Congo (3) - 10/1/1920 in London

London, England

October 1, 1920

My dear homefolks:

Here we are in the big city of London. Arrived here Monday morning, but landed in Plymouth Sunday morning and stayed there over Sunday. We are almost as busy here as we were in New York and have done nothing but shop every day since we got here until today. Have almost finished now, and are going to do some sight seeing the rest of the time we are here. Went to the Tower of London this morning and it certainly is worth visiting. The rest of our crowd are going to go on before we do. Mr. Kinman, a Methodist missionary to Africa whom we met in New York, and has been a very pleasant member of our party, leaves for Brussels this evening, and Mr. And Mrs. Hobson leave Monday. It is, as B.M. says, we don’t want to miss this opportunity of seeing London and we are not in any hurry anyway as we are not expecting to leave for the Congo until the first of November, and I want to stay among English speaking people as long as possible, for B.M. says, very few of the people in Brussels speak anything but French.

I have forgotten whether we told you or not, but we met Dr. Kelly who was stationed at Bibanga, while we were at New York and is going to stay here for some time studying medicine. He and Mr. Kinman came over together on the Aquitania.

We did not get our Victrola in New York and we were certainly glad when we landed here for Mr. and Mrs. Hobson brought one and they had to unpack it in the Customs House and pay about 1/3 the worth of it. We have about decided to get a sewing machine (turned by hand, not by foot) instead, if we get either.

Dr. Kelly saw to our cedar chest for us, or at least found that it was there in N. Y. and Mr. Bedinger is going to bring it when he comes. We were so glad to know that it was found. It is at the White Bible Training School and they will take good care of it for us. The box of books are safe, also. He, Dr. Kelly, brought Mrs. Robbin’s present and I am so proud of it; think it will almost exactly match my silver ware. Was so sorry not to get to write her. If you have time, wish you would write her a few lines and explain how it is and tell her I will write as soon as I can, but you know the mail will be so uncertain for now on. Your letter also came on the Aquitania and we were so glad to hear from you all.

Am so glad you all are getting along all right, but was sorry to hear about the car. How did it get broken? Please don’t fail to tell me if you are not well, for I will be so anxious about you. I am so sorry Hickman is having such a time with the nettle rash. I believe the ocean trip has cured me of that for I had it pretty bad in New York but not even any signs of it since I left. Tell Hickman he had better come to Africa and perhaps he will be cured also. Of course, I’m not there of half way there yet.

Mr. Rhyan, the man we man we met on the ship, gave Mrs. Hobson, or Rowena as she wishes me to call her, and me a beautiful gold Eversharp pencil apiece, one you can hang ‘round your neck. Wasn’t that nice of him. They are such lovely people and don’t you tell, but Mr. Rhyan seems especially struck on me. Don’t worry, he is at least forty-five years old, but we all liked both of them.

I could not begin to tell you all the things we have gotten, so I’m not going to try. We have decided to make our order of food stuff over again and have them send it from here. You see, we heard nothing from Montgomery Ward, not even acknowledging the order. Dr. Kelly says he heard nothing from them also and neither did the Hobsons, so we are of the opinion that they have stopped shipping.

Wednesday afternoon.

In the morning we leave for Brussels. We have all our shopping done and the last two days have been spent in sight seeing and getting our trunk ready to leave. We have six pieces of baggage now, not counting my cedar chest, and the box of books. B.M. got his trunk at Macon, and my wardrobe trunk and a trunk larger than my old one that we got in New York. My kitchen utensils and other things we bought here in London. My dishes are packed in a separate box. They packed it for us and I am so anxious to know if anything has been broken. One of our glasses you gave me is broken, but other than that there is nothing hurt that we found.

We got your card and a letter from Evelyn forwarded from Pinckney. Of course, I am always glad to hear from you all. Evelyn is going back to room 22. She seemed to think I was trying to keep my marriage from her.

We have our helmets and they are not near as bad looking as I had expected. Mine looks fairly well on me.

Have not been able to get washing done since we left New York and won’t until we get to Brussels. You can imagine how many clothes we have. I am getting along fairly well with my crepe gowns and underwear (knitted).

It has been rather cold since we have been here. There has been a scarcity of coal, so we generally go to bed to keep warm, the little time we are in the room. Which is very seldom only at night, for we are busy or sightseeing most of the time.

Dr. Kelly is going to take dinner with us this afternoon. He has been over to his school the past few days. The Hobsons left yesterday, so we are the last of our crowd at the Devonshire House Hotel.

It is rather late and I am a tiny bit tired, so I’ll say, Goodbye. Hope you are well and happy.

Lovingly,

Dorothy