Series 03: John Brady Nash letters, January 1914-December 1915 - Page 595
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[Page 595]
S.S. Ismailia 15.10-15
7 am
P.S.
Here still are we. As one looks out from the deck of our steamer, one sees all classes of ships anchored round about. Great war vessels bristling with guns, shouting aloud to all and sundry "Come on & try a tussle with me, perdition to him who loses & glory to him who wins". In regard to war there is an apt quotation on my Calendar under this date:–
"The self sacrifice of a human being is never lovely. It is often a necessary and a noble thing; nut no form or degree of sacrifice can be ever lovey."
The Ethics of the dust.
Great passenger ships, as high up as the Mauretania visit here as hospital ships. At night each of these stands out as a brilliant show midst the surrounding darkness because at the topmost edge of the sides a row of bright green lights, interrupted in the middle by a large red cross, leads one to expect instant display of rockets and other fireworks.
Dr Fiaschi Snr., Dr Harris, & many other Sydney medicos are on shore here. I should like to visit them but the bay is large, the wind howls continuously, the landing places bad, no boats are available for the shore, these impose difficulties which so far I have been unable to overcome; besides our time of departure is shrouded in mystery
The surface of the Ionian Islands must be little productive. Olives, grape vines, some corn, & various animals, are said to thrive at the hands of the cultivator, but there can be little profusion. Were it otherwise the population had been larger today, after so many thousands of years, that the history of human kind has shown them to be inhabited. Not far are these shores from the cradle of the family Man.
The breakfast bell. Good bye
John. B. Nash.
["The Ethics of the Dust" by John Ruskin, published in 1866.]
Colonel Thomas Henry Fiaschi (1853-1927), born in Florence, Italy, and a surgeon of Windsor and Macquarie Street, Sydney, commanded the 3rd Australian General Hospital on Lemnos.
His son, Piero Fiaschi (1879-1948), also a medical practitioner, also served during WW1, embarking as a Captain with the 1st Light Horse Ambulance on HMAT A27 Southern on 23 September 1914.
Father and son are commemorated by the bronze replica of Florence's famous Il Porcellino monument that stands outside Sydney Hospital in Macquarie Street.]