| Description | Letter from Amelia Nyasa Laws, 7 Via Venti Settembre, Rome, to her relatives, regarding straining her right thumb; Uncle going to Lanciani's lecture has given them the chance to do the dining room carpet; some visitors came, but despite that they turned out the whole room; the curtains are ready to have the rings put back, but will not stand another wash as they are rotten; they are almost finished the big jobs, and she is pleased; she has received permission to go to France for not less than six months; she has finished at the laboratorio and parted on civil terms with the Marchesa; she has the models back now, and Miss Kent is delighted; they are making a temporary leg for an amputee, so that he might be back using his hip joint again soon after the operation and so prevent deterioration; the American organ needs tuning as it has begun to whistle, and she would prefer to leave it in order rather than tempt Mr. Gibson to fiddle about with it in her absence; Mrs. Bretschneider, whom she consulted regarding a tuner, has let her apartment and moved downstairs to 'the old lady's apartment'; she is in mourning and looked pathetic, but was cordial; Nadine is working in the children's hospital and having singing lessons; Dr. Clark has died, the result of 'two shocks of paralysis'; he was expecting to return to his Methodist Episcopal work in Rome to replace Dr. Greenman, who was to go to America; Mrs. Clark is in Madison, New Jersey, and Donald is unwell; Dr. Tipple (she mentions that they are all courtesy doctors, though not all actual ones) is away with his wife and daughter so Dr. Greenman will probably have to stay; departure of Lieutenant Carr Harris for Naples; he seems incapable of making decisions; he will also go north to Florence and Piave; he wanted to go to a tea party rather than do any more sightseeing; the ladies organising the tea parties said that they would have nice girls there, which rather shocks Amelia; she thinks the men would make better use of their time in sightseeing rather than risking unsuitable wartime engagements to silly women; a 'tourney' in Rome, including Highland games in which the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders and the Gordon Highlanders are taking part, a strange contrast to the fighting in France; Irving has reported that a bomb narrowly missed the girls' school in Naples; he refers to Blake as 'our dog-bitten brother in Florence'; Miss Piggott is to come to lunch; Vita and Uncle are to visit the tax office, as the authorities propose to double the tax on the manse, counting it as two apartments; mention of Dr. Forrest's death; she is to enclose picture postcards of the Allied bands, and a catalogue of the work done at the laboratorio [absent]; bread now made from maize and 'yellow as a duck's foot'; beef prices have gone up; long search for margarine to cook the lamb for Miss Piggott's lunch. |