1 My own dearest Mother, My last letter was the maddest
letter I have ever written. I
started it so often and now in the
hurry discover I have left out
1 pages so you will have some
fun making it out. I have my
whole day to-day so am starting
off by taking a quiet morning
in bed, this afternoon we hope to
go to Citioicchica St Pauls Bay but
there has been such a terrible
storm during the night, we were
nearly flooded out of our room
the little Kitchen or Bathroom off
ours is ankle deep in water, the
thunder & lightning was something
too awful for words — however things
look brighter now & we are hoping
it will clear up— 2 Ever so many thanks for all your
letters dated Nov: 4th & 5th. also for
Terneys Court Bills but I got £3.10.0
expenses which is not really bad &
I am keeping it for the present till
I see how things are going—
as I have had to spend a good
deal of money one way & another, we
spend a perfect fortune on food
but as we say it is better to eat
well & keep well— I am glad to be
able to say the patient whose Mother
I wrote to in Canada & who I
bought the Burgundy is improving
every day since we started giving
it to him & hope in a day or
two if all goes well to be able
to write he is out of danger —
Really one does not mind what
trouble & expense one goes too when 3 (2)
it is the saving of life. I
am not actually nursing him
now as I have been moved but
there is a charming Irish Sister
(Flynn) who nursed Morrogh at
Torquay looking after him & certainly
she deserves the greatest praise &
award if she gets him through
imagine he has had Hemorrhage
for over a month & is absolutely
nothing but skin & bones— but
such a plucky boy— Well my favorite patient went
off yesterday with a lot of very
nice other boys, they went on
Hospital Ship "Egypt" so if by
any chance they are sent to
Ireland, will you get the Girls
to took up the following
& give them as good a time as 4 possible especially G. Boase
City of London Yeomanry, & don't
be a bit surprized if a Sailor
Man called Richard Layne of
Wexford turns up as he said
he would go & see you all &
tell them how I was, so give
him a good welcome as they
have all had a very rough
time of it out here poor
men — We had a very nice day yesterday
I stayed in bed till about
9.30 & went into Valetta about
11.30 but as the ferry was not
running owing to the storm we
had to go over in a rowing
boat so got rather a tossing &
found a great number of the
roads round Valetta swept away 5 3
with the foods, we had lunch at
Blackeys (the only safe tea shop)
consisting of sauges & eggs which
I need not tell you we all
enjoyed immensely it is such
a change & tastes so good
in fact every time we are off
for a meal I think we over
eat ourselves, after that excellent
lunch we took the train on
to Citto Vichia & saw all the Catacombs
of St Paul & the magnificent
cathedral of St Pauls after that
we went on & paid Nellie a
visit at Imtapha it is a beautiful
hospital & they have such nice
quarters, we have of course only a
Tent for our meals & in this
raining & cold weather we are
nearly blown away & flooded. 6 out. Is there any news of Gerald
G. lately. I hope all is well with
them all. I had a sweet letter
from Mrs Garttan about a week
ago but have not had time
to answer it yet also U. Charlie
but hope to write to-night if
not too tired we are not quite
so busy to-day as we have 15
beds empty but expect new
ones today— the patients were
greatly amused with me to-day
I had to carbonize
the bed which meant getting down
on my knees & scrubbing them
which I thought I was doing
most gracefully when I heard
a titter all round & they all said 7 4
"it is easily seen you are not
used to this sort of work & the
handling of a scrubbing brush—
I am feeling A.1. now & really
like being here very well I love
the work & seem to be getting
on all right, my Sister in Charge
is very nice & seems fond of
me & the other is very easy to
work with. I am called a ray of
Sunshine in our ward when I enter
to say good-morning, another
Always Smiling, another the
Dairy-maid as they say the
milk I give them is Milk & that
I don't forget to turn of the W.
tap. Of course Surgical cases
would be more interesting but
there is something very fascinating 8 about medical work & the delight
in seeing them get well & bright
again quite repays you—
Thursday 25th I cannot tell you
when I really started this Letter
but as you will see have never
had time to finish it till now
I was hoping to get off duty at
4.30 to-day & come up to my
room have a quiet evening &
write letters but Man proposes
God dispose instead I went on
duty all day as several of our
men are very poorly & there
was only one Sister on so I
went back till 7 O'ck when
I came off duty & came up
here straight to bed & have
been writing letters to fond mamas 9 5
for some of the men who are too
bad to write— I am just as
happy as I can be on duty &
only wish I had two pr of
arms & legs to be able to do
twice as much. I am feeling
splendid now & hope soon
to be able to send you a photo
so that you will be able to
see for yourself— McKay
the Burgundy man I am
glad to say is going on top
job, he is so grateful, really
he is a wonderful man
all he has gone through—
I want to thank you a
thousand times for your
sweet letter also the papers 10 especially Irish Life with the
photo which I look great pride
in showing to all the men
they picked Violet out immediately
they think her so like me—
Well I shall end this now
as it is getting late & I am
very tired. One of the men
is taking it tomorrow, he
is going to England—
Very best love to all at
home, will write to-morrow
with luck—
Take care of yourself—
Your ever loving &
grateful - Marie— The parcel has not arrived
ye t— 11 Mrs Martin
Greenbank
Monkstown
Co Dublin
Ireland