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NOTICES OF BOOKS. 271
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
A. Friends Lady's Diary At Home Of . The...
maid strong , and enoug keep h to the do rooms any , b we y Jame inhabit s this tid morning y and clean . M : y I ht share am to also thi is to to house act nurse house Mr - .
all Law sleep rence ( that , and is . anysick , eleven or ladies wounded and seven who may _children be broug ) on the iloor s of the . T We ye Ilhana , where we spread mattresses and fit into each other like in bits in a puzzle
dah so as sort best of to room feel the on the punkah side . of The the house gentlemen least exposed sleep upstairs to fire . a M long y bed veran con - - chairs and sists p of ile down a them purdah there in heaps and which a against pillow are assi . the In gned wall the to . morning invalids We have we and all only roll most room up of for our us very take bedding few our -,
meals obliged seated to light on a the , candle floor for , breakfast with our and j ) lates dinner on our , , as knees the room . We is are perfectl always y
dark up in . a large Our usual deckger fare , so consists as not of to stew dirty , a as dish being , and easiest a portion to cook : ladled it is broug out ht to each person . Of course we can get no bread or butter , so chapatties arrowroot are the
disagreeable substitute . We have large stores of beer , wine , tea , , dhol sago , & & c c , whi we ch draw will from last the a long commissariat time . Our . We rations are all of kept meat , close rice prisoners , "wheat ,
to the , dismal , Tye Khana , only Mrs . D . and I go upstairs at all during the half day—she hour to see in her the husband evening , we and are I to look ermitted after Mr to . sit Lawrence in the . portico For about and
breathe an a little fresh air . After sunset p the firing generally slackens consicooking derably for their a time dinner , and Mr it is . Ommaney supposed the , died sep this oys are evening engaged : what just a dreadful then in
. blow it must be to his poor wife and daughters !" This was written the day after tlie death of Sir Henry Lawrence ,
who was mortally wounded by a shell whilst lying * on his bed listening to despatclies . The following day , July 7 , one of the
clergymen , Mr . Polehainpton , was shot by a musket-ball while shaving * . This poor gentleman died witliin the fortnight from
cholera ; and the Diary gives a pitiful account of his wife ' s ' great - anxiety that he should have a coffinfor " since tlie siege the bodies
, have always been buried several in the same grave , and sewn up in their bedding , as there are no people and there is no time to make
coffins . " The writer of the Diary makes frequent mention of the poor children shut up in this miserable and dangerous place . When
first they took refuge in the Residency , we are told of a " cherub of a baby boy eleven months old , who is the plaything of us all—he is
the * image of _Miirillo ' s * St . John the Baptist' in the National Gallery . " But three months later : — " Poor little Bobbie Fayrer is
very ill ; I never saw such , a bad _change as there is in Mm from the lovely cherub of a child lie was some time since ; lie is now
quite a skeleton , and looks like a little old man . " But lie seems to have been brought through , for we do not hear of his death . Not
so another poor baby . one " ' s I fear heart little ache Herbert to look cannot at his recover little : suffering he seems face to be . feeble sinking He is wail . so it It we is makes ak iti he
scarcely ever cries , and when he does , it is such a little pable to hear . " August 19 .
" Dear little Herbert D . died at half-past three this morning . _Yesterday much better that about himbut
he seemed so Mrs . D . was quite happy ;
Notices Of Books. 271
NOTICES OF BOOKS . 271
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), June 1, 1858, page 271, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01061858/page/55/
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