MS Charlotte Mitchell

My dear Edith,
The Gates of Paradise came this morning and a very pretty little book they make. I don’t think one would guess the drawing had been finished in bed! I wish I could come and see you, and thank you for them but Mamma has to take a drive every day and is not fit to get out of the carriage so that I can only take her within moderate distances, and we see a great deal of the Winchester road, in fact I think I should have a carrier’s licence I do so many commissions. If you were at Winchester I could get at you, not that I do do much but shop there, fetch magazines and the like. I suppose it is Miss Agnes Jones at Liverpool of whom Miss Nightingale gives that beautiful account in Good Words, but it is with a good deal of the scolding Nightingale note too.¹ Really I suppose it is not a large proportion of women who have the qualities of professional nurse that she calls for people able to cope with large numbers of sick. They must be very sensible and clear headed to begin with and that is not the commonest thing in the world. After all conglomerations of people are the real misfortune of the time

your affectionate
C M Yonge