Letter, cake, socks, cardigan, threepences, & Campbell to hand. For all of which many thanks. The letter is read, the cake is nearly eaten (having had a very short run) the socks are being worn at the present moment, the cardigan is being worn at other moments, the threepence have been well licked preparatory to spending, & Campbell has talked & been talked to.

First of all your letter; as I am writing this at the Institute I am not unable to consult same, but as far as I remember you were getting on very well, which is very cheering, & the Dr had told you you were a good patient. As you reportl this yourself, I am a bit sceptical about it, but no doubt you may have misunderstood something she said & passed it on in all good faith. This is the sort of doubtful evidence the historian is trained to weigh & estimate very carefully because as you know it is very difficult to size up a complex character like yours, & all sorts of circumstances have to be taken into account very carefully before arriving at the final result. And of course, the final result can only be provisional, so far as history is concerned. So you will quite understand that however much personal inclination urges me to believe that you are a good patient, professional practice restrains me, knowing what I know about your life & your regard for the truth when yourself is concerned, from giving your assertion the absolute & instantaneous credence which I should be forced to give to one of Daddy's on, say, the political morality of the N.Z Labour Party. I must apologise if any of this seems involved, but then the historian's trade is a very involved one, & somewhat sordid. Besides historians lie so much themselves that they find it quite impossible to believe anyone else. In fact you might say that the whole of history is one damned lie after another.  Also: balancing time at Sharland's was coming along, & Daddy was anticipating a rough spin for a while; I hope he has been bearing the quack's advice in mind, & cutting out night work. I am glad to learn he has been looking out for a cushy job, though I suppose such are not too easy to come by these days, with the country on the rocks as it is. Still you hang on a bit till I pick up a profitable chair in the States or somewhere having rendered up my soul in the process & I'll pen- sion you both off on a few thousand dollars p.a. Also I note you celebrated Ern's 21st birthday in the time-honoured manner, family wit flowing free as usual. I didn't realise Ern was on the brink of becom- ing a man, with all a man's responsibilities & worries, or I might have been a bit more generous in my method of marking the occasion. However Christmas is coming, so Ern can surname his colda. It was a pity I wasn't there to give him some valuable advice on why young men go wrong, & how to live within your income, & how to tell a Nice Girl from a mere pursuer, & how to avoid getting into the hands of the Jews, & the respect to be paid to sisters-in-law & other married ladies, & such-like; & no doubt he may suffer badly later on from the lack of such advice; but after all every young man has to go his own way & sow his own wild oats & reap his own whirlwind, & lucky if his sins are not visited on his children; so I dare say what he loses in advice he will make up in bitter experience.  And after all, there's a divinity that shapes our ends rough-hew them how we may. Which may be a pleasing reflection for the lad when he bruises histhe shins of his soul against some female rock in his path, or chops his face about with his razor. And above all, what these young men want to remember is not to try to be too clever; there's a lot in what the poet ought to have said, Be good, young man, etc. What the world needs today, in my opinion, is just simple goodness.  Yes — I think it would do Ern a lot of good to get away from Kant & Freud & those birds for a while & just study the life of Auntie Win; he'd learn a lot that way. I was going to say Auntie but I think there's many a catch in her character that does not meet the eye. Now with Auntie Win, all is plain & straight- forward & above-board, simple goodness carried to the nth point. Many a time I have said to myself in the midst of temptation, "Now, stand firm, remember Auntie W —", but I see I am getting a bit more spicy in my correspon- dence than I should be when writing home. However, just let Ern bear these few words in mind & he won't go far wrong. I might just add as a sort of addendum that I dare say Frannie would always be glad to give him a bit of good advice when necessary. You will notice I haven't mentioned his Mother, but then there are very few things that a young feller can say to his Mother.  Mothers in my opinion should be kept Unspoiled from the World.  Well, I think I had better talk about something else now.

