on a separate sheet not preserved). The phrase ‘a haunt of ancient peace’ quotes Tennyson’s The Palace of Art. ‘snowfields’ (not ‘snowofields’); ‘rebuild in memory the fabric of our lives’ (not ‘rewind in memory the films’) — a much more period-appropriate metaphor; ‘old S.C.’ confirmed as South Carolina; ‘more alive in mind and soul, of a more poetic and vital sense’ (not ‘pretty and vital sense’); ‘regard father and mother as faultless’ confirmed.
The page ends here; no signature is preserved on this sheet.