| Description | Letter to Amelia Nyasa Laws from W. Gibson, Rome, apologising for not having written sooner as the Fairweathers have needed his help settling in, he likes them and thinks they are an advantage to the church, Mrs. Fairweather has a gift for languages and has got on the right side of Maria, Fulvio is trying to impress them but it is all lip-service, Maria's brother has made a good job of cleaning the church, arrival of Cowan and his wife from Genoa, Mrs. Cowan took Mrs. Fairweather shopping, Mr. Cowan 'has a little Haw-haw from his war experiences, but as we talked this fell off', he is working well in Genoa, visiting ships in all weathers, good income there, meeting of the presbytery, with list of attendees, early induction service as there are fewer hours of gas pressure now, the end of the service was in semi-darkness but this was effective, he had a candle for playing the organ, good attendance, Irving preached well but for too long, Cowan also gave a good address, he himself said a few words and read out part of Amelia's letter, Mrs. Fairweather had everyone to tea afterwards with some help and it went well, not possible to fit in an unveiling ceremony and the lack of light would have spoiled it, Cowan says that Blake drinks, and is very odd, Blake's and Henderson's wives seem nice, and he took to Henderson who has four farms near Florence, good collection the following Sunday but not what Fairweather was used to and he feels they should be improving it, the Fairweathers are delighted with the manse and touched by all the kind things left ready for them, Hale Benton was detained in London and missed the induction, and the Smiths were delayed by a broken bridge, Mrs. Rowat did make it, quotation from Fairweather's remarks on Uncle at the Sunday service, he is humble and has no illusions as to drawbacks, he and his wife are both starting this week to learn Italian and want to know how the country works, Gibson is optimistic for the future, the Smiths are to leave in the spring to run, from England, a new large district of the Bible Society covering France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, Fairweather will miss having him around but Mrs. Smith will not be missed, Gibson's wife hopes to be back from Sweden soon, the Fairweathers love Italian food, and were impressed by Uncle's books, unlike Street. |