XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: omeallymd@geemail.com   
      
   During 1944-45, there are an especially large number of letters from   
   Tolkien to his son Christopher, who was now in the RAF.   According to   
   Carpenter's _Biography_ this was a very productive period in the   
   writing of LotR, and he shared a lot of the drafts with his son as Sam   
   & Frodo made their way through the Dead Marshes and onward to Cirith   
   Ungol.  But around April, 1944 there begins to be some curious   
   references to mowing lawns, etc.   
      
   There's, "Afternoon lawnmowing". _Letters_ #60, p. 71   
      
   "... but the grass grows so quick that I feel like a barber faced with   
   a never-ending queue (& not a chinaman's either, to be trimmed with one   
   snip) [his words, not mine!]." ibid, #61, p. 73.   
      
   "... saw the Lewises and C.W. (White Horse) for 1/2 hour; mowed three   
   lawns... Grr! The fourth lawn will have to wait." ibid, #63,  p. 74.   
      
   "... garden (very exigent just now: lawns, hedges, marrowbeds,   
   weeding)...." ibid, #67, p. 79.   
      
   I have taken advantage of a bitter cold grey week (in which the lawns   
   have not grown in spite of little rain) to write...."   
      
   Granted, Tolkien was living in a rather suburban neighborfood on   
   Northmoor Rd, with the likely inherent yard upkeep, and enjoyed his   
   'bit of garden'.  But what's with the *four* lawns?  Was this one of   
   his many side hustles?  Was he performing a service for families with   
   their men away at war, or perhaps for fellow parishoners?  If so, why a   
   52 year old Oxford don rather than some of the neighborhood kids?   He   
   certainly had plenty of things going on to keep him busy!   
      
   --   
   Bill O'Meally   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)