Letter from Alfred E. Stearns to Thomas Sun, New Haven., Conn., January 20, 1931
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Alfred E. Stearns to Thomas Sun, New Haven., Conn., January 20, 1931
Subject
Letter from Alfred E. Stearns to Thomas Sun, New Haven., Conn., January 20, 1931
Transcription
Dear Tommy:
I have read with the keenest interest and sympathy your letter of January 16, though naturally I am terribly sorry to find how thoroughly upset you are over conditions and your own situation. Anyway, I am glad to know that you have decided so definitely that you ought to go home, for when you wore here last year I couldn’t make up my mind as to just what you thought you ought to do or where you ought to be.
I don’t know what I can do beyond writing your father that in my judgment you ought to be allowed to go home at the end of this year for at least a year’s time. That I am willing and glad to do, for I do think you deserve a break, at least, in your American work, and my own judgment is that if you are going to live in China for the rest of your life, you ought not to delay your return any longer than is absolutely necessary. It will be increasingly difficult for you to make the readjustments when you get back, and it will be hard enough at best.
So cheer up, and I will write your father at once and see if we can persuade him that the home journey is the thing for you. I hope most earnestly that he will so decide. But what about Charlie? My guess is that Charlie would like to go just as badly as you would. Possibly I can bring your father to believe that it is now time for all three of you to go back and rejoin your own family.
Don’t hope too much on the outcome of my venture, for I can’t tell just how your father will take my intervention. He may even resent it. The best I can do is to try, and that, as I have said above, I am ready and glad to do.
So, once again, cheer up, and believe me with all best wishes,
Ever sincerely yours,
Before I write your father please tell me if it is proper for me to tell him that you have written me on the subject.
I have read with the keenest interest and sympathy your letter of January 16, though naturally I am terribly sorry to find how thoroughly upset you are over conditions and your own situation. Anyway, I am glad to know that you have decided so definitely that you ought to go home, for when you wore here last year I couldn’t make up my mind as to just what you thought you ought to do or where you ought to be.
I don’t know what I can do beyond writing your father that in my judgment you ought to be allowed to go home at the end of this year for at least a year’s time. That I am willing and glad to do, for I do think you deserve a break, at least, in your American work, and my own judgment is that if you are going to live in China for the rest of your life, you ought not to delay your return any longer than is absolutely necessary. It will be increasingly difficult for you to make the readjustments when you get back, and it will be hard enough at best.
So cheer up, and I will write your father at once and see if we can persuade him that the home journey is the thing for you. I hope most earnestly that he will so decide. But what about Charlie? My guess is that Charlie would like to go just as badly as you would. Possibly I can bring your father to believe that it is now time for all three of you to go back and rejoin your own family.
Don’t hope too much on the outcome of my venture, for I can’t tell just how your father will take my intervention. He may even resent it. The best I can do is to try, and that, as I have said above, I am ready and glad to do.
So, once again, cheer up, and believe me with all best wishes,
Ever sincerely yours,
Before I write your father please tell me if it is proper for me to tell him that you have written me on the subject.
Creator
Alfred E. Stearns
Publisher
Phillips Academy
Date
January 20, 1931
Rights
All Rights Reserved by Phillips Academy
Language
English
Type
Correspondence