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1 January 1909 — Ca’ Capello, Venice | |
Friday. 1st January [1909]. We are all still under the impression of the awful catastrophe at Messina. As soon as I was up I telephoned to Mme Pezzè Pascolato to ask if she had any instructions to give as to the help to be given. She said she had communicated with Sr Rava the head of the Red Cross here & told him of my offer to do down south taking 2 trained nurses with me. He had said he advised me to wait for further news. In the meantime she said it wd be well to begin making hospital linen. As I was just going off to morning service I made a note asking all the English to come here tomorrow at 4 to begin to work—this I asked Canon Ragg to give out during the service wh he did. There were not many people at church but those I saw jumped at the idea & promised to come. The papers of today talk of 200,000 killed between Messina, Reggio & other villages. It is too awful! One can hardly believe it. On 4th of Decr I passed thro’ Messina in the evening resplendent with light & life—& now—it is a ruin! After lunch I went to see Angela Reinelt who had sent me a New Year’s present & sat a short while with her then returned home to pick up Nora Hallé & Baker & some cakes & we went off to the Hospital to a tea party given by Miss Chaffey for the English colony. There were many there—the place was prettily decorated with evergreens—the wards happened to be empty of patients & were turned into reception rooms. It has been a lovely day but very cold & one cannot forget the victims of the earthquake. We came home before 6 rather chilled & glad to get by the fire. I wrote notes to send to several people to beg them to come to the sewing party tomorrow. Teddie Moore came to see me & I told him to tell his wife to come– Had a quiet eveng dined upstairs & went early to bed. It is a sad beginning to the year this awful thing in the country– Italy has risen to the occasion & given freely of their money & money has come from all parts of the world. Our fleet from Malta has brought 50,000 blankets & the Russian fleet has helped to carry sick & wounded also– | |
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