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[8 sides]                                                          Sesheke,                                                                                             N. Rhodesia.
                                                                26th December, 1936.
                                                                 (Boxing Day)
Darling Everybody,
Well, the party's over, and I think it was a great success. They all seemed to enjoy themselves like anything anyway, and silly little Lily/Hippo even wrote a very sweet and touching letter (in French) thanking me for it, and end-ing up "Votre Devouee" which I think is very touching, and I was most duly touched.  I'll tell you all about it in the right order though, because there is quite a lot to say about the week before Xmas.    
The first thing was our first approach to a Domestic Crisis.    I forget if I mentioned Musonda's baby being ill the other day? Well he was anyway, he had excema on his face so Mrs. Musonda carried him down to the Hospital to be treated. On the way they had to pass the Mokwai Kaiko's village, and apparently went in front of her house, which Isn't Done. One of her private bodyguard rushed out with a big fat stick, shouting at Mrs. Musonda in Sikololo, which she of course did not understand, and didn't wait to understand, but snatched Bupe's hand and rushed away as quick as she could.  The messenger chased her for a little way and actually caught hold of a bit of Bupe, but failed to catch him properly.
So Mrs. Musonda came roaring home in terror and told Musonda who went up in a sheet of flame. He rushed to the Office and G sent a messenger with Mrs. Musonda and they went down again (Mrs. M., Bupe, and the messenger.) The Mokwai's messenger again rushed out at them and shouted, because they took the same path, so as to be able to see what had really happened.  But the messenger couldn't attack them with G's official messenger there, so they went on all right to the hospital and got Bupe's face lifted, or whatever they did to it.  On their way home, the messenger shouted again, so our messenger reported this to G, who sent a Stinker down to the Mokwai demanding an explanation.
She was most apologetic and said it would never happen again, that the Stranger's wife (because Musonda comes from Wemba country, so is a stranger here) should be attacked, but she had walked in front of her house, between her house and her House of Parliament, and the messenger had just rushed out to tell her to go back and go-round the other way, but she had run away without waiting to hear what he said.
But Musonda came in when we were having lunch, which was before the messenger had arrived back with Mrs. M., and said they had just arrived and had been shouted at again, and he 

wouldn't have it, and he was awfully sorry but he'd have to go because he just wouldn't stand for this, and he hated the people here and they were a terribly lot and he was going back to North-East where people were decently treated, and he was VERY sorry indeed to cause us inconvenience but he just couldn't stay in a country where his wife was shouted at, and it wasn't safe to let her go out by herself, and as for his beloved Bupe, the apple of his eyes, he hardly dared let him out of his sight now.
So G calmed him down and said that enquiries were being made and that the Mokwai would probably have a very good explanation, and he didn't mention going again; poor dear, I think it would have broken his heart to leave G, and I know it would have broken ours: He is about the best all-round boy one could possibly have, and he's been with G for so long and is absolutely devoted to him, and feels most protective and proprietary towards me, and we would be quite lost without him as he IS so efficient and thoughtful and helpful.   And of course if he went the three other Wemba boys would go too, and we would be absolutely stung; Marozi (local) boys are lazy and slow and never run and have to be watched all the time to see that they do what they are told, and as I don't know a word of Sikololo I'd have a difficult time managing them, with no faithful Musonda to help!
Luckily though he soon calmed down, and the next few days I told him to go down to the hospital with his wife and Bupe, and they didn't go so near the Mokwai's house again!
The next excitement was - what DO you think? -
L I 0 N S 1!!    (But we didn't see them!)
On Wednesday somebody came in and said that three lions had killed a beast in a village two miles away and only the head was left at the end of the feast, and they were believed to be hovering in the neighbourhood still.  So that night we  had a lamp on all night and the loaded rifle in the bedroom, the revolver by the bed and Two torches to hand, and hoped we might get a glimpse of them, if not a shot.
We woke up in the early hours and thought we heard something, so leapt to all the windows and searched all the horizons with the torch, but not a red eye could we see. Later on G suddenly said "Yes?" No answer. We dozed off again.  There it was again, somebody knocking somewhere, and we thought "Oooo, the lions have got into a village or something and they've come for help."  So G searched the horizons again and looked out of all the doors and windows, but there was nobody there and everything was quite quiet until Suddenly we heard it again, quite clearly.
It was a bird.

