WCP3319

Letter (WCP3319.3287)

[1]1, 2

Deep River

Via Denmark

Western Australia3

13. x. 1912

Dr. A. R. Wallace

The Old Orchard4

Broadstone

Dorset

Dear Sir

If it is not presumption on my part, I am hoping that you can recal[l] the two visits I made to you about four years ago5 when I was with "The Free Age Press"6, & that you will not mind a few words from me now.

Soon after my last visit to you my engagement with Mr Tchertkoff7 came to an end & I am now with my wife & family in the wilds of Australia — engaged in farming, or rather, clearing the virgin forest with farming as my objective.

I read of the publication of your latest work8 & although I shall probably never see it I can gather from the "reviews" something of its nature.

Out here under "the Southern Cross"9 I & my family10 often sit under our veranda & think of you & other grand old men with whom it has been our good fortune to come in contact. One of these — Tolstoy11 — has left us, but [2]12, 13 you, among others, are still with us, & as I sit here in my humble cottage in the heart of the primeval forest, with my wife and family around me, when I read of your latest work the product of so many years of earnest thought & high endeavour, we are all, young and old, profoundly moved by this fragment, this digest of your work, which appears to us more complete, more satisfying, more in accordance with fact, than any other effort which, so far, has been made, towards a solution of those problems which lay before every earnest man or woman, those of Life, Mind, & Reality.

And this is but a "review" I am glad to get one from the pen of a "reviewer" who is evidently in sympathy with your ideas.

Now I should very much like to have this book, but to be frank with you I cannot spare the money, neither do I want you to think for one moment that I am asking you to give me one. but what you may be able to do for me I have the teremity[sic] to ask for. When I was in the publishing business14 I could get any newly published work at cost price. This I am no longer able to do, therefore if you could find the time & greatly oblige me by kindly taking the trouble & I know I am asking much — but if you could arrange that one could be sent to me direct — but before doing so let me know the price — I would gratefully forward it & at once. Books which can be be purchased at home for 6/- cost out here at least 9/- yours I find is 12/6.

[3]15 In the old country16 I was frequently engaged in giving addresses to Ethical & other Societies & I am expected to give one in Albany to "The Australian Nature Associations" & this address will be on "Great Men whom I have met". Coupled with this I am expected to give an opinion on the "White Australian Policy"17, which as you are doubtless aware means the policy of preserving this continent for the White races & the exclusive avoidance of any colo[u]r problem such as they have in the United States.

If you could find time, & are able, to send me a few lines expressing your views on this matter I shall esteem it a very great favour.

The great men I have met are Tolstoy, Kropotkin18, W. T. Stead19, J. M. Robertson20, Bernard Shaw21, & yourself, & I am writing to some of these others by this same post.

I venture in conclusion to express the hope that if I have erred in making these requests that you will forgive me & take no further notice,

With every good wish for your welfare

I have the honour to remain | Dear Sir | Yours respectfully | Frank S. Thompson22, 23 [signature]

1
Text in another hand across the top left corner reads "F. S. Thompson".
2
Text in another hand in the top right corner reads "176".
3
In 1911, Frank Skinner Thompson had settled on the Deep River in Western Australia and established a farm and later a guest house called Tinglewood in 1923. He and his son Frank rescued 13 sailors from the Norwegian barque Mandalay which was wrecked off the southern coast of Australia in May 1911. When they had recovered, the sailors journeyed to Denmark, presumably taking Thompson's letters (including this one) with them. He was awarded a medal by the King of Norway and a silver watch by the survivors of the vessel. The Albany Advertiser, Monday August 15, 1949. <http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/70536599> and <http://www.everytrail.com/guide/walpole-and-nornalup-inlets-marine-park> [accessed 9 November 2015].
4
Wallace built "Old Orchard", Broadstone, Dorset and lived there from December 1902 until his death on 7 November 1913. The Alfred Russel Wallace Website.
5
See Wallace's correspondence with Thompson in September and December 1908. WCP3602.3502, WCP3603.3503. Wallace Letters Online.
6
The Free Age Press was founded by Vladimir Tchertkoff to publish the works of Leo Tolstoy. See Holman, Michael J. De K. (1988). Translating Tolstoy for the Free Age Press: Vladimir Chertkov and his English manager Arthur Fifield. The Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 66, No. 2, (April 1988). pp. 184-197.
7
Tchertkoff, Vladimir Grigoryevich (1854-1936). Editor of Leo Tolstoy's works and close friend. He was exiled by the Russian government in 1897 and came to England where he founded the Free Age Press to published Tolstoy's work. <http://whitecrowbooks.com/features/page/leo_tolstoy_and_the_free_age_press> [accessed 11 November 2015]. He returned to Russia in 1908.
8
Possibly, Wallace, A. R. (1910). The World of Life; A manifestation of Creative Power, Directive Mind and Ultimate Purpose. Chapman & Hall Ltd., London. pp. (i)-xvi, 1-542. It was reprinted in 1911.
9

Four stars in the shape of a cross that form the constellation Crux, better known as the Southern Cross , which have come to represent lands that lie below the equator.

<http://www.space.com/29445-southern-cross-constellation-skywatching.html> [accessed 11 November 2015].

10
Thompson's wife was Alice Maud Howe (1871-1948) <http://www.ozburials.com/CemsWA/Manjimup/walpole.htm>.They were married in 1893. He had a son and three daughters. <http://www.cosy.com.au/gsp/ftdisper.php?&pid=032557> [accessed 9 November 2015].
11
Tolstoy, Count Lev Nikolayevich (1828-1910). Usually referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy. Russian writer. Wikipedia. Thompson stayed with Tolstoy in 1906.
12
Text in another hand across the top left corner reads "F. S. Thompson".
13
Text in another hand in the top right corner reads "177".
14
Thompson was manager of Tuckton House in Hampshire, home of the English Tolstoyism movement , sponsored by Tolstoy and Tchertkoff, where The Free Age Press published most of Tolstoy's works, then illegal in Russia, to be smuggled back. <http://www.australiasomuchtosee.com/20102012a.htm> [accessed 11 November 2015]. Thompson wrote to Wallace from Tuckton in March 1909 (WCP3272.3240).
15
Text inanother hand in the top right corner reads "178".
16
The old country is the country that a person or a person's family originally came from, so in this case Thompson means England.
17
The White Australia Policy intentionally favoured immigrants to Australia from English speaking countries, initiating from resentment among white miners towards Chinese miners in New South Wales. Wikipedia.
18
Kropotkin, Prince Peter (1842-1921). Russian geographer, economist and anarchist. Wikipedia.
19
Stead, William Thomas (1849-1912). Newspaper editor and spiritualist.
20
Robertson, John Mackinnon (1856-1933). Journalist, advocate of rationalism and secularism and Member of Parliament. Wikipedia.
21
Shaw, George Bernard (1856-1950). Playwright and polemicist. ODNB.
22
Thompson, Frank Skinner (1867-1949). Fabian philosopher, Tolstoyite and pioneer. NHM. Thompson started his career in a draper's shop in Windsor, serving "ladies of the court", but left his employer and travelled to Russia where he met Tolstoy. One of his prized possessions was a photograph taken when he left. The West Australian, Thursday 11 August 1949. <http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/47741766> [accessed 11 November 2015].
23
There is a mark in red ink over the middle of the signature.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP3319.3287)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by Ghosh, Susan [2018-08-15]

Please cite as “WCP3319,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 6 May 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP3319