| Description | Letter from Amelia Nyasa Laws, Rome, to her relatives, regarding oppressively hot weather, the painting has gone very well, Uncle was probably right to postpone this from January as he would have hated the upheaval, she will never hoard now, the drawing room is finished, naphthalined and under dustsheets, Mr. Webster and Mr. Street are now complaining that they had no opportunity to choose from Uncle's books, though they dismissed them as worthless at the time, this, Mr. Gibson says, is because they wanted them as gifts, rearrangements now for the post of minister and for summer stations, enclosing photographs [one of which is present, photograph of the graves of Isabella Gray and Dr. James Gray, with Isabella's gravestone] which were taken by Mr. Audigier on the 6th. March, progress on the gravestone, Mr. Davidson is to return to Scotland soon, Mr. and Mrs. Smith have bought some articles from them and the house should be clear by the end of the week, the best of the linen is now to be sold to the new occupants as they have been strongly advised against transporting it just now, church considerations have complicated things, as 'an auction sale would have been so simple and convenient, probably also more profitable', now no immediate prospect of her parents' return home, shipping is very risky at the moment for the boxes sit without leaving the country and are then lost or stolen, so they are simply taking trunks with them and selling off still more, Miss Jazdowska has asked for her books and paintings to be given to Mrs. White [There were Jazdowskis associated with teaching and art in Aberdeen: James Bronislas Jazdowski, son of John, teacher in Aberdeen, graduated from Marischal College in 1856 and according to an annotation of the Search Room student list died in Rome in 1902], they will still be there another month, as the church has still to be cleaned, and both church and manse are to be sealed as well as locked, Mr. Gibson's unexpected farewell address to them. |