| Description | Letter from Amelia Nyasa Laws, Hôpital Auxiliaire No. 10, Hotel Bristol, Aix-le-Bains, Savoie, France, to her relatives, regarding trying to fit in letter writing and visiting Aunt; the doctor wants her to prepare Mlle. Perolaz to take her place at the end of her time there; she would be freed from her other duties to learn; Amelia is reluctant to pick out one student and cause jealousy amongst the others; the doctor insists that she takes responsibility and does it; Mlle. Perolaz delighted but not tactful with the others; trouble in particular with 'Vinegar', one of the nurses; Miss Burnet, the new doctoress, is also unpopular with the nurses because she reports about the patients to the doctor; 'Vinegar' is another version of Mrs. Margaret Thin; Miss Burnet, a hospital student after five years' medical training, has left England because of 'sorrow' and has spent a month in Paris, thereafter giving herself over to service at Aix; the doctor has put her in charge of three wards he no longer wants to visit because he does not like the nurses in them; there is no humility in Red Cross work; Mlle. Perolaz now thinks she knows everything about massage and argues with Amelia over patients; she is pleased she has made no close friends at Aix; her work has involved more and more diplomacy as it has gone on; she has received letters from two of her ex-patients, Lavici and Dufau; the first is waiting to hear if he is fit for auxiliary work; the second made her a pretty bag; Bordes, Le Goff and Lefèvre left on Monday; Bordes is intelligent and has learned how to massage his own hand; Lefèvre could have done with more work on his foot; there will be another evacuation tomorrow as the hospital is being cleared to become one of the four receiving important surgical cases; Uncle was summoned to meet Mr. and Mrs. Blake and Miss Nevin; Blake thinks a Presbyterian chaplain in Leysin for the consumptives is unnecessary; Mr. Sutherland is organising him well and will go to Müren, leaving Blake at Château d'Oex; Uncle's experience has been a rich one. |