Weather decidedly colder, but no rain.
No more news in the paper. Fresh casualty lists yesterday, another batch of wounded arrived at Plymouth. Some of them are German wounded.
This afternoon at Dorothea, Mary, Hector & I all went to Dunterton to ask Mrs Clayton to belong to the soldiers and sailors help society. She consented, & we stayed a little time, & chatted and then walked home again in time for tea.
The great events of the day was that we had bread & butter with our early tea.
At breakfast, a great argument raged about the word culture. Arthur tried to say that the English word does not come the same as the German word culture, but everyone talked at once. Arthur could never finish his sentence, his voice being much softer than those of the rest of the family.
In the House of Commons yest. the home rule Bill became law, and afterwards when Parliament was prorogued, Mr Will Crooks began the national anthem. All those present joined in. What a different scene it might have been 6 months ago.
What a wonderful gift Mary Kelly’s journal is to us all. The interspersal of domestic detail with war news is particularly poignant. The obsession with bandadging which, of course, would be very essential in future months.
It is difficult to appreciate the contrast between the rumour and speculation for days and weeks that compares with the immediacy of news today that appears on our screens as it happens. There is “no more news in the paper” and “the great event of the day was that we had bread and butter with our early tea” The journal is peppered with such charming domestic pictures: Hecctor and the cat and kittens huddled together, the rejection of Admiral and Comet because the first was too old and the second too young. The cylinders for the ailing car are transported by horse and cart.
The choice of photographs adds even more colour to such a vivid account of those dreadful years one hundred years ago.
Thank you for your generosity in sharing Margaret’s journal with us and for all the work that must have been involved.
Entirely agree with you, Alice. You’