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Lt. Col. Robert Story - Letters 1893

Mostly from sister Florie to Robert

January 1893


Letter from Florie
Salisbury Lodge
Canynge Square
Clifton
Jan 6th 1893
My dearest Robert
I am just going to write you a line to go with Vida's weekly budget to her Dad, and I think you will like to hear about our trip to Ireland last Oct. Thanks to you we had a most delightful time at Lismore, the Burrowes were only too pleased to take Fran and myself in, & did everything they could to make things pleasant for us. We spent 4 whole days with them & when we left said they hoped we would come again whenever we liked. The first day we walked about the place, went to Lisnamandra and also paid visits in the village; the second, in the morning Fran and I found our way to the Fitzpatricks and had some fun with them &  and in the afternoon walked over to see the Stones. The next day Mr Burrowes drove us in the morning to Kilmore where we got out and had a good look round and then went on to Farnham into the house and all about the place. That afternoon Mrs. Moore had invited us to Bingfield so we went up with Mrs. Burrowes and spent ages there, wandering over the garden and house. Mrs. M. let us go wherever we liked & you will be pleased to hear that I had not forgotten the way about in the least, especially in the house and garden. The whole place seemed very nicely kept & the house very comfortable. The afternoon of the last day Mrs. Burrowes took us for a lovely drive all round Killashandra, it did look pretty.  It was awfully good of you to get us the invitation, I shall be everlastingly greatful to you ditto Fram I know, it was a special pleasure to him as there is not much chance of his ever being able to get over there again at any rate to se what he did. After our return to Clifton his eyes got very bad & he has been obliged to go out to Wiesbaden again for treatment, from all accounts he seems getting on well now but this last bad attack will leave its mark behind it. 

We are so glad to have Vida with again, you wd be pleased to see how very well she is looking with such rosy cheeks and she has grown tremendously since we last saw her. She seems getting on famously at schhol & repeated a piece of German poetry (can't read what) beautifully the other day. She is getting on too with her skating, though she can't strike out properly yet. We have had some very good days skating & the ice has been excellent, no snow to spoil it, we were over at 'Palmers' pond at Westbury yesterday and I was just able to skate backwards a bit, we are going again today & I intrend doing wonders, not to mention tumbles of course. 

I hope you have enjoyed your voyage, we were pleased to see that you reached Melbourne on 21st Dec; the only time I saw the Hesperus mentioned. Aunt Carrie said she had seen it twice as being spoken. We miss your usual Xmas visit, but George came to console us. Good bye old man, write sometimes when you feel so disposed.
With love from us all,
ever your affect sister
Florence E. Story


October 1893

From Florie

My dear Robert,
I have to thank you for two most delightful letters dated July 6th and Aug, 2nd & reallt feel dreadfully ashamed of myself for not having written to you for such a long time, but my pen & I are not very friendly especially in the summer when it is pleasant to spend as much of the day out of doors as possible. Your epistles are really quite worth publishing, such splendid accounts of all your travels & visits to places with quite unpronouncable names, we were much interested & now I am quite longing for another volume. I am afraid I having nothing so out of the way new to tell you, but you must just be good enough to put up with more ordinary things. the last time I wrote to you was from London sometime in May. After that we did nothing particularly, paid a few visits  & stayed at Clifton. 

About 23rd July Mother, Charlie & I started off for Switzerland first going to Basle where we found Fran waiting for us. We rested there for a day & then went to Char, the general starting place for the Engadine. There we said goodbye to railways for some time & had a long day's drive through the most loverly regular Swiss scenery to Disentis where we intended staying a few weeks. Disentis is a dear little place, so perfectly unspoilt by crowds of tourists, it is fortunately not fashionable enough for them, so the majority of them just pass through on their way to Andermatt & such like places. We found plenty to amuse ourselves in the way of endless walks all over the place through villages and up hills, that is to say Fran and I did most of the walking as it was too much for Mother, she pottered about nearer home & Charlie did some sketching & took a good many photographs. At the end of 3 weeks we started off again and drove over the Oberalp Pass to Goschenen where we took the train and went through the St. Gothard down to Lucarno, a small town at the head of Lago Maggiore. We were simply broiled there as the place is so shut in by the mountains, so after 3 days we went further down the lake to our beloved Baveno which we know well. We did enjoy ourselves there, the sun shone all day & every day and we could stay out from the time we got up till bedtime, sitting about or bathing during the heat & then going for a good row on the lake when it was cooler. You used to be so rude as to laugh at the size of my little arms but I can assure you they were a joke to what they are now after good healthy exercise! 

Well we stayed at Baveno a whole month and then went two days' drive over the Simplon, we went in grand style in a carriage and five, we only ordered 3 horses but the season being bad they added on two more for the same money by way of giving the beasts a bit of exercise and you may be sure we did not object. It really was most disappointing though, the first day was lovely & fine, but in the evening it began to rain & simply poured in torrents & when we started very early next morning it was coming down cats & dogs & oh wasn't it cold just, quite close to the snowy regions, however Charlie and I were determined not to be done out of even the small amount of view there was to be had through the mist, so we rolled ourselves up in rugs and sat in the coupĂ© of the carriage & had glimpses of snow mountains & glaciers and magnificent waterfalls till we got down to Brieg. From there we trained on to Lausanne  & then to Basle and so to Wiesbaden. Fran had been remarkably well all the time at Disentis and Baveno, but then as ill luck would have it the journey was too much for him and when we got to Lausanne he was very bad indeed with his eyes & had a good many sleepless nights, poor old boy, it was so disappointing for him, however we got him safely back to Wiesbaden and now he says he is all right after a long rest. His sight is not nearly as good as it was a year & a half ago and after that frightful attack he had this time last year he has to be careful to preserve just the little bit that is left, if it had not been for Pagensticher he would probably have lost even that,

You will be surprised to hear that he is learning the piano, it is a great amusement to him, he goes up to the Blindenschule for lessons. We settled him comfortably into his old rooms & then came back to England just a fortnight ago. Mother stayed in London to pay Lou a short visit in her new house at Highgate. Charlie and I came back here to look after our cook who had suddenly been taken very ill, a stroke of apoplexy & paralysis all down one side & her speech quite gone. Well we found her in a very bad way & four days after our return she died. It was such a sad illness, she only returned from her holiday apparently quite well at 4 o'clock one afternoon & was taken ill about 6 and never was able to say more than yes or no after that time. She was such a nice woman too, we had got to like her so much in the house. 

We are not settled here for the whole winter, as we have promised to go and keep Aunt Sophia company in Italy for a few months sometime in January, it is rather a bore having to start off again, however I dare say it will be nice enough when we find ourselves there.

The Begbies have taken a house at Boscombe, Nr Bournemouth for the winter as it seems to suit Mary very well, she is better now than she has been since her illness.

All the relations seem in flourishing condition, Aunt Clara is the greatest wonder, able to walk about and enjoy life. Mother I am sorry to say is not as well as she might be, she has been rather shaky all summer, not nearly as able for knocking about as she was, but she seems getting stronger again now.

(The rest of the letter is lost)



Date1893
Linked toFlorence Emily Story; Lt. Col. Robert Story

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