- 2 -    
The next morning Musonda came and said that the lions had come quite close round the house, so we went out and lo and beholdl Tracks in the sand!  Great big splodgy paws, but not very clear because of the grass, and most indubitably liony.  It was most exciting, but I wish we'd known at the time and I wish we could have seen them.  Anyhow I'm still up on G as he has never seen ANY at all, and I have seen Ten, so I don't really deserve to see any more.
Now for Christmas Day.
Of course it was a holiday, so husband didn't have to go to the Office,. but we had to get up early just the same as we had promised to go down to the Mission for their service and 'entertainment', which took place at nine o'clock, which was eight o'clock by our time.  (We put the clocks on or back or something so that we could have longer walks in the evening but I haven't yet discovered whether we've put it the right way or not!).
Luckily Mr. Monteverdi came up in his motoring cart a Ford V8 truck, so we didn't have to walk down there. It's over a mile and a half and very sandy and it was very hot. It was SD funny being in a car again, and I've never been down the gum avenue so fast before!  He was rather a terrifying driver, specially as the path is rather queer for a car to go along, but we managed to get there without mis'ap
The entire community of Sesheke was gathered on mats. under a huge fig tree by their Church, and there was a Union Jack (home-made with purple for red!) draped across the trunk of the tree, with the chairs for the European population in a neat row in front of it, and a little table containing a bible in Sikolololo.  Lily Hippo was Master of Ceremonies as she is the schoolmistress and all the school-children were sitting on our right - 140 of them - and they were going to do some entertainment after the Service.
She had a helmet or topee on, covered with white silk to make it look like a Hat.  She also had sun glasses on.
She was very sweet and welcomed us very nicely and led us to our chairs. The Chief, Imwiko, was there already, dressed in e grey frock coat, and he looked SO nice and talked such good English with his lovely soft voice. Two of his three wives were there too, and were allowed to sit on a chair, at the end of the row.
Soon after we had sat down people began to arrive, Mr. Finkelstein, looking very smart in a coat and tie, Mrs. Monte, Mrs. Bennett and her three subdued children,  Miss Lanz and her dog Peggy and her twinkly smile, Miss Breach and her dog Tickey (very),and I think that was all.

The fig tree, by the way, is where Livingstone had his first meeting with the people of Barotseland, on his way up to the Belgian Congo, so it is a most Historical Tree. It is I think one of the finest fig trees I've ever seen a mammoth tree - with three stalks out of the one trunk.  An ideal place for such a party as this.
We started with a hymn (in Sikololo of course), and after the hymn the Mokwai Kaiko arrived, looking too lovely in a huge great crinoline of a frock, draping out behind her in the most greaceful way, a bright blue, with thousands of petticoats underneath and very full at the skirt. She had a bright blue thing round her head to match, and one of the loveliest pale blue silk shawls I've ever seen, with embroi- dery all over it and silk tassels hanging from the edges.
She was preceded by a boy carrying her chair (because her frock is so huge she can't sit in an ordinary one!) and followed by all her Indunas (I suppose you would describe them as her ministers, or her Parliament or her advisors.)  All the men stood up when she arrived, and everybody then knelt down and clapped.  G ntroduced her to me, but we didn't shake hands as she has leprosy in her fingers (which is kept VERY secret mhd you, and it wouldn't do at all if it was generally known.)
Well, to continue.    Mr. Monte then made his sermon, about twenty minutes rapid Sikololo; it sounded quite good because he wasn't a bit nervoud and never fumbled for words or looked down at notes or anything, which I think is rather good.  Then another hymn, then an anthem by the school, in parts of course and quite good, though not as good as I have heard from natives.  I've got a programme of it, typed by Lily Hippo, so I think the best thing is to send that to one lot of parents and do another copy for the other lot, because it IS rather choice, specially some of the spelling.
Some boys did "Reconciliation" of Jacobs and Esau, which seemed to be very funny by the way the audience laughed, and they all enjoyed it like anything.  The same boys did Joseph is sold by his brothers, which was also very funny, specially the camels, who sometimes forgot they were camels and got up and walked. 
Then the girls did Moses found by Faro's daughter, the bullrushes being a cardboard box, and Moses being a doll. The girls also did two lots of rythmic dances, and the boys did three lots of Drill, which they were quite good at on the whole.
After it was over they started the Games, but we only stayed to watch the bow-and-arrow competition; at which only two boys get hit the target at all, much less the bulls-eye! Still, it was rather windy so they have an excuse, but I must say the audience's remarks were Most ribald.

