| Description | Letter from Amelia Nyasa Laws, 7 Via Venti Settembre, Rome, to her relatives, regarding writing on Saturday rather than Sunday as Aunt is better starting the week with an early night, hot air and massage; Uncle is recovering from another threatened appendicitis because of their prompt action, and they have told him that they will act promptly again whether he agrees or not; he is afraid of an operation; they are in agreement as it causes semi-invalidity; scarcity of visitors helps him to arrange his day so as to avoid taking another chill; Aunt and Amelia are to attend Dr. Brock's lectures on First Aid in the New Year; any profits go to the St. John Ambulance Corps; Miss O'Shaughnessy, nurse, is to help him; they are not impressed as she seemed incompetent to them; new maid, Fenesia, has arrived; she is a country girl but known to Maria who has undertaken to train her; Uncle is concerned that she will not be presentable enough to answer the door; she has made a good first impression; anecdote of a Miss Jamieson who is to return to Scotland to see her nephew, who is in army training; he was brought up by her; Miss Jamieson is the daughter of the late Dr. Jamieson of the Cathedral, Old Aberdeen; her long-lived Scots accent is infectious; she is teaching English though too provincial to do it; no change politically this week; anecdote told them by Miss Vansittart about an Italian responding to two Germans saying Italy was Germany's garden into which they could walk at any time; sad news of Karonga, though thanks for interesting Livingstonia news; dreadful losses in Poland and four German ships sunk in the Atlantic. |