Dr. Elsie Inglis / by Lady Frances Balfour.

  • Balfour, Frances, Lady, 1858-1931.
Date:
[1918]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Dr. Elsie Inglis / by Lady Frances Balfour. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    from Archangel; with all the lines blocked with military trains, that is not bad. All the same we have had some struggles, but it has been a very comfortable journey and very pleasant. The Russian officials all along the line have been most helpful and kind. A Serbian officer on board, or rather a Montenegrin, looked after us like a father. ‘ What we should have done without M. and Mme. Malinina at Moscow, I don’t know. They gave the whole afternoon up to us : took us to the Kremlin— he, the whole unit on special tramcars, and she, three of us in her motor. They are both very busy people. She has a beautiful hospital, a clearing one at the station, and he is a member of the Duma, and Com¬ mandant of all the Red Cross work in Moscow. We only had a glimpse of the Kremlin, yet enough to make one want to see more. I carried away one beauti¬ ful picture to remember—the view of Moscow in the sunset light, simply gorgeous. ‘ The unit are very very well, and exceedingly cheerful. I am not sorry to have had these three weeks since we left to get the unit in hand. They are in splendid order now. When M. Malinina said it was time to leave the Kremlin, and the order was given to “Fall in,” I was quite proud of them, they did it so quickly. It is wonderful even now what they manage to do. Miss H. says they are like eels in a basket. They were told not to eat fmit without peeling it, so one of them peeled an apple with her teeth. They were told not to drink unboiled water, so they handed their water-