Antwerp in flames. Such was the news in the paper. The inhabitants are fleeing from the town in thousands, and amongst others Mrs Stobarts’ Hospital has had to be closed. In the W. M. News was to say that Dr Mabel Ramsay had left with the hospital & gone to Ostend.

Dorothea & I went to Lanson in the morning, to meet Joan at the Tamar Club & receive from her a parcel of flannel for our people to make into shirts. We sat there about an hour & talked, and this was one of the tales she told us. That at the beginning of the war, one of the French generals betrayed us to the Germans, with the result that our army was nearly done for. Lord Kitchener, on hearing this went over to the seat of war & had the general shot as a spy. This tale when we told it to Father he actually believed for he is certain that something must have happened to make our army retreat so hurriedly. After our chat, we went on to South Petherwin to attend Mrs Pulman’s funeral. We never knew she had died until this morning. There were a great many people present, all the Village people & neighbourhood, she was greatly beloved among the villagers.

In the afternoon we had to do the usual little Saturday morning jobs. After tea, Mrs Smith brought us the news that Antwerp had fallen. Poor Belgium, it now ceases to exist as a country.

Every evening now after I have undressed I go down into the kitchen & wage war upon the cockroaches. They are in possession in thousands, large heaps of baby ones & huge ones who run. I sprinkle borax on them, & they get stupid & are swept up in the morning by the kitchen maid & burnt.

[Note from Sophia Kelly – 10/10/2014 – Pest control has come a long way in the last 100 years – we no longer have cockroaches in the kitchen, our Bed & Breakfast guests will be happy to hear!]