GE to Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, London, 10 April 1879
Title
GE to Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, London, 10 April 1879
Title
GE to Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, London, 10 April 1879
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Mrs. Harriet Beecher S
Date(s)
- 1879-04-10
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, London, 10 April 1879
Text: Copy at Yale. Extracts published: C. E. Stowe, Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe, Boston and New York, 1890, p. 483.
The Priory | 21 North Bank | April 10. 79.
My dear Friend
I have been long without sending you any sign (unless you have received a message from me through Mrs. Fields), but my heart has been going out to you and your husband continually as among the chief of the many kind beings who have given me their tender fellow-feeling in my last earthly sorrow. For nothing after this can seem sorrow to me of a personal kind. Joy and sorrow are both my perpetual companions, but the joy is called Past and the sorrow Present.
When your first letter came with the beautiful gift of your Book, 220 I was unable to read any letters and did not for a long while see what you had sent me. But when I did know and had read your words of thankfulness at the great good you have seen wrought by your help, I felt glad for your sake first and then for the sake of the great nation to which you belong. The hopes of the world are taking refuge westward under the calamitous conditions, moral and physical, in which we of the elder world are getting involved. This wicked war in S. Africa (I mean wicked on our part) is sending to England our widowed daughter and two grandchildren -- very little creatures whose delicate health makes me fear for them the change to our trying climate. We had meant them to stay in a region of more sunshine until they were about twelve and then come to England for their education. These and other ties which I shared with my Husband make me plenty of duties, but it is difficult to feel that there is anything which would not now be done as well if I were gone away. While He was here I never had to ask whether my continuing in life was of any use.
And in a few weeks I shall be going to our Country Home which he enjoyed more and more keenly. It is doubtful to me now whether I can bear to be there without him. For 24 years we had been used to look at everything together, and the best part of all things to me was the sense that they entered into his happy life. Even his sadly delicate health could not subdue his cheerfulness and eager activity, and the daily assurance of his happiness was my strength -- my fountain of contentment. But now I have to seek my contentment in the practical belief that I have had the portion of personal good that "falleth to me," a portion beyond that of myriads born with needs as great as mine -- and that the remainder of my life must be given where I ask for nothing again. Formerly everything was easy because the supreme human blessing of perfect love was always with me. Now everything seems difficult. And yet I feel as if I were blaspheming to write that -- for the Past is not dead, and in all I do, it is a living influence. But I am still rebellious -- not yet resigned to the cutting short of a full life, while so many half empty lives go on in vigorous uselessness. Submission will come -- but it comes slowly.
Thank you for telling me that you have the comfort of seeing your son in a path that satisfies your best wishes for him. I like to think of your having family joys. One of the prettiest photographs of a child that I possess is one of your sending to me.
Do not be surprised if you hear that a book of mine is coming out. It was sent to the publisher last year by my Dear Husband's own hand. You will believe that since he went from me I have been occupied solely with His writing and have been far aloof from other authorship.
I hope you are still at Mandarin, so that I may not have been wrong in the address of my letter. Please offer my reverential, affectionate regards to your Husband, and believe me, dear Friend,
Yours always gratefully
M. E. Lewes.
Text: Copy at Yale. Extracts published: C. E. Stowe, Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe, Boston and New York, 1890, p. 483.
The Priory | 21 North Bank | April 10. 79.
My dear Friend
I have been long without sending you any sign (unless you have received a message from me through Mrs. Fields), but my heart has been going out to you and your husband continually as among the chief of the many kind beings who have given me their tender fellow-feeling in my last earthly sorrow. For nothing after this can seem sorrow to me of a personal kind. Joy and sorrow are both my perpetual companions, but the joy is called Past and the sorrow Present.
When your first letter came with the beautiful gift of your Book, 220 I was unable to read any letters and did not for a long while see what you had sent me. But when I did know and had read your words of thankfulness at the great good you have seen wrought by your help, I felt glad for your sake first and then for the sake of the great nation to which you belong. The hopes of the world are taking refuge westward under the calamitous conditions, moral and physical, in which we of the elder world are getting involved. This wicked war in S. Africa (I mean wicked on our part) is sending to England our widowed daughter and two grandchildren -- very little creatures whose delicate health makes me fear for them the change to our trying climate. We had meant them to stay in a region of more sunshine until they were about twelve and then come to England for their education. These and other ties which I shared with my Husband make me plenty of duties, but it is difficult to feel that there is anything which would not now be done as well if I were gone away. While He was here I never had to ask whether my continuing in life was of any use.
And in a few weeks I shall be going to our Country Home which he enjoyed more and more keenly. It is doubtful to me now whether I can bear to be there without him. For 24 years we had been used to look at everything together, and the best part of all things to me was the sense that they entered into his happy life. Even his sadly delicate health could not subdue his cheerfulness and eager activity, and the daily assurance of his happiness was my strength -- my fountain of contentment. But now I have to seek my contentment in the practical belief that I have had the portion of personal good that "falleth to me," a portion beyond that of myriads born with needs as great as mine -- and that the remainder of my life must be given where I ask for nothing again. Formerly everything was easy because the supreme human blessing of perfect love was always with me. Now everything seems difficult. And yet I feel as if I were blaspheming to write that -- for the Past is not dead, and in all I do, it is a living influence. But I am still rebellious -- not yet resigned to the cutting short of a full life, while so many half empty lives go on in vigorous uselessness. Submission will come -- but it comes slowly.
Thank you for telling me that you have the comfort of seeing your son in a path that satisfies your best wishes for him. I like to think of your having family joys. One of the prettiest photographs of a child that I possess is one of your sending to me.
Do not be surprised if you hear that a book of mine is coming out. It was sent to the publisher last year by my Dear Husband's own hand. You will believe that since he went from me I have been occupied solely with His writing and have been far aloof from other authorship.
I hope you are still at Mandarin, so that I may not have been wrong in the address of my letter. Please offer my reverential, affectionate regards to your Husband, and believe me, dear Friend,
Yours always gratefully
M. E. Lewes.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, London, 10 April 1879, 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/93459