Fragment of Kittie

Life once more whisked me away from the Sussex Downs — they had made me learn a lot about England & these Islands all of them each in there [sic] particular way – Ireland – Scotland – England – – and yes London[.] London stands alone demanding like the the [sic] Land does some vital response from her children – I learnt that when I stepped into that train waving my hands to my friends on the platform desparingly [sic]- I wept salt tears into my coffee cup that first morning in Hampshire. My beloved London I had left forever – of course I would go back into those streets – to visit my friends – to shop – to go to the theater [sic] – theatres perhaps hold hand out to me because of George’s plays – – but it was London Herself I was leaving forever – – –  & for two whole years I had loathed living there – – & this Hampshire was to be my prison – – I did not know that I was going to thank God fasting [?] for that Glimpse [of the South Downs] each morning from my bed – & the shortest walk in any weather to such a panorama of them as lifted one’s soul to extasy[.]

This is one of fifteen fragments of memoir written by Kittie during World War 2. She was then in her late seventies and suffered from poor sight and a chronic illness. My reason for quoting it will be clear from my next post but one. She knew the ‘Sussex Downs’ from lengthy visits during and immediately after World War 1. She was born in Donegal, spent her early teens in St Andrews, and moved to London with her widowed mother in about 1885. She left at the end of 1922 for the village of Sheet in Hampshire, following the publication of George’s selected works under her editorship and the death of Nina Astley (Corbet).