| Description | Letter from Amelia Nyasa Laws, Valence, to her relatives, regarding 'an extraordinary Easter Day'; present of a Pogne, or bun of the Sally Lunn type, to her patients in the Service Médical; Raynaud was particularly grateful as he had just been thinking of one; he has invited her to visit him at Romans in May when the cherries are good; she doubts if he will be home by then, as the neuritis in his hip is not yet improving; 'Mental anxiety and the loss of his father completed the pain created by a series of wettings, and now he is nearly helpless with no relative to keep his little bit of land in order'; Mlle. Mercier, infirmière-major, has recovered from bronchitis; present of brioches and madeleines to her; the quality is good but they are expensive; butter was 3 francs per kilo before the war and is now 18, but it is still real butter; good congregation at church - the local Protestant population is apparently 5,000; rousing sermon from M. Benignus, now demobilised; he thinks preaching of less value than leading good lives; he is 'young and alert'; the church needs both his type and that of M. Draussin; the local administration needs shaking up; the bureaucrats are called 'ronds de cuir' for the leather cushions they sit on all day; she is critical, too, of the thoughtless distribution of 'Protestant books' (Testaments), because they are ignored by the men rather than explained to them, or given by people they have had the chance to admire or respect first; even Hergaux, a pious man, found the book unappealing; she admired his religion and the way it invested his life, and made no attempt to dislodge it; basis of good terms between Protestant and Roman Catholic churches; Hergaux has written to say that his hand has not given him trouble and he is able to do his agricultural work almost as well as before; his brother, who was a prisoner, is now epileptic but can garden; Hergaux hopes to visit her during the summer; dinner at Mme. Delattre's; Vesper service at the Cathedral; the organ is a good instrument but in need of repair which will happen now that the war is over; good sermon but over-elaborate service; volunteering to play the harmonium in the chapel of the 201 in the absence of Mlle. Ferlin; this pleased Soeur St. Paulin; the service went well as soldiers sing out; the harmonium 'has become asthmatic through neglect and ill-usage'; the music consequently was not good, but it was much appreciated and seems to indicate how poor a player Mlle. Ferlin must normally be; present of a Roman bookmark to Soeur St. Paulin and a blouse-length of white cotton crepon for Mme. Jeannot, 'the devoted and unappreciated kitchen factotum'. [Letter breaks off without signature] |