A Nurse's Life in War and PeaceLaurence, E. C. (Eleanor Constance)
History
A Nurse's Life in War and Peace
Laurence, E. C. (Eleanor Constance)
Military nursing; Nursing -- Great Britain; South African War, 1899-1902 -- Medical care
You can't think how funny it was to walk upstairs again: the Pinetown
house was a bungalow, so I did not have to try stairs till I got on
board ship. I still feel as though I must duck my head every time I go
through a door, and when it blows in the night I always wake up and
wonder whether I ought to take the mallet and attend to the tent-pegs;
and then, when I realise I am not under canvas, there is such a
satisfaction in being able to lie down and go to sleep again.
We did not stay in Port Elizabeth, but travelled by train straight on
here, where my brother has about three days' work. We have a very
comfortable little house to ourselves, with a garden full of such lovely
flowers--Maréchal Niel roses, &c.
This is a pretty little town, and many of the people, who are most
pleasant and friendly, have called on me. Near to Uitenhage there are
still some wild elephants, but I had not time to make their
acquaintance.
To-day the minister of the Dutch Reformed Church took us to see the
Riebeck Girls' College; such good buildings, and such bright-looking
scholars. They have a kindergarten, and then all the standards up to
the highest--those working for university exams. The Resident Magistrate
took us to see some nursery gardens that send flowers all over South
Africa. After the barrenness of the Natal uplands these masses of
flowers were quite lovely, and I was given a beautiful bunch of
carnations.
To-night we have some people dining with us, and to-morrow we return to
Port Elizabeth, where we shall probably stay about ten days.
XLVIII
KIMBERLEY, SOUTH AFRICA,
_December 1901_.
From Uitenhage we returned to Port Elizabeth, where my brother had about
a week's work, and then we had to wait a few more days for a steamer;
but several old Kimberley friends were down there, and a good many other
people called, so I had a very pleasant time.
Port Elizabeth was a little agitated about the plague; they had had
about a hundred cases, and about half of that number had died, but just
then there were only twelve in the hospital.
One day I went out with three ladies to a place they call the Red House,
and had a delightful row up the Zwartkops River. Another day Mrs. ----
drove my brother and me out to her father's country house, "Kraggakama,"
about a fourteen mile drive; a beautiful bungalow house, and such a
lovely garden, surrounded by dense, semi-tropical woods, with little
paths leading away into the woods; many monkeys and other creatures
around.
We had lunch out there, and found strawberries just ripe in the garden.
From Port Elizabeth we had meant to go straight back to Kimberley, but,
after many wires, it was decided that my brother must go to Oudtshoorn,
a place a long way from the railway, where there had been cases waiting
for a long time for trial, as it had not been considered safe for a
judge to travel there.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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