18 Sep 59 Julius Fyzabad Mother Hyde Park Place (West)
Fyzabad
18 Sept. 59
My dear Mother
The mail leaves today, so I must let you have a few lines.
I received yours of 1st August in which you told me of your preparations for a Scotch trip, where I suppose by this time you have arrived & are probably comfortably domiciled in Portobello. I am glad to hear my Father is going to join the Party, as I know an occasional change does him all the good in the world.
Talking of my Father, you must thank him for his present which completes the 9 UB* shares. You do not say, but I suppose the 4 shares which I have acquired since coming to this country are the representations of my Allowance.
I see John is very full of going home & says you are anxious that he should. He has had a very short spell of India & has seen nothing but the best side of it. He is afraid he will not be able to get home in the Spring as he wished.
Arthur is all right again as far as money matters are concerned. The mare I sent him has not yet arrived. She had a very bad road from this to ‘Mirzapore’, got out of condition & had to be detained there a week to come round again. It is a good six weeks march I believe.
John tells me he has passed the 1st (Vernacular) Examination in the language. He wonders I have not. He does not seem to be aware of an Order that after ‘November’, no Officer is to hold any Appointment in the country unless he has passed No. 2, otherwise called PH (passed Hindustani) examination.*
The First is useless, the 2n d is very hard; reading, writing, speaking two languages – while the former is what anyone three months in the country can pass.
Our hounds have arrived, and in a short time we shall have some good sport. I have not been able to mount myself well since I killed my old ‘Camel’. I am not a light weight & always ride hard so in this country where horses are more like English Ponies, it is hard to get suited.
There is great talk of a Column going into Nepaul. I expect very likely Kelly will get command. The Chief (Lord Clyde) says he is the only man he has got in India who thoroughly obeys his orders. I should like to go but am afraid unless the Regiment goes, there is no chance as I have got ‘the musketry’ (as my Father calls it) to go through as soon as the cold weather begins.
Cols. Simpson & Gwilt are applying for leave to England. I wish some of the seniors would go & give us some promotion. Here is John talking of getting a Majority with about 15 months longer service than me, & I am down at the bottom of the Subs, after having been gulling* ever so long in Jungles & running after people who go ever so much faster.
Luck, like everything else; it is all luck.
We have a very fair station here for a young one. The men are all under good cover & so are we until the arrival of the Regtl. women from England, when we go out. Mrs Kelly is in great force & has arranged a scale of the eligible young men of the Regt. as (& she makes no secret of it) she intends to marry us all.
To commence, she has invited two young ladies from Bombay, her nieces – such charming girls she says – but I believe no one under a Captain need aspire them.
She told someone in perfect confidence that Mr Cochrane & Mr Laurie were very steady & she had a great opinion of them. Some day when I feel inclined for a little fun I must tell her my age.* I think, probably that might induce her to look to some other quarter for a happy man.
We have our Coffee Shop of a morning, twice a week. Our Band plays & very nicely too. A Racket court is being got up, two days of racing by the way last week – the principal race was won by a Bay mare I sold a short time ago. Parades only two or three times a week. I am out twice a day though at ‘the Musketry’.
The ladies of the Station are not very much, but still assist in passing the time & cause a little excitement, although we might be in a worse place.
It is very hot even now & we ought to be bordering on the cold weather.
I do not feel my liver yet – when I begin to, you will hear – as I shall be about starting for England.
I hope you are all well & enjoying your trip if not already brought to a conclusion.
Love to all & Helen
from yr affect Son
J D Laurie
* (passed Hindustani) Examination – It was generally recognised that officers’ increasing inability to communicate directly with the native troops had been one of the failures that contributed to the Mutiny
* gulling – Fooling around
* my age – 19¾ years at the time of writing