I am very sorry, but I shall not be able to get over to see you this week. I am writing an essay on Victor Hugo1 and I find him a stubborn subject! So all my time will be taken up with him.
I send you The Sun-Maid,2 but I am loc_jc.00054_large.jpg afraid the print is not very good. Thank you for letting me see Mr. Rhys'3 letter.
Yours affectionately Alys. Sat: evn'gThis is Alys Smith's note returning ER's letter.Correspondent:
Alyssa ("Alys") Whitall Pearsall
Smith (1867–1951) was born in Philadelphia and became a Quaker relief
organizer. She attended Bryn Mawr College and was a graduate of the class of
1890. She and her family lived in Britain for two years during her childhood and
again beginning in 1888. She married the philosopher Bertrand Russell in 1894;
the couple later separated, and they divorced in 1921. Smith also served as the
chair of a society committee that set up the "Mothers and Babies Welcome" (the
St Pancras School for Mothers) in London in 1907; this health center, dedicated
to reducing the infant mortality rate, provided a range of medical and
educational services for women. Smith was the daughter of Robert Pearsall and
Hannah Whitall Smith, and she was the sister of Mary Whitall Smith
(1864–1945), the political activist, art historian, and critic, whom
Whitman once called his "staunchest living woman friend."