BR TO IRINA STICKLAND, 24 APR. 1947
BRACERS 57204. ALS. McMaster
Proofread by K. Blackwell

<letterhead>
TRINITY COLLEGE,
CAMBRIDGE.
24.4.47

My dear Irina

It was a great pleasure to find a letter from you when I came yesterday after a holiday in Wales. Thank you for writing out such charming poems.

I am glad you have almost finished your book, and I wish it every possible success. It is quite true that there is a dearth of good modern children’s books, and I have every confidence in your capacity to supply the want.

I think Miss R. sounds appalling — demanding “true” friendship is as bad as rape, or nearly. I think you will be quite right to come away. I very much hope that your income will not cease in October. I know Derek has done a fair amount of work, but do not yet know how good it is.

My work goes on steadily; I hope to finish my big book in September. The BBC takes up a lot of my time.

I have to go off now to lecture about ethics — I shall point out how women had to be purified from the taint of blood after menstruation (Leviticus XV, 19–29).1 I hope the effect will be elevating! Goodbye with much love to you and the twins.

Yours
BR

• 1

  purified from the taint of blood Evidently Russell was about to give the lecture “Sources of Ethical Beliefs and Feelings”, Part One, Chap. I (see p. 29), of Human Society in Ethics and Politics (1954). He had written this and the next eight chapters on ethics for inclusion in Human Knowledge, but decided to exclude them: “I was uncertain as to the sense in which ethics can be regarded as ‘knowledge’”: (Preface to Human Society in Ethics and Politics [1954]). This letter shows that he gave at least one of the nine chapters as lectures at Cambridge.