Letter to John Valentine from his wife Ursula
Title
Letter to John Valentine from his wife Ursula
Description
Writes of her attempts to find address of Stopes clinic and addresses some psychological issues that he has suffered despite a successful visit, Discusses whether he would like a relevant book with him or left at home. Writes she feels happy and contented and is looking forward to a 10 day leave starting next Saturday.
Creator
Date
1945-07-22
Temporal Coverage
Language
Format
Five page handwritten letter
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
Identifier
EValentineUMValentineJRM450722
Transcription
Lewisham
22/7/45Sunday evening
Johnnie my darling,
When I promised last night to write that letter of enquiry for you, I thought I’d be able to find the address of the Stopes Clinic from advertisement of her books which quite often appear in NSW but of course there are none in the copies I have here now. So I have been looking though Leslie beeadshead [sic] look to see if I could find any address, o [sic] came on a categorical statement in answer to your query. “Physically let us put people’s mind at rest at once by saying that the effect of it (masturbation) are negligible. A person may masturbate daily for twenty years asuffer [sic] no more physical disability than a slight and temporary devitalisation. “
[page break]
2.
He goes on to say that psychologically the results are more serious because it is the result of maladjustment to sex (in your case total frustration after you had got used to a normal sex life) “It is a serious matter to be maladjusted to so important a thing as sex, but no results serious enough to cause alarm ever result from masturbation itself. - - - all sorts of pathological mental conditions have resulted not from the habit, but from the false emotions with which it has been surrounded; emotions it must be added, the intensity of which is out of all proportion to the seriousness of the habit.”
I feel sure this is just the answer you would get from any clinic. However as I promised, I will see if I can find the address of the firm
[page break]
3.
The phone book, and will ask them. But you really needn’t worry, darling, specially in view of our ecslatre [sic] success this morning, and I feel perfectly sure that when we are living tupeslier [sic] again normally the whole business will fade away. In the meantime keep it up till next weekend. I thought of sending the whole book to you, but thought perhaps you would rather not have it there, but prefer to look this it here next weekend. It is certainly a very save & refreshing book, o we might do worse that refer to it when one childrens lupin [sic] to have problems. Let me know if you consider Leeasherhead’s [sic] verdict sufficient or if you would still like e to write if owhen [sic] I find out
[page break]
4
where to write to I may not have much time tomorrow, what with the weekly wash o in the afternoon the dress rehearsal of the dancing display, & the display itself of Tuesday.
I feel so happy & contented this evening after one lovely weekend. The days will soon pan till next Saturday, & then comes the prospect of 10 whole days together, after that six weeks and eventually one whole lives to call our own and live as we please. It almost seems to o good to be true. I’m longing too, to get down to our music seriously; we have so much to do together, 24 hours a day will never be enough for us.
How I must go to bed early as I promised you I would
[page break]
5.
I can’t pretend that I shan’t miss you, but our weekend was so lovely that the joy of it vile [sic] carry me over easily till next Saturday.
I love you with all my heart, Johnnie dearest, and I’m longing for you to come back to me.
Yours for always
[underlined] Ursula [/underlined]
[page break]
22/7/45Sunday evening
Johnnie my darling,
When I promised last night to write that letter of enquiry for you, I thought I’d be able to find the address of the Stopes Clinic from advertisement of her books which quite often appear in NSW but of course there are none in the copies I have here now. So I have been looking though Leslie beeadshead [sic] look to see if I could find any address, o [sic] came on a categorical statement in answer to your query. “Physically let us put people’s mind at rest at once by saying that the effect of it (masturbation) are negligible. A person may masturbate daily for twenty years asuffer [sic] no more physical disability than a slight and temporary devitalisation. “
[page break]
2.
He goes on to say that psychologically the results are more serious because it is the result of maladjustment to sex (in your case total frustration after you had got used to a normal sex life) “It is a serious matter to be maladjusted to so important a thing as sex, but no results serious enough to cause alarm ever result from masturbation itself. - - - all sorts of pathological mental conditions have resulted not from the habit, but from the false emotions with which it has been surrounded; emotions it must be added, the intensity of which is out of all proportion to the seriousness of the habit.”
I feel sure this is just the answer you would get from any clinic. However as I promised, I will see if I can find the address of the firm
[page break]
3.
The phone book, and will ask them. But you really needn’t worry, darling, specially in view of our ecslatre [sic] success this morning, and I feel perfectly sure that when we are living tupeslier [sic] again normally the whole business will fade away. In the meantime keep it up till next weekend. I thought of sending the whole book to you, but thought perhaps you would rather not have it there, but prefer to look this it here next weekend. It is certainly a very save & refreshing book, o we might do worse that refer to it when one childrens lupin [sic] to have problems. Let me know if you consider Leeasherhead’s [sic] verdict sufficient or if you would still like e to write if owhen [sic] I find out
[page break]
4
where to write to I may not have much time tomorrow, what with the weekly wash o in the afternoon the dress rehearsal of the dancing display, & the display itself of Tuesday.
I feel so happy & contented this evening after one lovely weekend. The days will soon pan till next Saturday, & then comes the prospect of 10 whole days together, after that six weeks and eventually one whole lives to call our own and live as we please. It almost seems to o good to be true. I’m longing too, to get down to our music seriously; we have so much to do together, 24 hours a day will never be enough for us.
How I must go to bed early as I promised you I would
[page break]
5.
I can’t pretend that I shan’t miss you, but our weekend was so lovely that the joy of it vile [sic] carry me over easily till next Saturday.
I love you with all my heart, Johnnie dearest, and I’m longing for you to come back to me.
Yours for always
[underlined] Ursula [/underlined]
[page break]
Collection
Citation
Ursula Valentine, “Letter to John Valentine from his wife Ursula ,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 25, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/20468.
Item Relations
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