- 3 -
Then we all went along to Lily Hippo's house to have tea, and there was hardly room for everybody to squeeze in. There was such a lovely mixture of people - Lily Hippo, Italian; Mrs. and Mr. Monteverdi, French; Miss Lanz, Swiss; Miss Breach and Mrs. Bennett, South African; the baby Bennetts, Rhodesian; Mr. Finkelstein, who we have now found out is Russian from Riga, which is now Latvia; G and me, English; Imwiko, his two wives and the Mokwai, Marozi!
We were taken home grandly in the car again, but the poor others had to walk through the horrid hot sand under the horrid hot sun; but they live so close that it didn't really matter.
That party had taken practically the whole morning, so we just had time for a game of Chess before lunch. I'm getting ever so much better now, and I've beaten him several times - though of course he is still without his Quagger? I don't know what will happen when he does have her again, as he says he uses her such a lot and misses her dreadfully, but he might have forgotten how to use her by the time he is allowed to, and then he'll have to give up a Castle instead.
It was such fun, and we play it a terrific lot, interspersed with bouts of Halma and Draughts.
We then slept all the afternoon, and G took an aspirin and some quinine as he thought he felt some fever coming on and we wanted to put it off till the next day anyway because of the party here.  At four Miss Lanz arrived to help us get everything ready, and we had a grand time, moving a table out of the sitting-room into the dining-room, getting out those lovely table mats we had from the Greville-Williamses, with hunting scenes on them, and also the 6 little flower ones the butcher gave us; we got out the big candelabra that the Scouts gave us, and the lovely coffee set the Guides of Staffordshire gave us, and two lots of silver coffee spoons, and the Canteen that Dad gave us was very valuable, and a whole lot of Uncle Wilfrid's Glassware, and goodness knows what-all.
'Miss Lanz was Most helpful, and didn't run round and say what shall I do next, and get in the way, but when she wasn't doing anything she sat down and waited to be told what there was to be done, and she was So nice.  She did the Prawn Mayonnaise in two big bowls, and G did the drinks and the flowers and I did the mats and nothing in particular and the boys did everything else.  The flowers were lovely there wasn't much room left when the tables were laid for 13 people, and the candelabra and crackers etc were on, so he put the heads of oleander flowers floating in water in that lovely lalique blue centre-bowl that the Pax staff gave us, and some more in another lalique bowl (not nearly so nice!) that Marjorie Campbell had given use end put one on each table nestling along the crackers.

And suddenly, in the middle of it all, when our clock said ten past five, we heard a car outside and there was the whole party disgorging themselves out of the Monteverdi's truck! We had quite forgotten that we were an hour slow, and we had told them to come up at about six, and so we had had only an hour to get everything ready in!
I didn't think there would be room for thirteen of us in the sitting-room, so we put chairs on the verandah, and a lot of them had to help us arrange them as we hadn't done that yet, but I don't think they really minded.  I binned them all out their drinks (we'd put gin on the trolley in case, but they were mostly missionaries!) orange-and-water seemed to be the most popular) and presently G appeared, changed, so I went and helped Miss Lanz just put the finishing touches to her Pawns, and she came and helped me change and wash and then began the grim ordeal of How to Pass the Time till we could decently have dinner.  We knew the best plan was to sit for a long time over the booze, then have dinner and hope that they would go fairly soon after, because there is nothing so grim as when they sit on and on and on after an early dinner, and you get sleepier and sleepier and sleepier.
Mrs. Bennett of course was a great help as she never stopped talking once; Miss Breach chipped in every now and then; the children sat on their chairs and listened to their mother in a bored manner; the men got down to it down the other end, in a bunch as is their habit; Mrs. Monte and Lily seemed to make heavy weather with each other; Miss Lanz and Betty chirruped too and fro trying to wake them up.
Dinner was much brighter, and we had Champagne, but I wasn't allowed any because of Robin, and Poor little Lily nearly cried because she didn't like the smell and G gave h her some more and she hadn't the nerve to say No, and everybody else was gay and laughing and she could only Gulp, and she never spoke a Word throughtout dinner and I felt SO sorry for her and tried to make her laugh but she just Couldn't. In her sweet letter the next day she apologised for "Ma stupidite pendant le diner, mais l'odeur du vin m'incomode, et la fatigue aidant, je n'ai pu dominer mes nerfs.... It was very touching that she should write like that, isn't it.  It made me feel even sorrier for her, because she IS so ugly!
We had for dinner Chicken Soup; Prawn Mayonnaise and Lobster; Roast Chicken (pretending to be a Turkey) with Sausages and bacon-rolled-round-an-asparagus (which is a thing we invented, and which we called Devil's Punchback because the first time we had it G had a choke and had to have his back punched) and mast potatoes (lovely) and bread sauce and peas (nasty, tinned).

