LETTER FROM ENGLAND
Capt. W.G. Jamieson Writes
Capt. W.G. Jamieson, M.D., son of Mr. George Jamieson, Hamilton Township, wrote to his aunt, Mrs. W.J. Westington, as follows:
16 Canadian General Hospital, Orpington, Kent. (from England)
I received yours of Jan 8th on Feb. 6th and wish to thank you for your kind congratulations and for dropping me a line. I had intended writing a letter to you sooner to thank you kindly for your useful Christmas present which arrived in good shape.
To-day we had a visit from Sir Edward Kemp, overseas Minister of Militia. He gave us a little speech at dinner and told us he expected medical officers' pay would be raised. He is a big man and seems like a pretty sensible fellow.
Our work here is very pleasant, indeed, and life, although a little monotonous at times, is very pleasant. You can imagine that with sixty officers and one hundred and forty nursing sisters that it is very easy to have a good time.
It is over a month now since we had our last convoy from France. There has not been much activity over there on account of the mud. I was secretary-treasurer of the mess here for three months. MISS RUSSELL (of Cobourg) a daughter of the late Alex Russell, is what we call 'honor sister' in the sisters' quarters. She is returning in April and if you happen to see her, she can give you a good description of the internal economy of Orpington Hospital.
We have 2,300 beds in hospital which is fourteen miles from London. It is very easy to get leave and slip into London, so I have made a good many trips at various times. The most noted places are St. Paul's Cathedral, London Bridge Tower, Westminster Abbey, the Zoological Gardens, the Art Galleries, and the House of Parliament. The first thing to attract attention is the double decker motor buses on the streets. Of course, a great many of the places of interest are closed, as parts of special interest are covered with sandbags and cannot be seen.
While at Otterpool Camp we visited Canterbury which is a place of very great historic interest. Canterbury Cathedral is one of the finest in the world. It was there that Thomas A. Becket was murdered. When we went to Scotland, we visited Edinburgh, Stirling, Bannockburn, Loch Katrine, Ellen's Isle, Glasgow and Paisley. England is an extremely pretty country, being very fortunate in having a rain supply which produces a wonderful foliage. The hedges are well kept and all the houses, roads, bridges and fences are of the best. The roads are never straight, but very winding, which adds to the artistic, but not to their usefulness. Again the roads are paved so that the walking is good at all times even after or during the heavy rains that are so common.
There are about ten or twelve of us here from my year in (University) medicine so we are a happy family. Most of us have been warned for France and expect to go by Spring. By all talk there is going to be big doings over there in the spring.
I heard from Wallace lately. He is going to be a flying instructor when he gets a little better. He says the tendons were damaged on the outer side of foot and some of the bone on the other side of ankle were taken away, as it was splintered. He wears a support for his ankle on outside of boot now, Gordon McBride and a good many other patients of my former acquaintance have passed through this hospital, He is the only one you will know. Best regards to all.
W.G. JAMIESON,
Lieut Wallace Jamieson was formerly of the Bank of Nova Scotia of this town- Editor.
