T. E. Lawrence Correspondence – Page 576
T. E. Lawrence Correspondence
Page 576
To W.E. Jeffrey
Man at God
13 Birmingham St
Southampton
20. VII. 34
Dear "J"
It has been a long time; I have been under the weather
and on the water and in the Midlands, distracted all the
while with jobs that would not let me free to think of my
own affairs. However all the while I have been conscious
of your letter, and wondering what I could do about it.
I have talked it over (without mentioning your name) with
three or my friends.
And I'm sorry to say that as yet absolutely nothing
helpful to you has come out of it. Army clerking is such
a specialised job that it appears to hinder, rather than
help, you to get away into civil life. There are clerical
jobs to be had; but 30 words a minute is the ordinary girl's
rate, and women are cheaper than men, and inexhaustible in
supply, apparently. Also they short-hand and take down
from dictation, etc. So your chances in purely clerical
work aren't bright.
One of my friends, admiring your hand-writing,
wondered if you would do better in a legal office, where
there is a great deal of hand-work, as against typing;
when I asked him for details and how you would get into touch
with one, it appeared he knew nothing about it.
As regards secretarial jobs, of the higher sort, such
as go with M.P.'s and heads of businesses: well, they say
such people are besieged by boys from the smaller public
schools, who take on their first employment at nominal or
no salary, for the experience. They are mostly "influence"
jobs, secured not through an Agency or by advertisement,
but through the employment branches of the schools
associations.
In all these ways I am at a disadvantage, because I do
not know the right people. My friends are writers and
artists, semi-Bohemian people of wandering habit and little
money. They do not employ anybody. The few business men
I used to know have gradually fallen out of my life. Remember
that I have now been 12 years in the ranks. Cast your mind
back, and see how that cuts us off from everyday contact with
the world's affairs.
4/4
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