GE to Mrs. Elma Stuart, Witley, 15 November 1880
Title
GE to Mrs. Elma Stuart, Witley, 15 November 1880
Title
GE to Mrs. Elma Stuart, Witley, 15 November 1880
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Mrs. Elma Stuart
Date(s)
- 1880-11-15
Place
Witley
Letter Content
GE to Mrs. Elma Stuart, Witley, 15 November 1880
MS: British Museum. Published: Stuart, pp. 161-163.
The Heights, Witley, | Nr. Godalming.
November 15. 80.
Dearest Elma
We rejoiced over your dear cheerful letter, but we rejoiced with trembling, and shall long to hear again that we may know if the blessed relief continues. Mr. Cross years ago had an illness (rheumatic fever) which makes him understand your sufferings and he enters with much sympathy into the promise of relief for you. The beautiful kerchief with its soothing colour will be a memorial to me of the good news which accompanied it and I shall be very fond of wearing it. I think this must be somewhere about the hundredth gift from your heart and hand, and I can scarcely turn to any sort of employment without seeing or using something that reminds me of you.
My health is, we hope, steadily improving, but I have some way uphill to go before I reach my midsummer weight and strength. Mr. Cross has had to fash himself about the removal of books and other less important furniture to 4 Cheyne Walk for the last three or four days, and he is gone on the same errand again today. We hope to be settled in that new town home by the end of the month. I am obliged to be passive and useless, for I am not allowed to incur fatigue and draughts. My small sufferings have made me think the more of your great, great suffering. The loss of the pretty hair would seem to me more of a misfortune for you if I did not imagine how comfortable you must feel without its golden lengths. 491 I have all my life wished it were possible for me to have my hair cut short that I might wash it every day. 492 But short hair is held by the many to be the worst heresy in a woman who has not had it ordered by the doctor. Thus you are privileged to go with a crop.
If Mrs. Menzies is still with you, please give my love to her. A letter from her about you would be much prized by me.
And to the gallant young soldier 493 too I would send my affectionate regards if they had not to travel beyond your elbow while you read this page. Always, dear,
Your faithfully loving
M. A. Cross,
MS: British Museum. Published: Stuart, pp. 161-163.
The Heights, Witley, | Nr. Godalming.
November 15. 80.
Dearest Elma
We rejoiced over your dear cheerful letter, but we rejoiced with trembling, and shall long to hear again that we may know if the blessed relief continues. Mr. Cross years ago had an illness (rheumatic fever) which makes him understand your sufferings and he enters with much sympathy into the promise of relief for you. The beautiful kerchief with its soothing colour will be a memorial to me of the good news which accompanied it and I shall be very fond of wearing it. I think this must be somewhere about the hundredth gift from your heart and hand, and I can scarcely turn to any sort of employment without seeing or using something that reminds me of you.
My health is, we hope, steadily improving, but I have some way uphill to go before I reach my midsummer weight and strength. Mr. Cross has had to fash himself about the removal of books and other less important furniture to 4 Cheyne Walk for the last three or four days, and he is gone on the same errand again today. We hope to be settled in that new town home by the end of the month. I am obliged to be passive and useless, for I am not allowed to incur fatigue and draughts. My small sufferings have made me think the more of your great, great suffering. The loss of the pretty hair would seem to me more of a misfortune for you if I did not imagine how comfortable you must feel without its golden lengths. 491 I have all my life wished it were possible for me to have my hair cut short that I might wash it every day. 492 But short hair is held by the many to be the worst heresy in a woman who has not had it ordered by the doctor. Thus you are privileged to go with a crop.
If Mrs. Menzies is still with you, please give my love to her. A letter from her about you would be much prized by me.
And to the gallant young soldier 493 too I would send my affectionate regards if they had not to travel beyond your elbow while you read this page. Always, dear,
Your faithfully loving
M. A. Cross,
Signature
M. A. Cross,
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Mrs. Elma Stuart, Witley, 15 November 1880, Complete George Eliot Letters(2026), George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/93428