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17 Feb 58 John Mauritius Frankie ______________________________________________________________________________________________
Port Louis, Mauritius
Freby 17th 1858
My dear Frankie *
Do you know where I am – could you find the place on the map. I doubt if you could. It is a long way off and took me ten weeks to come here. Ten weeks seems a long time when you are at school and looking forward to the holidays, but ten weeks never appeared so long to me as they did on board our ship
So you tell me you were very gay going out to dances every night when you were at home for the Christmas holidays. What lucky boys. I wish I could get a chance of going out among white people, but just before Christmas I was at a party on a sugar plantation here and danced all through the evening with black women. You have seen pictures of negresses with curly hair and thick lips; those were the sort of people to dance with by way of a change. But they wanted to be white, and so had powdered their faces with flour. When they danced a polka or a waltz all the flour came off on the front of my dress coat and it was turned quite white – just like a baker’s.
I have got such a nice horse – a black one – and he is called Black Prince. You have heard of Edward the Black Prince have you not, and of all the battles he won when he was still quite young.
I have heard nothing about Peter or Julius by this mail but suppose that they are all right. Mind you write often to me and tell me all you are doing and what you are learning. I only get letters twelve times in a year from England. That is not very often, is it?
Good bye dear Frankie, my best love to you.
Believe me ever,
Your affectionate Brother
J Wimburn Laurie
Captn 4th KO Regt
* Frankie was his younger brother, then seven years old