The Grove School
Highgate
London N
Sunday Oct 10th /15
My dear Father
Thank you for your letter. I was glad to hear that Arthur had got that bacteriological post, he will have got some real good work to do now.
What a blow the resignation of M. Venizelos was; no one expected it. I do wonder what will happen in the Balkans. Miss Lacey rather thinks there will be a revolution in Bulgaria. Anyway she has got herself into a pretty mess (though this does sound as if I were referring to Miss L, it is grammatically correct!). The move onwards in France seems to be the real thing doesn’t it?
We seem to have got past the dark days of the new moon successfully this time, don’t we? I wonder whether the Zepps will be able to get over again this winter. They say, you know, that the air is so cold now high up that it freezes the petrol in their oil tanks.
Poor Madge Heath has gone home with jaundice; isn’t it rotten luck. I’m afraid she will miss Officers’ Dinner and OG Day and she a prefect too, which makes it much more sickening for her.
I heard from Muriel Thelwall the other day. We shall miss her awfully, shan’t we? Has Mrs Ashwin got another companion yet, I wonder.
How you will enjoy having Mary and Baby Dorothy at Badsey. I am longing to see my niece. Kathleen is going to ask me over for the day when they get settled in at Sydenham. I suppose Ethel will travel up with them to town on her way to Mrs Bowden’s.
I got overtime with my housework this last week so that I am having the Sunday free, isn’t it bliss? And Miss Crump is away for the weekend too, so I haven’t even got her grate.
I suppose you’ve got no servant yet. How are you managing now that May’s term has begun; I suppose you have Louisa in a good deal. Are you looking out for a servant or not bothering?
Miss Fletcher is giving our Literature class lectures on Bernard Shaw and G K Chesterton. Shaw is a hateful man I think and some of his plays are quite revolting in their ideas; I am glad we have finished with him. Over Chesterton though, I am going rapidly mad. Have you read either of his delightful books of essays, “All Things Considered” and “The Defendant”? They are very good; extremely easy reading and yet a lot to think about in them. I am also reading “The Innocence of Father Brown”, a fascinating collection of detective stories.
With love from your affectionate daughter
Juliet E Sladden
