1 B/F/1/15 Tell Miss N. I have not come across
the ugliest man yet on the Island!- 27thNov: 1915 My own dearest Mother. This is only a very hurried note to thank
you a thousand times for your sweet letter as
yet I have not been asked to sign on but do not
think the Matron will send me home in disgrace
so have of course made up my mind to remain on
especially as I feel so well & of course the work is
hard, very at times still I think God is going to be
very good to me & give me the strength necessary to
be able to do my duty well & cheerfully, I think one
would have to feel very ill to go home after the month
no matter how unhappy I was I could stand
anything & everything to feel I am of use &
doing a certain amount for all these poor men
who are suffering to save us from ruination, it
would break your heart at times to see what these
men have to suffer & so cheerfully, my only
regret is that I am not more trained but as yet
I have been able to manage everything I have been
asked to do. I suppose I could go to the Matron
in Chief & asked to be changed but really I
like being here very much & it is such a
consolation to feel one is really wanted. I
started this on the 27th but did not get time
to finish till to-day when I hope to write
you a long letter, we were so busy last week 2 (2)
I did not get off for two days at all & the
other days I spent my time off, one day sleeping
& the others writing for very bad patients. I only
hope they will give the poor Mothers at home a
consolation but so often I have to write
they are bad. You will I am sure be interested
to hear Mr. Kay the Burgundy man is getting
on fine & is able to take 6 eggs a day, of course
he will take a terrible lot of feeding up but
if all goes well now he ought to be on his
feet in about a months time. Really this
Dysentry is too awful a big fine strong man
comes in & in about a weeks time he is nothing
but skin & bones. The last convoy were very
bad case, some of them such nice men, we
have one dear old man age 53. who came in
very poorly indeed but I am glad to say
getting on in fine style it seems cruel
to send them out so old as that, of course
he is in the Navy.Did I tell you I
had such a nice letter & box of Chocolates
from Mr Brase the day he left thanking me
for all—you know!! I must say it is most
edifying these G. Tommies how nice they are in
the ward mixed up any way & every way, they
never grumble no matter what happens.
not like some who never do anything else
the thing I find hardest out here is the 3 3
perpetual refusing & going round one day to
say there is no bovil another no eggs &
so on, as they never get any extras & then
it is so hard when their ordinary food is
not fortcoming of course it cannot be helped
at times, things are very short out here.
I have never got my parcel yet, what date
did you send it, I am longing for my
coat etc. It has turned very cold out
here so shall have to buy myself extra
vest, one gets so hot on duty & then having
to come & sit in a very cold tent for meals
my jersey turns in very useful, have you
heard anything about the silk one yet? do
not worry about it if not. Will you thank Ethel a thousand times for
her letters ask her to excuse me not writing
but really my time is so limited I shall
never answer everyone. The last one dated 18th
I was charmed to receive yesterday also one
from A. Lily who I hear is still knitting socks
tell her to bring fairly warm cloths out
with her as they say it gets very cold
after Xmas. I am glad to hear Gerty & all the
others in France are getting on well, will you
give the Morans & all my very best
wishes & love. I do not know what to do about Xmas but 4 4.
really think it safer not to send very
much by post as the Mails are so irregular
I believe six Mails from England have gone
astray, one I believe has been sunk, so they
say so perhaps my parcel has gone down.
I sincerely hope not. Well I nearly forgot to tell you I had a
great reward for my hard work during the
week, the Matron invited me to go with her
to the Opera, which I enjoyed very much
although it was quite new to me. It was a
French piece in the time of the revolution
name 'Andri Chenieur' Andrea Chenier the music was very
fine & some of the voices very good, we
are really a little too far out as it means
we are so late home but once in way
I am sure it is good for us to get away
from this atmosphere as I dream, talk
even in my sleep, so Pauls says Shop,
Shop, Shop. I must say I find my self always
going over everything & allI could do if the
day were only longer. We have heard nothing
more about signing on, there are some terrible
rumours out that we are just the same as
the Army nurses & will have to stay as
long as we are required I must say I think
I would like to go home after six months for a
bit & do some work at home, however I am 5 5.
not going to worry about this just now as
it is a long way off yet. I imagine the
summer would be very trying with the work
we have to do. My sister is a dear, she
comes from South Africa & is very kind to
me. I do not mix up much with the M.O's
they do not seem terrible interesting & I really
feel I have enough friends, of course some
girls have a very jolly time & asked out
to dinner etc but I never care for that sort
of thing unless I know the/men very well
however you can never tell what may
happen yet, I tell you what some of the
Sisters have a jolly good time, you know
what I mean helping some young foolish
boys to wast their money on them.
