| Description | Letter from Amelia Nyasa Laws, Bergstrasse 33, Dresden, Germany, to her parents, regarding problems in keeping up with correspondence; thanking for letters and for the 'Livingstonia News'; mother proof-reading it; criticism of Mrs. C. Stuart's article on children of missionaries; Mr. Walker wishes Uncle to help him find a post at home; he misses his family, as Aunt told him he would; Mr. Alexander wants to go to Livingstonia, but will face the same problem; Frau Pfannstiehl wishes she had no family; her children are out of hand and she has to manage on too little money; Herr Pfannstiehl is spoilt and indulged; he says that household economy is his wife's business; her heart trouble is aggravated by worry and hard work; Amelia admires and is grateful to Herr Pfannstiehl, but he should give more lessons and be less selfish; problems with singing lessons; Herr Chitz's lessons have not been very useful; she is now sufficiently trained to apply for an organist's post; praise for the experience in playing that Herr Pfannstiehl has given her; visit to see organ-building in progress; expensive winter but Miss Fleming's gifts have been welcome; thanking father for cheque; notes on her investments and savings bank account; need for new clothes as she and Aunt have worn out all their old ones and not bought new, having 'no position to fill' in Dresden; plans to buy what they need in Münich; Aunt is very much better, no longer retching, easier in her walk and her arm is much more useful; Amelia has been massaging her; it had been badly broken; intention to go to Rome next winter, but Amelia will write to Dr. Kniffler and seek his advice on both Aunt and Uncle and how to curtail their endless work; Aunt's nerves are still quite bad; she is still not able to entertain; Uncle has been indulging in it in their absence; missionary couple from Kenya visiting him; Mrs. Evans' husband's brother helped in the escape of the Empress Eugénie; both were dentists, but Mrs. Evans' husband 'was the finer character'; missing her presence in their affairs; she and Aunt are definitely to go to Sterzing; Aunt Amy not to join them, as she would expect to be taken to Rome; Amelia worried that she is turning peculiar, and showing a morbid fascination for visiting the graves of friends; she is lonely; Uncle does not want her near him and she bullies Aunt; Aunt Amy says that Aunt and Amelia are usurpers in Rome; bad experience of meeting her in Toblach and Innsbruck; glad her parents liked the Nürnberg metalwork, arrived safely; arrangements to send them a fruit juice press from Berlin, the last gift for a while as it is hopeless trying to send presents from Italy; description of it; asking them not to lend it to anyone; thanking for father's letter from Zomba; bad storms in Africa; service at the Reformed Church, the only one of the United Free type in Dresden; not an attractive service; Fraulein Albrecht seeking for a helpful church but cannot find one; she has been muddled by a Roman Catholic friend; pity for her. |