| Description | Letter from Amelia Nyasa Laws, 7 Via Venti Settembre, Rome, to her relatives, regarding conference of British, French and Belgian parliamentarians to meet Italian members; visit from two of these, Mr. Cowan and Sir John Jardine; they then went on to meet Mr. Miller, correspondent of the Morning Post; 'a treat to observe their upright viewpoint of things'; Jardine was a judge in Burma and has a property in Roxburghshire; three of his six sons are at the front; the Italians are not satisfied with either the Paris or the Rome Convention; 150,000 British men with 104 guns, and an equal number of French, are in Italy but the fact is unacknowledged and not publicised enough for the public to appreciate the contribution; terrible fighting in the last few days; visits of some of the delegates to the Forum and then to church; tea at the Embassy, though they regret that it must be on a Sunday; work for sailors is again under debate, perhaps in the Methodist building, though this would further antagonise the Roman Catholics; some confusion over whether or not Uncle would be involved; Miss Jazdowska has kept back several sums sent to her privately for work with the sailors, and a roundabout way has to be taken to obtain it [There were Jazdowskis associated with teaching and art in Aberdeen: James Bronislas Jazdowski, son of John, teacher in Aberdeen, graduated from Marischal College in 1856 and according to an annotation of the Search Room student list died in Rome in 1902]; Lady Rodd and Archdeacon Sissons are also involved; Lady Rodd is puzzled by the arrival of a Mr. Irwin who has appeared to take charge of the work with the sailors, though no one was expecting him; Mrs. Brock has started criticising Miss Jazdowska, saying she is too old for her work, but she may have ulterior motives; she is impressed with Mrs. Hossle Henderson, whose husband is at the Embassy as assistant to Capel Cure, the commercial attaché; Mrs. Henderson is just as domineering as Mrs. Brock and will end by ousting her; Uncle wants to propose to Lady Rodd that a proper committee should be organised, as it always should have been; Miss Jazdowska is looking sour but invited Aunt to see the room prepared for the soldiers; Miss Jazdowska credits Mrs. Brock with arranging the whole thing, but Uncle actually did it; Mr. Bath is concerned about the sailors; Mr. Irwin, an English commercial man with a Belgian wife, had arrived at the station and found 60 sailors there with no one to look after them, so went to the embassy and offered to set up a committee and run it on business lines; Uncle had to explain to Mr. Bath that the ladies had made it difficult to run the service in the Y.M.C.A. as happened elsewhere on the continent, particularly with their ongoing disagreement over the porter; they use Uncle's name when it suits them; visit of Mrs. Hodges, a 'staunch Presbyterian though her mother had sent her to French convents'; 'she is of a strong , honest nature in spite of her early environment'; listening to Willy Ferrers preach again on Ascension Day, with approval; Mrs. Polkinghorne is to depart for the country; the strong south winds at St. Martin have eliminated it from their summer plans; there are too many English and American women there, anyway, including Mrs. Wilson, her mother and sister, and the Misses Rawson, who were far too excited at the thought of Uncle coming to stay with them; Uncle wants to go to Naples to see the colporteurs there, but as usual was not straight about this with them from the start; Chamonix still seems a possibility; Mr. Robertson, so keen to see them there, will be tired by Uncle who is so energetic in Rome but so lethargic in the mountains; his heel opens again at the least thing; Uncle does not want an energetic companion. |