- 4 -
The Flaming Christmas Pudding was a great success, and everybody was made to eat it while it was still flaming, but nobody did except G.  There was an orange soufle too in case anyone didn't,and Xmas Pudding, but it was hardly touched.  But, tragedy of tragedies, I had forgotten to put any tickey's or sixpences in the Xmas Pudding!
The youngest Bennett child, a dreamy little creature of about seven, got awfully sleepy during dinner, so asked if he may go and lie down, so he lay down on the sofa in the sitting room and fell fast asleep, all through the noise of the Xmas Pudding and the pulling of the crackers, and stayed there all the time and had to be woken up to go home to bed!  An extraordinary performance.
The crackers had mottoes and hats and little things in them, and they all loved it, .and the children went round afterwards picking up all the stray things they could find!
So we went out to the verandah again for coffee, and just after the men had arrived a note came for Miss Lanz to say that one of her babies was just being born and one of her patients was at death's door and could she please come at once. That meant that Mr. Monte might go too, to take her down in the car, and lo and behold, up jumped Mrs. too, and Lily Hippo, and said they ought to be going, and the Lanz protested that she could walk and didn't want to break up the party, and G made a face at her so she stopped and laughed like anything!
That meant that the Bennetts couldn't very well stay on, so they started to hover near the door too, but Mr. Bennett had no intention of going, as he was feeling very merry and wanted to talk to G and have some coffee so Miss Breach went off with the children, and he and Mrs. Bennett sat themselves down and he had some coffee, and he stood the cup on the arm of his chair while he talked and gesticulated, and I was just waiting on tin-tacks for the cup to go:  But it didn't, and eventually Mrs. B. was quite firm, and we got him out of the door, still talking, and they started to walk away, and he came rushing back and said "0h, and I must just tell you something I heard the other day..." and started on a long rigmarole. So she came back ands took his arm and said "Now come along, Daddy" and they eventually pushed off (with a borrowed bottle of whiskey under his arm!   And I bet he had fun and games with it too!  A weedy little specimen. But I expect he means well.
And now I'll tell you what we did First thing in the morning before we'd opened our eyes almost. We jumped out of bed, rushed to a drawer, pulled out a Parcel, and Opened it in bed.    Mummy's Christmas Present, cleverly saved up for 

Xmas Day. Oh, Mummy, you ARE a darling - a gorgeous Paint-Box, Windsor and Newton too, and a lovely one, and those lovely brushes and pencils and the most Divine baby Sponge, which G fought for because he thought we'd better save it up to wash Robin's face with, and a great big red Bunge, and a sketch block, all complete.  By Jove I will have to make some masterpieces now to be worthy of owning such a Beautiful Paint-box. Thank you Very Much Indeed, Mummy.
Talking of presents, I sent an early morning teaset to the Montes and a plain little coffee set we had to the Breach and a flapjack thing to the Lanz and they were all  absolutely thrilled with them. To us it was a very good way of getting rid of three superfluous wedding presents!

Tuesday, 29th December, 1936. 
This is the last letter I'll write to you this year, and what an eventful year it's been, hasn't it; the African Tour, seeing Peter, King George V's death, Abyssinia becoming an Italian Colony, me going and getting Engaged and then Married, and on top of that starting to have Robin; the spanish War, and King Edward VIII pooping himself off. I can't thin of any more excitements, but it's been a very busy year, hasn't it.    SUCH an exciting, thrilling, happy marvellous year for Us.
Well, I'd better finish off the year first.  The day after Xmas was of course another holiday, so, because they had all been so splendid the night before and deserved it, we gave all the boys the whole day off.    Musonda was awfully worried, but we told him we would get our own meals and he was to go away and enjoy himself; but he's the sort of boy who would far rather see that we were comfortable and looked after than enjoy himself, so we half expected to find him cooking lunch for us!
Luckily he didn't, so after a lovely lazy Chess-Halma morning, we went and rummaged in the store and found the c chicken of last night and some Heinz Baked and some potatoes, so we went and heated up the beans and roast the potato and had the chicken cold, on its bones like at a picnic.  It was lovely being all by ourselves in our own house, able to do exactly what we liked in the kitchen without Musonda looking worried and helpful, and with the entire resources of the store, the larder, the refrigerator and the kitchen at our disposal t6 do exactly what we liked with all day! We loved it!
Another sleep-afternoon, and a lovely cold drink at 

