State Library of NSW
[Page 26]
3glands in the arm pit became mushrooms & I was sorely afflicted in other ways for some days. But I think that the worst is now over. I am sitting up & taking a little nourishment though to be sure I never went off my feed & I kept on duty all the time. Some of the fellows had it far worse than I did - though I am not quite out of the wood yet.
Save for this little cross to bear my lot is cast in pleasant places. I have enjoyed splendid health & have put on several pounds weight. I have been eating like a horse and living like a fighting cock. My ordinary exercises, boxing, fencing, clubs have been in abeyance for the last week & the most strenuous work I have engaged in is deck quoits.
I am anxious to tell you about our great minstrel show. It eventuated last night and by all accounts was the most successful yet given on board. As [indecipherable] the Cornerman I was not so black as I was painted. I cracked the time honoured jokes and held Mr Johnson up for the ridicule of the multitude. And I sang. Think of it girls, I sang a song in public. I arranged of course that the moment my song was over the curtain should fall. This precluded the possibility of being struck with ancient eggs or tomatoes
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