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

final interview.
    I should like to ask two practical questions. I desire to know whether a student is allowed to keep his trunk in his room, and if so, should it be of such a height that it can be kept under the bed? Also does an advanced pupil require a ‘swallow tail’ evening suit for any occasion, or are tuxedo suits worn? I inquire because my son has not yet attained his full growth.
    Please let me know how long before the opening of the fall term it will be best for me again to confer briefly with you. 3
Very sincerely,
Charlotte C. Eliot
    1–Alfred Sheffield (1871–1961), husband of TSE’s eldest sister, Ada. ‘Shef’ taught English for four years at University School, Cleveland, Ohio, before joining the editorial staff of Webster’s International Dictionary.
    2–H. C. Bierwirth, Beginning German: a series of lessons with an abstract of grammar (1903). Bierwirth was Professor of German at Harvard.
    3–She and TSE saw Mr Cobb on Sat., 16 Sept. The term began on the following Tuesday, with TSE being placed in Forbes House.
     

    17 September 1905
    [Eastern Point]
    My dear Mr Cobb,
    I have purchased Tom a low steamer trunk, and should like very much to have him able to keep it under his bed in his room, unless it is an infringement of rules to which Mrs Chase would object. As there are no closets in the rooms, I think clothes not in immediate use can be best kept from dust etc. in a trunk.
    You need not answer this note except to Tom personally.
    With kind regards to Mrs Cobb,
Sincerely yours,
C. C. Eliot
    [end September 1905]
    Hotel Bellevue, Beacon St, Boston
    My dear Mr Cobb,
    I thought perhaps I had better explain to you just why Tom could not participate in football and other such strenuous sports, involving risk of strain. He has had a case of congenital rupture 1 which, our physician thinks, is superficially healed, but as the abdominal muscles there are weak, care must still be exercised. He participated in the gymnasium training at Smith Academy. I think, however, it would be well for your instructor to know exactly Tom’s physical condition, and presume he examines each new pupil.
    Tom has never fully realized until now, when he is almost the only fellow debarred from football, his physical limitations. We hope in a few years he will be entirely normal, but his rapid growth has rendered him less rugged, perhaps, although perfectly healthy. I hope he will soon be over his cold.
    I know Tom will be particular about observing all rules.
    With kind regards to yourself and Mrs Cobb,
Yours sincerely,
Charlotte C. Eliot
    Should Tom ever be ill, which I do not apprehend, I should like to be informed by telegraph.
    1–He remembered as a small boy asking his nurse why a naked child in a book was not wearing his truss, which he had assumed all boys wore (Valerie Eliot).
     

    20 May 1906
    2635 Locust St [St Louis]
     
    My dear Mr Cobb,
    Tom has written home requesting permission to swim in a quarry pond near the Academy. As this authority from parents is a new requirement, it conveys the impression that there is an element of danger, and Mr Eliot and I would like to know the conditions. We both have a prejudice against quarry ponds, partly because Mr Eliot’s sister was drowned in one, 1 and also because every year the quarry ponds about the city prove fatal to boys bathing in or skating on them. This is partly due to the deep holes in the bottom rock. I suppose Milton boys never attempt diving in one. Mr Eliot says if the pond is stagnant, fed by rains, there is danger of typhoid. If fed by springs, the cold currents must be carefully avoided. Do boys use their own judgement as to the length of time to remain in the water?
    A boy may be very careful himself, but the peril of a comrade endangers his rescuers. I have seen quarry ponds surrounded by steep rock that looked dangerous.
    Although sorry to trouble you, we do not feel ready to accord Tom the required permission until we are better acquainted with