Queenwood, Aug?2 1851
My dear Mrs Ginty,
I have been very busy indeed and continue to be so, this is my only reason for not writing. Yesterday morning before your letter3 arrived, I think the thought of you was one of the first that entered my head and I muttered involuntarily to myself I must write to Mrs Ginty. Your letter has been a source of sincere satisfaction to me – I am very glad to hear that you are getting on so cheerily. That is a brave sentence: ‘I am far more independent and comfortable than I was 9 months ago’. Our comfort and independence depend in a great measure upon ourselves – once we make up our mind, to face the circumstances of life valiantly and with courageous hearts,4 difficulties which were previously deemed insurmountable dwindle into very sorry affairs – Keep to that Motto Peb5 my girl – ‘don’t get into debt’. The habitual tendency to get into debt is a snare of the devil.
I think I should like to see you just as well as you would like to see me – you know right well, you little minx, that I did like you a little bit,6 otherwise you would never have been so impertinent as to mention it.
I hope that William7 wont be long without a better salary not on your account for I know right well he gives you enough already. I shall see you in your new house sometime no doubt, but when is very uncertain – I must work like a negro and live like a miser for a long time to shake my own difficulties8 from my shoulders – I shall get them underfoot at last I have no doubt.
You are not so lazy as you used to be are you not? I think if I were asked what is the greatest sin to which humanity is subject I should point to idleness.9 The creator of man intended him to be an active being – Idleness in itself would not be so bad if it stopped there but it draws on other evils in its train. As long as a man works, his condition is hopeful and you could not give William a higher character than to say he works hard.
But now I must stop my sermon I have written more than I expected I could write – I used to be a good letter writer as Wm. can testify but I find myself getting daily more rusty in this respect. Give my love to William and take the same yourself.
Good bye my girl | your faithful friend | John Tyndall.
RI MS JT/1/TYP/11/3640
LT Transcript Only
[August 1851]: date assigned by LT (see n. 2). The allusion to financial difficulties and hard work (n. 4 below) supports a date in the period after Tyndall’s return from Germany.
Aug?1851: the date as given in LT’s typescript. There is no indication of whether 1851 comes from the manuscript, nor of the reasoning used to assign any date (such as August) not on the manuscript.
your letter: letter missing.
to face the circumstances of life valiantly and with courageous hearts: a Carlylean sentiment.
Peb: a short (familiar) form of the name Margaret.
I did like you a little bit: since their Ordnance Survey days Tyndall had been a close friend of Margaret Ginty’s husband, Bill (William). They had encouraged one another’s love interests, even though sometimes interested in the same young woman. Margaret and William Ginty married in 1846. As reported in Volume 2 (biographical entry) Margaret was a notably attractive and congenial woman.
William: William Ginty, her husband.
my own difficulties: presumably a reference to his financial struggles and his debt. See letter 0501 (at n. 20).
greatest sin . . . idleness: another Carlylean emphasis.
Please cite as “Tyndall0517,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0517