San Moritz Dorf[1]. 3rd August[2]
My Dear Sally[3], I don't usually write letters on Sunday but
today I am not well & have read till I am tired. I have got a grand German bible Luther's translation & large
print & with references. at home we
would pay 5/- for it here I got it for 1/8 but I am bothered with the beginning
of the 18th Psalm[4]. It is quite
different especially the first verse from our translation. Luther must have translated from different
original. I must ask the clergyman
about it. He is a nice old gentleman
Mr. Strettle[5] from
Hampshire. He could not make out Mr.
Young's[6]
name. He says he knows Mr. Grey[7]
the Presbyterian minister who preaches here but lives at Poutratchina, or
Poutrachina. Mr. Strettle is such
another as my father in his love for walking tho 74 years old he is a great
mountain climber. Fairy[8]
was out when he called but hearing she is fond of walking he says he will take
her one of his next expeditions. This
is the first dry Sunday we have had. I
suppose I have a billious attack tho the Dr. says it is enemia (lack of blood
in the system). Still I think he must
be wrong. I went to see him today but
he was out. only when I want to throw
off water comes & little if any bile as if nothing were in my stomach. I took a beaten up egg & at once threw
it off & there was a little yellow matter like bile but not bitter as it
is. So I am rather puzzled. Not eating much I am very weak. I had beef tea a little ago & it stayed
down as did a little cold chicken last evening. There is a very nice restaurant
& pension other side the road where we dine & they sent me half a
chicken for which I paid 2/6. We get 3
courses, at least, & pay 1/8 for that.
everything the best cooked & served. I can not always dine there but F.[9]
does. They are said to have the best
table here - better even than the swell Hotels but it matters little to
me. I have no appetite. But Dr. Holland[10]
says he wants me to take all the milk I can & all the nourishing food
possible & not to tire myself. I
have been walking too much & so have upset myself & wasted the little
stack of health I had. Dr. Elliott[11]
warned me against doing so, but Dr. Franks[12]
said for me to walk down to the baths, have my drink & walk up again (a mile & a half each way). An Irish girl, a trained nurse we have come
to know, said I was not equal to so much walking & for me to come up in the
buss & for me to see the Dr. here.
I try to be patient & to trust him who does all well but it is very
weary work being so terribly weak.
Fairy is a dear, good little soul, very loving & patient &
careful of a stupid melancholy old body!
I am so glad Maggie[13]
is safely over her trouble. I think she
could not have better than Mary Anne[14]. She is so quick witted & most kindly
& a good cook for a sick person.
There is the rain! Sunday could
not pass here without some! F. is at
afternoon service & I fear has neither rain cloak nor umbrella. Fortunately
the church is near so I'll send her muffling.
F. suffers a great deal from tooth ache. She blisters inside and outside her gums.
Monday -
We have made the acquaintance of an American widow lady & through them of a
Miss Which[15] (pronounced
Wish) & her companion & nurse a jolly Irish girl Miss Maloney[16]. The latter gave me good advice about not
fatiguing myself & to see Dr. Holland & she often comes in to see me as
I am laid up with this billious attack.
She was matron of a hospital in Paris for two & a half years. Miss Which is, like myself, an anemia
patient but from the first had Dr. Holland's advice so has lost no time and is
improving tho Miss Maloney says she has not half the pluck I have. She is an only daughter. Her father a General Which[17]
brother in law or cousin of Lord Napier[18]
of Magdelin. This came out
accidentally. I was repeating something
Lady Hart[19] told me
that Lord Napier had said to her, shortly before his death, about her husband
having known him in China & how he was a man of whom we all have just right
to be very proud. Miss Maloney said he
was a relation of her patient. I like
the Beans[20]. Mrs. B. is a sensible kindly woman no
pretence & her son similar. He is
about two or three & twenty. Other
day he asked F. would she go a bit mountain climbing, he & another American
boy were going. F. was delighted to go
& got some lovely flowers. The
gentians are very beautiful especially the small blue ones, so are the yellow
& purple pansies & F. got some Eidilweisz of which she was very
proud. I have been throwing off again
this morning & F. went to Dr. Holland who has prescribed pills. No purgatives to take after meals. He says it is bile. He lives quite near
this. He has a very nice wife &
several children. Mrs. Wright[21]
has early parted with her daughter & probably to a stranger! Are you not glad Lady Dunlo[22]
has gained her case? for tho faulty the Clan Carty[23]
family had acted very shabbily toward her & so had her husband done! I wish
I could paint but my hand is still very weak.
