Abbot McClure to Maud (Kilbourn) Thorndike, wife of his cousin Abbot Thorndike, 28 January 1923

[From Abbot McClure in Rome, Italy, to Maud (Kilbourn) Thorndike, wife of his cousin Abbot Thorndike. He responds to an apparent request from Maud about Bermuda, where she plans to go, saying that he was there for two months in the summer and it was very hot; thanks her for a Christmas check; and says he spent Christmas with friends in Florence, and plans to go to Nice in February to visit some English friends for a month.

At the bottom of the last page of this letter is a printed sticker saying "Care of Banca Nazionale di Credito, 20, Piazza di Spagna Branch (formerly Sebasti & Co.), Rome." The word "Branch" and the phrase "(formerly Sebasti & Co.)" have been crossed out.]

Rome, January 28th [1923]

Dear Maud,

Let us hope this reaches you some time some where. Hotel Princess is the only address I have, and they will send it to where ever you are I hope. Bermuda at this season I do not know, as I spent two months there during the summer, and had it not been for my daily swims at the beautiful bathing beach the days would have been impossible. I well remember the terrible white hot glare of the roads and houses, and everything had wings and flew but the cows. I suppose I enjoyed it, but it was a mistake to go in summer. Now it must be heavenly, and will do you the good you hope to derive from a mild climate.

I wonder just where all your letters are that you say you wrote me. The mails these days seem to be as bad as during the war, perhaps not quite, but seems to me nearly so. I feel pretty sure could I search the general office here I should find quite a large bundle addressed to me.

The Christmas cheque arrived safely and I wrote Abbot1 at once thanking him. Let me thank you now. I spent a most enjoyable Christmas with friends in Florence, and returned to Rome in time to celebrate the New Year.

Now I am getting ready for another dash away, this time to Nice to be with some English friends for a month in a charming villa right on the sea. Carnival will be in full swing, and on the 8th is the famous Battle of Flowers.2 It really officially begins on the first, so I shall miss several days of the fiesta as I am leaving on the 5th.

Rome for the past two weeks has been bathed in the most wonderful warm sunshine, and the sky bluer than I have ever seen it.

How long shall you be in Bermuda, and will Abbot join you later on. Seems to me Will3 wrote that him [the word "him" is inside a rectangle] and Mary4 thought some of joining you there also. "Him" sounds terribly strange, and needs a fence around it to keep it in its proper place. I do wish one of these days you would come this way. It would cost you a little more, but not as much when you once arrived and got put. When I think of what it would cost me in Philadelphia to live as I live here, it makes me feel I shall never return, only long enough for a visit.

I hope this reaches you safely and that you will send me a line from your Bermuda Isles.

With much love,

Affectionately,

Abbot

  1. Abbot Thorndike (1866-1935), Abbot McClure's cousin, Maud's husband
  2. The two-week-long Nice Carnival is held each year in February, concluding on the last day of Mardi Gras, and includes a floral parade known as the Battle of Flowers. See Nice Carnival.
  3. William Thorndike (1870-1935), Abbot McClure's cousin
  4. Mary Benson Kilbourn (1867-1945), Maud's sister, William Thorndike's wife