Series 03: John Brady Nash letters, January 1914-December 1915 - Page 493
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[Page 493]
[Page 8 of this letter. Page 7 appears to be missing.]
-h their vessels, then something must give way, the best expression of it was on the 25th & 26th of April 1915. I shall finish this tomorrow. Meanwhile my dears good night, good night, good night.
[A line of Xs and Os.]
Caggie. Joseph. Kitty.
Much thanks for the newspaper cuttings, they were all interesting to me. It was thoughtful of Strickland to refer to Beeston and to me. I have had several letters from him and from General Finn. It will be strange if Larkin is not dead.
1.8.15. 11 p.m. Heaps to write about but it is physically impossible to give the time to what would please me most, pressure from patients is too great. During the week if I get any chance moments I shall try to place on paper what turns up.
To day a Jesuit priest, he who presides over the anti-rabic institute, lunched with me, Captain Plant made one of the party, we being three; Jerome gave us a first class meal; soup, roast beef, chicken, rice pudding, custard, pineapple from the tin, asparagus, biscuits, lemon syrup, ice. Not so bad considering that we live upon government rations. I must be growing fat, because the food suits me and my health was never better.
The padre, his name is beyond me, took me at 4 p.m., to a friends house at Heliopolis, where we partook of afternoon tea, cold tea, rather good for this climate, bread with butter, and cakes. The family consists of Father, Mother, two daughters at home, two boys away, and one girl not present; they live in one of the magnificent villas of the City of the Sun. It was Sunday afternoon and reminded me of home b'cause the girls sang and played, the piano for music. Aged somewhere about twenty, bright brown eyes, brown hair, very high heeled boots, silk stockings, dark costumes, plenty of hair, bright, able to speak English very well, though neither has been in England, only at school in Egypt. The Father and Mother do not speak English, and my command of conversational French is very meagre, when they are rattling it off sometimes the meaning of a sentence strikes me, but the keeping up of the sequence is not possible, pas de habetude is the cause, I fancy that but short experience listening would bring to the tip of my tongue lots of words. The family leave for Alexandria on Tuesday, to be near to the sea during the month of August, the correct procedure in Egypt, Cleopatra set the fashion long since, and it has been followed ever since. A long spell you will, think, but such is the way of men and women, they like to follow the setting of the great.
Your photographs were of course exhibited and criticised. I told them in m