Item 11 - Autograph letter signed to Beaton, from Athens.

Did Beaton ever get her letter, posted during the first days of November? After that, she received his letter of October 26th. She "wept with joy", even though it took two months to arrive, and she was reading it on Christmas Eve. She then received his letter from New York which took three months to arrive. Discusses the problem of letters. Beaton seems to be doing so much. Gets herself exhausted with her own very simple job. Wonders how much one can contribute to something which is so vast and important. The wounded soldiers are very merry and healthy and have the most self-sacrificing souls. They are thankful for the smallest kindness and don't realise at all that they have done anything exceptional. When she leaves the 9th Military Hospital she always feels she takes back a little present each time: "it brings more light in my life than anything else I was taught to admire". There is a great shortage of nurses. Nearly every available premises have been requisitioned and turned into hospitals. The wounded arrive by the hundreds and thousands every day. There was an air-raid while she was writing to Beaton and two planes were got down in Pinaeus. Has volunteered for the boats from Missolonghi to Pinaeus. It is a big job but she got herself in it because there is a shortage of good sailors among Greek women. Encloses a snapshot of the hospital where she works as group captain. She actually orders about "some great big women much older". Peter Coats has been here. He is wonderful, with such a practical sense and no nonsense. Discusses some other friends who have stayed. This letter started peacefully at the weekend and seems to have gone on writing itself during the week.