| Description | Letter from Amelia Nyasa Laws, 7 Via Venti Settembre, Rome, to her relatives, regarding problems with post; the increasing scope of the war; movements of people to safer places; the Palace Hotel at Mentone has been turned into a hospital for British wounded; Mr. Cochrane is paying for 100 beds and has employed Dr. Randall to look after the patients while he does the administrative work; Mr. Cochrane's opinion of women who tour the continent bothering consuls; Italy's major grudge is against Austria, not Germany or Britain; Italy trying to reach an agreement with Serbia regarding a port on the Adriatic; 120,000 Germans have come over the Brenner Pass as far as Toblach; Italy is fortifying Verona and Milan, the latter in case the Germans come through Switzerland; Roumania is preparing to enter the war along with Italy; dreadful weather; the Trentino deep in snow; heavy rain in Rome; soldiers suffering as much from pneumonia and rheumatism as wounds; Dr. Brock's first aid lectures are to begin shortly; Bastianelli, the surgeon, is to grant certificates to those who pass his course; Mary Irving came to dine with them and enjoyed it for the food at the Policlinico is rotten; difficult for nurses to get to church; Ethel Holme has married an officer in India; Alan Holme has a second child; Mrs. Holme and the Irvings do not get on; Mr. Guppy has transferred all his shares into the name of his young wife, and his daughter cannot look forward to financial relief; trying to send the 'Voice' to Livingstonia; Aunt has retired to bed, exhausted by the Week of Prayer; Uncle blames her diet. |