81

Buenos Aires                   11th October         1893

My dear Mother,

I sent you a letter Oct. 5th by Italian steamer “Orione”. Since my arrival I have recvd. three letters from you Aug 28th, Sept. 4th & 11th, – the last came this morning.

Your mention of Somerville reminds me that I looked up his cousin here, Mr Warden, who seems a decent sort of fellow. About a week ago he became a happy father; – a daughter & mother doing well.^[1] As soon as things resume their normal course at his house I am to visit him. His wife is American & said to be very pretty. They live at Adrogué^[2] & are friends of the Goulds with whom Julian & I dined last night. Mr & Mrs Gould & family are very well & they have not suffered through the Revolution, though for a week they were cut off from communication with Buenos Aires. They gave us a hearty welcome & we spent a pleasant evg. with music & so on. Mrs Gould’s cousin, Miss MacKern, from Limerick, is staying with them, a jolly Irish girl whom one might describe as “plump”.^[3]

So the wonderful summer weather still continues with you. Here it is fine but cold. The morning shower-bath is not yet a complete delight, & an overcoat is needful in the evenings & occasionally during the day.

Very glad to hear of the Pater’s safe arrival at St. P. & of orders taken in Berlin.^[4] I hope business is better with him than it is here. It is depressing to visit firm after firm & hear them all lamenting the bad trade. My hope is that now tranquillity is restored business may take a speedy turn for the better as it has done before.

Lucky Mr John Ward with his copy books.^[5] That is our neighbour, is it not.      More heiresses! Julie & Jim really must take advantage of the golden opportunities that Addie & I have lost.^[6]

You are all right in pit at Carl Rosa if you can get in without crush.^[7] Quite right about saving money. I am going to be economical. As a matter of fact my board & lodging here cost me very little, – about half of what Julian pays.^[8] I have a very nice room, with balcony to the street & view of the river, in a clean & respectable lodging house where several fellows whom I know live: 70 paper dollars per month including coffee in the morning – about £ 4. Then I have “pension”, lunch & dinner, at an English Restaurant, clean, good service, & excellent table, for 60 dollars, – in all, board & lodging under £ 8 a month. Of course there are a good many extra expenses, but I never lived here so cheaply & so well before. “The Brunswick” Restaurant is patronized by almost the whole English Colony. All the Bank Clerks go there & it is really, with the exception of the two “swagger” Restaurants, “Paris” & “Mercer”, the best place in town. Lunching & dining there without “pension” costs quite three times as much. If often take a friend there to dine & pay $ 3.50 for him, for the same dinner that costs me $ 1.

I suppose the deafness you complain of is the result of that wetting. You should be more careful. I hope it is all right again now. Julian still suffers from head-aches but is otherwise all right. He lives at Belgrano^[9] – 20 minutes by rail from town, then 10 minutes walk, with people called Getty. Getty’s father was, he told me, mayor & later member for Belfast,^[10] & he, the son, is a cousin of the Crossleys.^[11] He married a widow with two or three daughters, Foster by name. He is a clerk in the British Bank, with not too large a salary, & Weinberg & another lodger help to pay the household expenses, without which I fancy Getty would have some difficulty in making ends meet. I have not been to the house, but I have spoken to him here in town. He seems a very good-natured fellow, & they certainly looked after Julian well when he was ill.

The Revolution is over now in the Argentine though the state of siege is still in force, by which military supersedes civil law. Part of the National Guard will remain under arms for some time.^[12] In Brazil the state of things is still worse than before. During the bombardment a clerk of the London & Brazilian Bank was killed, – a young fellow who had only been in the country a few months. It was his own fault for being in town when all foreigners had been advised to leave.

“Trent” leaves to-day, but I send this by French S.S. “La Plata”, which is probably quicker.

Best love

Jack