The Letters of William James, Vol. 2James, William
Philosophy
The Letters of William James, Vol. 2
James, William
Intellectuals -- United States; James, William, 1842-1910; Philosophers -- United States; Psychologists -- United States
Too much "sitting up and talking" with friends in Paris exhausted him
seriously, and, after leaving Paris, he failed for the first time to
shake off his fatigue. The immediate effect of the Nauheim baths proved
to be very debilitating, and, again, he failed to rally and improve when
he had finished them. By July, after trying the air of Lucerne and
Geneva, only to find that the altitude caused him unbearable distress,
he despaired of any relief beyond what now looked like the incomparable
consolations of being at rest in his own home. So he turned his face
westward.
The next letters bid good-bye for the summer to two tried friends. Five
months later it seemed as if James had been at more pains to make his
adieus than he usually put himself to on account of a summer's absence.
When Mrs. James returned to the Cambridge house in the autumn, after he
had died, and had occasion to open his desk copy of the Harvard
Catalogue, she found these words jotted at the head of the Faculty List:
"A thousand regrets cover every beloved name." It grieved him that life
was too short and too full for him to see many of them as often as he
wanted to. One day before he sailed, his eye had been caught by the
familiar names and, as a throng of comradely intentions filled his
heart, he had had a moment of foreboding, and he had let his hand trace
the words that cried this needless "Forgive me!" and recorded an
incommunicable Farewell.
_To Henry L. Higginson._
Cambridge, _Mar. 28, 1910_.
BELOVED HENRY,--I had most positive hopes of driving in to see you ere
the deep engulfs us, but the press is too great here, and it remains
impossible. This is just a word to say that you are not forgotten, or
ever to be forgotten, and that (after what Mrs. Higginson said) I am
hoping you may sail yourself pretty soon, and have a refreshing time,
and cross our path. We go straight to Rye, expecting to be in Paris for
the beginning of April for a week, and then to Nauheim, whence Alice,
after seeing me safely settled, will probably return to Rye for the heft
of the summer. It would pay you to turn up both there and at Nauheim and
see the mode of life.
Hoping you'll have a good [Club] dinner Friday night, and never need any
surgery again, I am ever thine,
W. J.
_To Miss Frances R. Morse._
Cambridge, _March 29, 1910_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account