Here is a line in a letter that the famous author Katherine Mansfield wrote on Aug. 25, 1915:
“This is not a letter. It is only my arms around you for a quick minute.”
Oh, my heart. How beautiful is that? If someone wrote that to you, could you not just feel the affection and warmth immediately? They took the time to write it, to mail it. They meant for you to take a few seconds to read it, and for that quick minute, to feel surrounded by their love. And that is probably what happened.
Katherine Mansfield (b. Oct. 14, 1888, d. Jan. 9, 1923, aged 34) is famous for her short stories. One of them, which my parents read to me as a child, and which I still remember, is The Doll’s House, written in 1922. (You can read the story online, here.) Her stories are excellent examples of the genre, but they are particularly good for the devastatingly effective closing lines that she uses.
Katherine Mansfield (undated image)
What makes it wonderful?
This line is wonderful as it is. But why is it so significant that I not only made a note of it, but that I am sharing it?
The answer is that she wrote the letter to her younger brother, Leslie Heron Beauchamp, on Aug. 25, 1915, when he was fighting in WW I. He died less than two months after she had written it. He was only 21 years old.
“He had qualified as a bombing officer, one of the most dangerous duties a man can take on, and by the premature explosion of a bomb in his hand at Ploegsteert wood he was killed (7th October, 1915).” Did he receive her letter while he was on the battlefield, in the trenches? Was that virtual hug ever delivered to him? I don’t know. No-one knows, I guess. I like to think that it was.
“This is not a letter. It is only my arms around you for a quick minute.”
Image: Portrait of Leslie Heron Beauchamp taken by an unknown photographer, c1915. From the collection of the Alexander Turnbull Library, PAColl-6826-1-48.
She would not have known the effect and and legacy of her words. The lesson in this, for me, is to always be kind and loving, and if you can, to let the people in your life who matter to you know that you love them and care for them. Do it, whether it’s a text, email, a letter, or personally, because death comes when we least expect it.
I always try to bear in mind what Robin Williams said, speaking about metaphorical rather than literal wars:
“Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. always.”
SEVEN CIRCUMSTANCES 
Here is a line in a letter that the famous author Katherine Mansfield wrote on Aug. 25, 1915:
“This is not a letter. It is only my arms around you for a quick minute.”
Oh, my heart. How beautiful is that? If someone wrote that to you, could you not just feel the affection and warmth immediately? They took the time to write it, to mail it. They meant for you to take a few seconds to read it, and for that quick minute, to feel surrounded by their love. And that is probably what happened.
Katherine Mansfield (b. Oct. 14, 1888, d. Jan. 9, 1923, aged 34) is famous for her short stories. One of them, which my parents read to me as a child, and which I still remember, is The Doll’s House, written in 1922. (You can read the story online, here.) Her stories are excellent examples of the genre, but they are particularly good for the devastatingly effective closing lines that she uses.
What makes it wonderful?
This line is wonderful as it is. But why is it so significant that I not only made a note of it, but that I am sharing it?
The answer is that she wrote the letter to her younger brother, Leslie Heron Beauchamp, on Aug. 25, 1915, when he was fighting in WW I. He died less than two months after she had written it. He was only 21 years old.
“He had qualified as a bombing officer, one of the most dangerous duties a man can take on, and by the premature explosion of a bomb in his hand at Ploegsteert wood he was killed (7th October, 1915).” Did he receive her letter while he was on the battlefield, in the trenches? Was that virtual hug ever delivered to him? I don’t know. No-one knows, I guess. I like to think that it was.
“This is not a letter. It is only my arms around you for a quick minute.”
Image: Portrait of Leslie Heron Beauchamp taken by an unknown photographer, c1915. From the collection of the Alexander Turnbull Library, PAColl-6826-1-48.
She would not have known the effect and and legacy of her words. The lesson in this, for me, is to always be kind and loving, and if you can, to let the people in your life who matter to you know that you love them and care for them. Do it, whether it’s a text, email, a letter, or personally, because death comes when we least expect it.
I always try to bear in mind what Robin Williams said, speaking about metaphorical rather than literal wars:
“Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. always.”
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