BR TO KATHARINE TAIT, 29 AUG. 1950
BRACERS 52628. ALS. McMaster. SLBR 2: #501
Edited by N. Griffin. Proofread by K. Blackwell

41 Queen’s Rd.
Richmond, Surreya
29 August 1950

Dear Kate

I had a letter from you written on July 25, and when I got home two days ago I found a letter written June 15. I am here now till Oct. 22; then, till Nov.1, ℅ Dr. Victoria Schuck, Mount Holyoke, South Hadley, Mass. Nov. 2–16 I shall be touring; Nov. 17 I can come to Washington. If it suits you, I thought I would stay 3 nights, and then come home. Nov. 14, 15, 16 I shall be at Columbia, ℅ Prof. Irwin Edman. I much prefer being with you to going to a hotel, but I was afraid of being a bother.

Australia is less like America than I expected. There is no hustle and most people are contented; they do not have to get drunk. It is more like More’s Utopia1 than one could think a real place could be, and almost equally dull. The people are pleasant and good-natured, but not interesting. There are some nice bits of country, but most of it is flat, and goes on being just the same for thousands of miles. The best thing about it is the sense of physical liberty: there is almost always a wide horizon, and when you get tired of people you can go and live with the wallabies. Nobody works hard and nobody is poor, except the aborigines, who are very pathetic.

What I think about Asia is that we ought to let it alone, and leave Nehru2 to create a neutral bloc. But I don’t quite see how we could have done otherwise in Korea when the moment came; the mistakes were earlier.

Your problem about domesticity is that of all educated intelligent women now-a-days. It is worse in America than here. I think in your place I should hesitate to have children till your income is larger. We will talk about this when I come; also about democracy, America, ethics, etc. There is so much to talk about. I look forward very much to seeing you. Love.

Yrs aff
Diddy

• 1

  More’s Utopia The imaginary island where poverty and injustice do not exist, in Thomas More’s political fable, Utopia (1516).

• 2

  Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964), the first Prime Minister of India after independence in 1947. He tried to establish India as the leader of a bloc of non-aligned nations.

Textual Notes

• a

  41 Queen’s Rd. | Richmond, Surrey above deleted <letterhead> Penralltgoch | Llan Festiniog | Merioneth