Some of the V.A.Ds have been very
lucky as some of their wounded friends
have turned up & they have had some nice
evenings off. We are so far out about 20 mins
drive to Sliema & then it takes about 1/4 hour accross
to Valetta. I have not been able to get to
go to the Blue Sisters lately. I hear they have
a good deal of Scarlet Fever so perhaps it is
just as well to stay away for a bit. I hope to get into Valetta some day this
week & buy you something for Xmas I thought
of sending you some lace home to make up 6 6.
for underclothing etc. I am frightfully sorry to hear you have
had such a terrible time at home first of
all with the Water & then that terrible
storm, we had it only a few weeks
later. I am so glad to hear about
Tommy's Captaincy & the letter from Charlie
cheered me up, he is a great boy with
such spirits. & pray all may go well with
them both. I wonder if you remembered to make a small
pudding to send out to Gerald, he enjoyed last
years so well, I hope nothing has happened to
him, it is some time since I heard from him
now, I had a long letter from Eveleen yester—
day. She is still at home waiting also Irene
I hope they will get something to do soon.
The 2nd of December. The Parcel arrived quite
safely last night, my coat is perfect, the
the camera ripping, the body Belt a very kind &
useful thought & the wool is very nice but
am afraid I shall not have much time
for knitting. I was very glad to hear from
Ethel that A. Sissy is less stiff but very
sorry to hear U. Frank is not much better
will you give him & A. Maysie my fondest
love. I shall try & write soon to them
Tell Ethel that she & Violet will be quite the 7 7.
star turns & pretty Miss Martins as everyone
get very old & ugly out here, I had lines before
I came but they are about double now so that
she will have good innings when I get back
I must say the climate just now is very
hard on the skin from about 10 to 3 the Sun
is terrible hot after that a bitterly cold wind
gets up so that one is nearly skinned. I believe there has been terrible fights
between the Australians & Maltese down at
Sliema these last two nights. The whole
thing started in a Music Hall, a girl got
up & started singing some English song which
the Maltese did not approve of so he asked
her to stop singing then a A. got up & told
him to mind his own business & for the
girl to continue, any how there was a free
fight & the M. through a chair at the A.
& cut his head open which proved fatal
& died yesterday morning now of course the
A. Hood is up for revenge so last night
there was another row. I believe one or two
Maltese were killed, what the end of it all will
be I do not know. it is very unpleasant
for all the nurses as last night two officers
were out & got caught in the mob & were
knocked about every way as there were ruly
Maltese in the streets till at last 3 men in 8 Khaki came to their rescue & pushed them into
a Choro but the driver refused to drive
them so the Soldiers had to come all the
way back with them to make them drive,
I hope it will be all over by Friday. Will you thank Nana a thousand times
for all her letters I am glad to hear the
lace arrived safely & hope it will be
of some use to her. I think she generally
gets things — made up for herself
about this time. I should just love someone I know
who has just come from home to turn
up & tell me how you all look. I see
very little of Nellie she is too far away
I am wonder what Xmas will be like
out here. I only hope they will give
the men a good time & some sort of
treats, Miss Batis the other V.A.D is
very good & gives them a sponge cake
teas every Sunday which theenjoy &
buy for from one week to the other, they
are just like ladies Well dearest Mothers I must end this for today
as the mail leaves Malta tomorrow & I
want this to catch it. I hope my letters
do not bore you all they seems so much
about myself but there is no news here at 9 9.
all. could you believe it I have not had
time to look at the papers you sent that
arrived last week. Is there any chance of this war ending
They say out here that the Serbian war
will be over very soon I wonder how
poor Charlie is & where, some wounded have
arrived at Malta from Serbia I hear
I hope by this you are feeling quite
well again it is horrible how you get
these attacks so often. Don't forget to go and see
Woods about the photo. Give my fondest love & kisses to all at
home & tell Andrew I wrote him a letter for
his birthday but have just come across it so
forgot to post it I tried hard to find
something to send him but failed but
will try again on Friday if I get off all
right. Hoping this will find you as it leaves
me in the best of health and form.
I shall soon be able to send you some
photos of the Barracks Lt Georges.
I am wondering if the equipment went to
Ireland, as Boase had a letter for you
from me. With heaps of love & kisses to the
dearest of all Mothers, how I shall love to see
you all again. Your most loving & grateful child Marie