I know nothing of mirror painting & don't at all admire it. It requires an experienced first rate hand to produce anything but a heavy
daub I have seen but one pretty painted
mirror. It was in Judge Holmes & was bought in Whiteley's in London. Last night there was rain & lightning
& today it is thundering and raining.
I'll send this through Maggie. There is no hurry & stamps cost & living here is
costive! When one has as much lying
awake as I have one has time for lots of thought & feeling so much pain
from interior weakness. We have no
comfort so great as communion with our Father & our dear Saviour. I feel very Faithless often but God in his
mercy strengthens my faith. I am
disappointed that I make such slow progress but He knows best & perhaps (as
Dr. Franks wrote me today, he is off on his holidays) "a small
improvement, in some particulars, after such a short time is in itself
satisfactory" so I must just be patient.
I always get better suddenly & when over this billious attack will
have a better chance. I often wish people could get married by arrangement
French style I would be quite of Aunt Kate[24]
& Marjory Reids[25]
way of thinking! F. has just come in
with a supply of spa water. She joins
me in warm love to you. Ever your
loving WSW[26]
[1] San Moritz Dorf, Switzerland, a resort in the mountains. WHITESIDE would be 30 years old when he is here, clearly not in the best of health.
[2] The date of 1890 is a guess since it is the only day when August 3rd fell on a Sunday and when WHITESIDE was pastor at Derryvalley.
[3] Sarah McCULLAGH (1852-1939), future wife of the writer
[4] “I love thee O LORD, my strength, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.” PSALM 18: 1-3
[5] Mr. STRETTLE?
[6] Mr. YOUNG – a minister in Co. Monaghan, I believe.
[7] Mr. GREY?
[8] “Fairy”?Added December 17, 2005: This is most likely Fairy MORGAN, a close friend of Mary Elizabeth WADDELL, daughter of William Charles WADDELL Mary Elizabeth WADDELL was of Lisnavane House and died at age 46 at San Moritz on August 24, 1890. She suffered from TB and was likely recuperating at the same time that William Sherlock WHITESIDE was there. SOURCE: Full Circle p 326.
[9] “F” would be “Fairy”, I assume
[10] Dr. HOLLAND
[11] Dr. ELLIOT
[12] Dr. FRANKS
[13] Maggie who? WHITESIDEs mother is called Maggie, it wouldn’t be her but perhaps he has a sister called Maggie as well.
[14] It sounds as if everyone should have a “Mary Anne”, but who she is, I don’t know.
[15] Miss WHICH?
[16] Miss MALONEY?
[17] General WHICH?
[18] Lord NAPIER?
[19] Lady HART née Hester Jane BREADON of Belfast, wife of Sir Robert HART of Lisburn, CO. Down, the Founder of the Chinese Lighthouse Service, the Organiser of the Chinese Post Office, the Inspector General of the Customs and Maritime Services, the founder of the first Brass Band in China, the Pro-Chancellor of Queen's University who once lived in the small village of Ravarnette.
[20] The BEAN family?
[21] Mrs WRIGHT? Is she the mother of “Fairy”?
[22] Lady DUNLO?
[23] Clan CARTY?
[24] Kate?
[25] Marjorie REID
[26] William Sherlock WHITESIDE (1860-1916)