Read The Letters of T. S. Eliot, Volume 1: 1898-1922 for Free Online

admires, and retains much in memory.
    It is now partly in deference to his own wishes that we consider sending him to Milton. A friend suggests that he will be lonely there, because most of the boys have been there some years. I hope not, for although quiet and very dignified he is a most friendly boy, of sweet nature, and every inch a gentleman, withal very modest and unassuming, yet very self-reliant too.
    We have lived twenty-five years on the old Eliot place, while all our friends have moved out, and Tom desires companionship of which he has been thus deprived. 1 I talk with him as I would with a man, which perhaps is not so good for him as if he had young people about him.
    If you think that Tom can make out a course, and you advise and are willing to take him, I should like a decision very soon, as otherwise his room must be engaged for Harvard. He has been a faithful student and we are willing to have him wander a little from beaten paths this year and take a somewhat miscellaneous course.
    His teacher here says he can enter Harvard next year without repeating his examinations. I will write to Mr Hart and inquire.
     I have gone somewhat into detail to assist you in making an early decision, as the number admitted into your school is limited, I judge, and I should like a place reserved in one of the cottages of the upper school.
Yours very truly
Charlotte C. Eliot
Mrs Henry W. Eliot
    1–TSE’s remarkable grandfather, the Revd William Greenleaf Eliot, whom Dickens described as ‘a gentleman of great worth and excellence’ ( American Notes, 1842), had been a Unitarian Minister of the First Congregational Church in St Louis, 1834–70; and his widow, Abby Adams, remained there although the area became a slum. Their son, TSE’s father, stayed nearby out of loyalty. 
     

    [In TSE’s hand:]
    I passed in June 1904, for Harvard:
4
Elementary
English (a)
2
”
French
4
”
Latin
4
”
Greek
2
”
Algebra
2 –
Plane Geometry.
 
18 points.
 
 
     
    I shall take in June, 1905:
2
Advanced
Greek
2
”
Latin
2
”
French
4
”
English (b)
2
Elementary
Physics
2 –
”
History (Greek and Roman)
14 points
 
 
     
    Total 32 points.
 
German
 
History
 
Trig. and Phys.
 
Chem.
     
    English: Hill’s Principles of Rhetoric. Pancoast’s Introduction to English Literature. Reading: Othello, Golden Treasury, Macbeth, Burke’s Speech on Conciliation [with America, 1775], Milton’s Minor Poems, Macaulay’s ‘Milton’ and ‘Addison’. Themes. Elocution.
    Latin: Virgil’s Aeneid , Books 3–12. I read Books I–II last year. Ovid 2000 lines. Cicero, Milo. Grammar. Composition based on Caesar.
    Greek: I read Xenophon’s Anabasis Books I–IV, with Hellenica at sight last year. Iliad I–III. Also Books IV–VI, VII and XVIII at sight. Odyssey selections. Xenophon at sight. Prose composition. 

    French: Fraser and Squairs’ Grammar. Stone’s Grammaire Française. Résumés in French of the authors read. Reading: Horace, Corneille; Le Misanthrope, Molière; Andromaque, Racine; Zadig and other tales, Voltaire; Hernani, Les Misérables, Hugo; La Mare au Diable, La Petite Fadette, Sand; Five Tales of Balzac; Mademoiselle de la Seiglière, Sandeau; Athalie, Racine; and others. Memorizing poetry.
    History: Myers’ History of Greece and History of Rome.
    Physics: Wentworth and Hill’s Principles of Physics. Forty experiments.
Thomas S. Eliot
    7 April 1905
    St Louis
    My dear Mr Cobb,
    I do not know whether in my last note I made it sufficiently explicit, that if after reading my letter and looking over my son’s schedule, you approve of his entering Milton Academy, I desire to make formal application for his admission into one of the Upper School dormitory buildings.
Yours very truly
Charlotte C. Eliot
    22 July 1905
    Eastern Point, Gloucester
    My dear Mr Cobb,
    Your letter has just been forwarded to me from Saint Louis, which has caused delay in answering. My son’s marks were ‘B’ in History, and ‘C’ in