| Description | Letter from Amelia Nyasa Laws, 7 Via Venti Settembre, Rome, to her relatives, regarding lateness in beginning letter because of scirocco making her tired; Mrs. Polkinghorne's daily massage is tiring; Mr. Green's lessons are at an inconvenient time; she has only two weeks left with him; he has improved but is still hard work; letter from Mlle. Pautex, doctoress at Aix, saying that she and her assistant had been forced to leave the Bristol, so all the good people have gone and only the bad are left; she has been advised to apply to the Service de Santé Militaire for a post but will ask Dr. Jacod for his advice; she may end up in Lyon with Mlle. Pautex and Mlle. Perolaz; they need at least twenty days to renew their passports and extra documentation has to be shown to the French consul for entering France; Aunt will come, and possibly Uncle, though he would like to get a chaplaincy in the Trentino where English and French artillery divisions have arrived to help the Italian; it is Bissolati's idea but is not popular with the rest of the government, and it would have been better to reinforce Italians with Italians when they have them; the Italians were asking what the British were doing to help, but now are jealous of British successes; they think it will be British domination next; Aunt and she do not think Uncle will get a chaplaincy in Italy; Blake applied long ago but they do not know whether or not he succeeded; Aunt suggested Switzerland, but Uncle does not want to be where he cannot speak Italian; he will be busy with the new Bible Society distribution, but he would be as useful in France as in Rome; people who struggled to get to Italy are now concerned at rumours that they will not be allowed to leave - it is not true, but the government wishes to prevent aimless travel; visit to the Baroness de Hahn and her account of two people sent to Russia by submarine, a journey which did not appeal to her; the Baroness does not think that Russia is ready for liberty; there is much going on there that is not permitted to be reported; visit of Cowan's son (minister at Perth then at Elgin) who was unimpressive; he is a military chaplain at Malta and on his way home for a month's leave; he is to come again on his return; he reports that Mrs. Harper reached Malta safely; he had been 25 years at Banchory but resigned his charge and let the congregations unite; speculation that he is planning to work in Genoa or Rome after the war; he has begun reading Italian papers and studying the language; he is overweight; letter from Mrs. Warleigh, Rachel Miller, regarding her plan to visit and request for Uncle to help her with her passport; the Gibsons have been invited to lunch; Mrs. Brock and Muriel have gone to Naples; Miss Jazdowska cannot work out how Mrs. Story always manages to be present at large gatherings of sailors, but Uncle has discovered that the porter at the Y.M.C.A. telephones her; she is probably there at the Embassy's request to check on Miss Jazdowska [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]; Uncle's talk on St. Peter in Rome to a private audience of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Mr. and Mrs. Bath, Canadians, and Mr. and Mrs. Scott, 'homeless Glasgowites'; Mr. Bath is determined to prove that St. Peter was never in Rome; the audience was in part hostile; Mr. Smith would like the flat when Miss Jazdowska leaves, but Uncle is determined to avoid him; Mrs. Bath was distressed at her husband's conduct and even Mrs. Smith tried to stop the argument; visit of Mrs. Livingstone Wilson who intends to go to Chamonix for the summer. |