I notice that Frannie has been staying with you for a week, & I should feel greatly honoured I'm sure to learn that she had been occupying what was once my room I think Keithles might have taken her down to Christchurch too, just to see what N.Z. can do in the way of culture; but I never thought much of the Chch girls myself, so I dare say he will be all right, & that his married life will go on as before. Everything else seems to be going on as well as can be expected in my absence, I gather; though you do seem to have got yourselves into a pretty mess with Samoa. So much for in letters. I spent last week according to programme at Popplestones, Trimley, Suffolk. I didn't go on my bike after all, though I got a perfect day for it, with a southerly wind; for coming home late the night before, whom should I run into but McGrath just back from Spain, with a diary, a book of watercolour sketches, a wad of snapshots, & 400 postcards. So as he was going up to Cambridge before I would be back we had to have a good yap on the spot & arrange to do Charing X Rd next day together, being Saturday , also to have lunch, so that we finally left Bertorelli's about 3 after a most hilarious time. I'm sorry I didn't have the cash at the time to go to Spain with him & his two cobbers; he wants me to buzz over to Sweden with him in the Easter vac. & we shall see. I have been getting a good deal of amusing stuff, indeed, what with him & then Campbell, & other smaller bits of it crammed in between by various people. It's an amusing life. Trimley was on its best behaviour for three days after I got there; it's cold on the east coast, especially when you hit the bathwater in the mornings, but when you get up you saw the sun shining on hay- stacks out of the window, & green fields & trees & a road that wasn't all covered with taxis; & all of these things are very refreshing at times. Me & the dog went for walks over the surrounding country at intervals, even when the weather broke & became natural. This dog goes by the name of Tups & is one of those dogs whose tails have solved the problem of perpetual motion — it was a good cobber of mine, & we had good times together. Though I must say that when you have chucked a spud away about 57 times for a dog to bring back the dog shows no signs of wearying of the sport after the 57th, however weary you & the spud look, you begin to doubt the divine purpose in dogs. This was a good dog though, with the faculty of finding rabbits hidden behind grass- blades & all the romance in the world on the other side of a fence. They don't have a bad life, dogs. This one looked after me, anyhow. Of the other members of the family, Brian was away all the week at his job, getting experience in looking after estates, so I gather, he also runs some sort of a course for a correspondence college at Sheffield, & knocks about £200 yr out of that. He seems to be the only one of the family who can make any money. Uncle George is down at his studio every day, & Berrie now & again; so on the whole I had to stand up to the onslaught of Auntie Jeanne single handed. My word, she's like a river in spate! However no doubt you know all about it, so I need say nothing more. I stood up against it pretty well after the first day & got pretty expert at putting in formal assents in the right places. I took down a big swag of books too, & read them all except one, including you will be delighted to learn, Pride & Prejudice, by Jane Austen. Well, I agree with all you've said about her — she's perfect in her way. Unluckily the vacation has just come to an end, instead of just beginning, so it looks as if I am going to be hard put to it to read the others. But never say die, I may be able to stay up all night for a week running some time. I also read C.E.Montague's latest, Right Off the Map, which a girl with a Murke's Subscription was good enough to lend me — first rate, except for one or two little bits of situations. I reckon he's a great man, that bloke. Also I read that thing by Marais, on the Colonization of N.Z. This is the book I meant to write; & I do no boasting when I say that if Messrs Harrop &Marais had got out of the way, the job would have been done a lot better. These blooming Ph.D students, they get hold of the dope all right; but as for organising it into a decent books or writing with the glimmerings of a style — you might as well ask them to walk on their hands down the middle of Oxford St. I heard the other day that Harrop had just finished a life of E.G. Wakefield, which was another little job I was thinking of taking on. Blast him! Never mind; if I can stay here a bit longer there are plenty of things to do, & if I come back to N.Z.there won't be anything to do anyhow — so either way you look at it it doesn't matter. I don't suppose now that the govt is so hard up they will be doing anything in the way of the archives Scholefield was so keen on, & which are certainly wanted. I hear that F.P has finished his 40 yrs in the govt service, too; but I can't see him getting out yet, on £900 p.a., the lousy ignoramus. I wrote to Hunter & told him to give me all the dope on that business he could. Not much use my coming back, & then scratching my head & looking for a job. However, there's plenty of time yet. Let's get back to Popplestones. Uncle George has been doing some good sketches lately; he went up to the lakes in the holidays & churnedout some good water-colours; but what I liked best were four sketches round about Frinley & Stand, where Brian is. He has been giving one or two away for wedding-presents lately, & I suggested in a hopeful that I might get married, but there was nothing doing. However, Berrie chored me in charcoal one after- noonwith good results, which she afterwards gave to me; so I am adding to my collection of works of art. It is supposed to be a pretty good picture by them what know me, the principal criticism being that the eyes aren't twinkling enough. So you can see what a pleasant reputation I must have made for myself. Besides all this I was well- fed, with morning tea or cocoa into the bargain, so that I put on 3 lbs, & am once again approaching my normal weight. In return I may say that besides taking the dog out for walks, I did a good deal of landscape gardening, mowed the lawn, wheeled off loads of weeds, & chopped wood regular- ly. This was a good wheeze — Uncle G bought a tree in the shape of logs about 6 ft long — I picked out the best ones & sharpened up the axe & went at it in great style; leaving a lot of lumps full of branches & knots for him & Brian to get at with the cross-cut saw. Well, well, the bloke who gets in first generally scores; & the logs had been lying there all the summer. Please note that I behaved myself well, & in all respects tried to do my Mother credit. Also I played the piano a bit, a vile instrument, & Uncle G got out his fiddle & we scraped & strummed in harmony one night.

Since I got back I have been meeting the N.Z. invasion. Max Richardson turned up on Monday, so I had to entertain him & Lorrie to tea at the Institute & go to the pictures in the evening — Chang, a Siamese jungle-picture, jolly good; at a flash joint in Regent St called the Plaza, where they have sham-antique furniture in the lobby & a carpet 6 inches deep. I found the cake on the table the night I got back, happily intact (that alas was five days ago) & in a couple of days Campbell turned up & we had a good yarn. He is at the School of course; & has got a room next door to the House of Lords, so as to be on the spot in moments of crisis. He had a great time coming across the States apparently, making himself a nuisance to all & sundry, & is looking very prosperous; as no doubt J.G. Coates' private sec ought to look. He tells me that the Labour Party's great grievance is that Coates is taking away all their grievances, somewhat to the alarm of Coates' own party. So that the Samoan business came as a godsend to them. He appears to be quite indefensible. Richardson's nerves apparently being a bit on edge after 6 years of tropical administration. but I suppose you know a lot more about it than I do. Interesting, though, very interesting. then Espiner is over here for a week or two, hogging into the B.M.; so we had a party & a good wrangle last night, Helen Allen, Ross, de K, Campbell, Espiner, Duncan & me — I never knew a crowd spark better — an auspicious opening for onethe opening of our season. A large section of the cake went west, together with much cocoa & a quart or so of cider. Happy days. I am now waiting for Bill Joliffe & the biscuits, but can't see anything in the paper about either.

The concert whirl is starting again — I went along ^this morning to get a ticket for the 9th Symphony, but the cheap- est they had was 5/- hence I am feeling a bit sore, that being beyond my means. The Leuen crowd are having another series of 6 concerts too, from Mozart to Cesar Franck, Flavel, & Debussy. Yes. yes. happy days. P.G.Wode- house has another book out, supposed to be good.