TCG Letter #1295

Smith writes to Tolkien while he at the Wiseman' house in London after hearing that Tolkien unfortunately cannot attend the next council. Edith has been unwell and Tolkien is depressed. He had sent Smith some more poems and Smith sends his thanks for them. He was impressed with 'The Happy Mariners' and 'Dark Are the Clouds about the North'.

The three other T.C.B.S. members are together in London at Wiseman's and have reaffirmed the principles of the T.C.B.S. and decided "once again on the work it will have to do after the war is over: to drive from life, letters, the stage and society that dabbling in and hankering after the unpleasant sides and incidents in life and nature which have captured the larger and worser tastes in Oxford, London and the world: … to reestablish sanity, cleanliness, and the love of real and true beauty in everybody’s breast" (Tolkien Papers, Bodleian Library, Oxford).^{See also Letter from Christopher Wiseman to J.R.R. Tolkien • 27 October 1915 (#1296) and Letter from Rob Gilson to J.R.R. Tolkien • 31 October 1915 (#1297)[1]}