Details
EDITH SITWELL (1887-1964)
AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED ("EVER YOUR LOVING EDITH") TO "MY DARLING" [ALMOST CERTAINLY HER SISTER-IN-LAW LADY GEORGIA SITWELL, WIFE OF SACHEVERELL SITWELL], FROM RENISHAW HALL, RENISHAW, NEAR SHEFFIELD, 4 PP., 4, N.D. [BUT POST 1938].
AN INTIMATE LETTER ENQUIRING ABOUT HER BROTHER'S WORK MOVEMENTS AND DISCUSSING THE DEATH OF LADY GEORGIA'S FATHER: "THIS REALLY IS A MOST DREADFUL TIME, AND WHAT WITH THE GRIEF ABOUT YOUR FATHER AND THE FRIGHTFUL WORRY ABOUT SACHIE, I DON'T WONDER THAT YOU ARE DISTRACTED." CONTINUING: ''WHAT I SAID IN MY LETTER ABOUT DEATH. I WAS MEANING, OF COURSE, DEATH FROM ILLNESS, AND NOT A DEATH, LIKE MOTHER'S WAS, WHICH WAS MORE OR LESS SUDDEN. - I AM SURE, WHEN PEOPLE DIE, THEY DO JUST FEEL THEY WANT TO REST; AND THEY KNOW, WHICH WE DON'T, UNTIL WE, TOO COME TO DIE, THAT IT IS ONLY FOR A TIME. THEY FEEL THAT, OF THAT I AM CERTAIN AS I CAN BE OF ANYTHING, AND I DON'T MEAN THAT IT APPLIES ONLY TO PEOPLE WHO ARE RELIGIOUS. - THE PEOPLE WHO ARE ROUND THEM HOLD THEM BACK, QUITE USELESSLY, AND AGAINST THEIR WILL. - USELESSLY, FOR IT IS ONLY MOMENTARY THE HOLDING BACK. I SAW THAT HAPPEN WHEN POOR HELEN WAS DYING, - TWO DAYS BEFORE SHE DIED AN OLD FRIEND OF HERS WENT TO SEE HER, AND AFTER SHE HAD GONE, HELEN SAID TO ME: 'I WAS JUST GOING, AND THEN THAT POOR GOOD FOOL BROUGHT ME BACK!' IF ONE IS THERE, ONE REMEMBERS THEM, NOT AS THEY ARE, AT ALL, BUT COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. - WHEN I AM DYING, I SHALL NOT WANT THAT TO HAPPEN. THEN THERE IS ANOTHER POINT. THERE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO ARE LEFT. IF, SAY, ONE IS SURROUNDED BY THE GRIEF OF THOSE WHO ARE LEFT, I THINK ONE'S FEELING OF THE CONTINUITY OF THE PERSON WHO HAS GONE, IS BROKEN, - THAT SENSE, ONE HAS, FOR ALL ONE'S ANGUISH.'' SHE CONTINUES: ''YOUR FATHER HAD NO SIGN, EVER, OF INCREASING AGE, BUT ALWAYS HAD THAT EAGER LOOK THAT USUALL PEOPLE ONLY HAVE IN YOUTH, EVEN IF THEY HAVE IT THEN. I THINK THAT IS A LOVELY THING FOR YOU TO REMEMBER. ONE COULDN'T IMAGINE HIM GETTING OLD AND UNINTERESTED.''
AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED ("EVER YOUR LOVING EDITH") TO "MY DARLING" [ALMOST CERTAINLY HER SISTER-IN-LAW LADY GEORGIA SITWELL, WIFE OF SACHEVERELL SITWELL], FROM RENISHAW HALL, RENISHAW, NEAR SHEFFIELD, 4 PP., 4, N.D. [BUT POST 1938].
AN INTIMATE LETTER ENQUIRING ABOUT HER BROTHER'S WORK MOVEMENTS AND DISCUSSING THE DEATH OF LADY GEORGIA'S FATHER: "THIS REALLY IS A MOST DREADFUL TIME, AND WHAT WITH THE GRIEF ABOUT YOUR FATHER AND THE FRIGHTFUL WORRY ABOUT SACHIE, I DON'T WONDER THAT YOU ARE DISTRACTED." CONTINUING: ''WHAT I SAID IN MY LETTER ABOUT DEATH. I WAS MEANING, OF COURSE, DEATH FROM ILLNESS, AND NOT A DEATH, LIKE MOTHER'S WAS, WHICH WAS MORE OR LESS SUDDEN. - I AM SURE, WHEN PEOPLE DIE, THEY DO JUST FEEL THEY WANT TO REST; AND THEY KNOW, WHICH WE DON'T, UNTIL WE, TOO COME TO DIE, THAT IT IS ONLY FOR A TIME. THEY FEEL THAT, OF THAT I AM CERTAIN AS I CAN BE OF ANYTHING, AND I DON'T MEAN THAT IT APPLIES ONLY TO PEOPLE WHO ARE RELIGIOUS. - THE PEOPLE WHO ARE ROUND THEM HOLD THEM BACK, QUITE USELESSLY, AND AGAINST THEIR WILL. - USELESSLY, FOR IT IS ONLY MOMENTARY THE HOLDING BACK. I SAW THAT HAPPEN WHEN POOR HELEN WAS DYING, - TWO DAYS BEFORE SHE DIED AN OLD FRIEND OF HERS WENT TO SEE HER, AND AFTER SHE HAD GONE, HELEN SAID TO ME: 'I WAS JUST GOING, AND THEN THAT POOR GOOD FOOL BROUGHT ME BACK!' IF ONE IS THERE, ONE REMEMBERS THEM, NOT AS THEY ARE, AT ALL, BUT COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. - WHEN I AM DYING, I SHALL NOT WANT THAT TO HAPPEN. THEN THERE IS ANOTHER POINT. THERE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO ARE LEFT. IF, SAY, ONE IS SURROUNDED BY THE GRIEF OF THOSE WHO ARE LEFT, I THINK ONE'S FEELING OF THE CONTINUITY OF THE PERSON WHO HAS GONE, IS BROKEN, - THAT SENSE, ONE HAS, FOR ALL ONE'S ANGUISH.'' SHE CONTINUES: ''YOUR FATHER HAD NO SIGN, EVER, OF INCREASING AGE, BUT ALWAYS HAD THAT EAGER LOOK THAT USUALL PEOPLE ONLY HAVE IN YOUTH, EVEN IF THEY HAVE IT THEN. I THINK THAT IS A LOVELY THING FOR YOU TO REMEMBER. ONE COULDN'T IMAGINE HIM GETTING OLD AND UNINTERESTED.''