THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

From R. Vaughan Williams,
10, Hanover Terrace,
Regents Park,
London, N.W.1

March 1st 1956.

My dear Joan,

Romans and English is a well-known singing game, and comes as far as I can remember in Sharp and Gomme¹, and also in other printed books.  My experience of mental defectives is very different from yours.  One day, some years ago I was judging a competition of little girls singing folk songs.  Occasionally the singer put something more into it, someting spiritual and as it were from another world.  I noticed that all the girls who sang like this had purple uniforms, and on enquiry I found that they came from a shool for mental defectives.

Love to you both from both of us,
yrs Ralph²
Congratulations on escaping the plumber fraternity.  We got involved in the mains burst, & were off phone & water for 3 days.  All well now.³

1.  Children’s Singing Games by Alice Gomme and Cecil Sharp (1894).
2.  Signed by VW.
3.  Added by UVW.