- 5 -
four o'clock instead of tea, and another game of something or other; then G just went up to the Office to do something or other, so I went all housewife and made a Cottage Pie for dinner, which was Most successful.
Then came Sunday, another holiday, and Mail-day. We got no letter from Mum, but we didn't really expect one as I expect you'd gone off to France by then.    There was a lovely one from Dad, of December 9th; I didn't realise you were going to get the Legion Of honour - clever you and Mummy said ....And doesn't he deserve it, trailing off to France in this weather..."    You do seem to be having a horrible winter and I am glad you've got out of it now to the warmth of India.    What a pity it wasn't to N. Rhodesia.
Mummy.    Three lovely letters from you - Dec. 9th, 11th, and 14th.    No, we didn't go up to Mongu for Xmas, but we may go up for the District Commissioners. Conference in April. It takes three weeks there and three weeks back, so it is an awful hole in the work at Sesheke, so we may not go or may be allowed to fly if we pay part of the journey ourselves.
We are longing to see the photos of Abbot's Wood (oh, dearie me, I can't remember how it is spelt) and It so glad you were able to buy it although it sounds terribly expensive.
We loved your description of the Gas lecture,   having to ask the patient if he smells Geraniums or Onions before you can tell which gas he is suffering from!
We've had no sign of the Ruby Ring, but I DO hope it will be found, as it was such a beauty, and your present, and G's beloved grandmother's, and we would both be so sorry if it was really lost.  The pendant is here all right, because I took it upstairs meaning to wear it for the wedding, but didn't after all, so it was packed away in my dressing case with the other jewelry.    It is safely sitting in my Tuckbox, which is always locked and lives in a tin Trunk.
I'm so glad everybody's pleased about the new King and Queen, and she has always been so popular that they won't have any difficulty in getting themselves "in" with people, like a brand-new Queen would have if Edward had stayed.
There was also a letter from Daddy, with talk about Money so G will be writing to him soon I expect. We also got nice letters for Xmas from Aunt Bridget and Aunt Maud.
We also got Mum's book "Guide Links" which looks great fun, but I think the cover looks quite ghastly, don't you, Mum?  It looks, much as I hate to say it, just like those covers they have on "The most popular Girl at St. Chad's",

or "Peg of the Heather Patrol" or "Friends in the Fourth."
But, great excitement, one of the nicest and most longed-for things to arrive, ware the two accumulators we had sent down to be charged. Two weeks running we had written to ask why they hadn't sent them, as they had ha d them over six weeks, and at last they deigned to send them with a note saying that they understood they were To Be Called For!
So we attached one to the end of the right string, turned a Knob, and lo and behold! a Noise!  A long, continuous groan, which continued the whole way round the dial - and back again in case we'd missed anything. We tried both the other Ranges, and the same thing happened, so we left it to stew in its own juice till teatime. Then we turned it on again, and got a cinema organ! It was rather inclined to go faint and then very loud, and occasionally it squawked at us in a rude manner, but we could manage to hear the tune.
We turned it on again when we came in from our walk, between six and seven, and got - THE NEWS!! It was marvellously clear, and we heard Big Ben striking five o'clock and the announcer had a slight cold. We heard all about:
a) The Duchess of Kent and her daughter are doing well - and we didn't even know she had ever contemplated having a daughter!
b) The Embassy and English population evacuating Madrid.
c) The German ship confiscated by Spaniards.
d) That there are no German official troops in Spain, though there may be volunteers.
e) The Chinese Prime Minister being captured by Bandits with all his staff - very funny:
f) Two famous War leaders, a French and a German, who have died.
g) Jim Mollison going to do another record flight to the Cape.
h) Two plane crashes - one in Poland and the other in the South Atlantic.
i) The Japanese-Australian Trade Agreement, to take customs duties off wool and silk and calico, or at least to make them less.
We are so pleased at having it working at last, and we got some nice music last night for a bit, and we'll soon get to know where the things are to be found, though they are a bit obscure at the moment. It's going to be so marvellous when it's really going properly - you were a dear to give it to us, Heather.
That's all for now.
Lots of love everybody,
US.