Seward House
Badsey
16th March 1916
My dear Jack
I will answer your letter before post or else you will scarcely receive it this week, letters seem to take so much longer now getting to their destination. We had quite a nice day here on Tuesday and I went out in the village for half an hour and quite enjoyed the sunshine, however yesterday and today have gone back to the same old type, only it is rain instead of snow. I had a good long letter from Ethel yesterday, she had a good journey but arrived 40 minutes late. She says poor Norah is dreadfully thin and weak, she likes people to sit and talk in her room and talks little when she can, and likes to be read to, but finds it too tiring to read herself, she sleeps very little and has to take nourishment every two hours. Ethel is doing the housekeeping and cooking for Aunt Edith and her first morning before she had time to find out where things were, she found that Aunt Lottie was coming over to dinner so felt more anxious to have everything right, however she managed all right.
I suppose Kathleen has got her parcel containing Cyril’s present to her. Isn’t it a lovely cloth? I admire it very much. Today my parcel from him has arrived, a lovely black scarf all embroidered in silver, I expect I shall have to wait till after the war to have any opportunity to wear such a grand thing. There was also a very quaint piece of Egyptian embroidery that we think will make up well as a fire screen and a dear little Egyptian brooch for Dorothy. It is so good of the old boy to think of us all. I do wonder where he is now. The news from East Africa is good and the Russians seem to keep pushing along in the Caucasus. Don’t you like the cartoon in Punch this week of the “Junior Parkers”? Yes, Balfour’s speech was fine. I hope it made Winston feel a little smaller, but I doubt it, he is rather difficult to squash. Mela came back on Monday rather worn out with her fortnight of very hard nursing, she has also got a bad cold, so we are making her take care of herself.
With much love to you and Kathleen.
I am your loving mother
Eugénie N Sladden
PS – Letter from George this morning dated 10th but postmark three days later, he was well but sick of the weather. They had about got to the end of their march for the time being.
