| Description | Letter from Amelia Nyasa Laws, 7 Via Venti Settembre, Rome, to her relatives, regarding improvements in the mails; encouraging Aunt Amy to send on the letter to Africa; letters have to go via England in any case; more letters would be better during wartime to ensure that some reach their destinations; thanking her for sending on her mother's letter; Leghorn, Lucca, Pisa, and Florence suffering from an earthquake; awful weather; two million men already killed in the war; asking mother to say who started the fighting in Nyasaland; they had always regretted the inclusion of the colonies in the war, but Mr. Cotterill says that it is the colonies that Germany wants; still waiting for news of Turkey; Turkey has destroyed three Russian ships, though blames Germany; Italy waits for a decision as its grain has to come through the Dardanelles from Odessa; limited leave for soldiers; Oscar is much reduced by barrack life; much corruption in the army, which has cost the country dearly; Amelia has been sick through tiredness; Uncle held the funeral service for a young American girl who died in Austria from typhoid and whose mother brought the body to Rome for burial; next day he buried an old Aberdonian lady whose daughter had married an Italian; the Campo Verano is unhealthy early in the morning, and Miss Turnbull caught her fatal typhoid there; Uncle is now ill, following that and a walk outside the Porta Salaria to order winter wood; Dr. Brock called and diagnosed a gastric attack; he brought news that Dr. Fenwick was ill; Mr. Erickson, missionary in Albania, to preach in Uncle's place; possibility of being taught harmony by a Dr. Spiro, organist of the German church; he is Jewish and has the reputation of arrogance, but he was pleasant to her and Aunt; he regards her as a colleague, and reduces his rates accordingly; home is an awkward house to be sick in and Aunt grows very tired nursing Amelia and Uncle; they are both rather better, but Dr. Fenwick has died; Uncle forbidden by Dr. Brock to take the funeral, and Mr. Walker to do it instead; she has missed music during the summer and is eager to start her lessons again. |