Mollie, old thing!
Just a short letter this week, examinations are looming, and I've got to get back to revision. Today is anatomy, so essentially:
Toe bone connected to the foot bone
Foot bone connected to the heel bone
Heel bone connected to the ankle bone
Ankle bone connected to the shin bone
Shin bone connected to the knee bone
Knee bone connected to the hip bone
Hip bone connected to the back bone
Back bone connected to the shoulder bone
Shoulder bone connected to the neck bone
Neck bone connected to the skull bone
It's far more complex than the words suggest of course, but it's a good mnemonic for when I need it.
I wanted to congratulate you on going on holidays to a foreign land and coming home with a job!
And teaching maths of all things – I remember the troubles you had running the hens as a kid and now you're teaching impressionable young things yourself. My mind boggles at the thought!
Do write back soon and tell me all about it. I need some amusing things to cheer me up through the late nights and early mornings reviewing anatomy and diseases that seem to be my lot at the moment. Your trials and tribulations of teaching would be just the ticket.
Your brother, Jack.
XXX
Dear Mollie,
It sounds like you're having a topping time in Austria. I still can't believe you're a teacher. Tell me more about the other staff, Miss Bettany & Mademoiselle Le Pattre. That is her name, isn't it? It's a bit hard to read your chicken scratchings at times. And none of your cheek about my fist being no easier to read either, I have excellent handwriting for a future doctor I'll have you know.
Tell me about the students and lessons too. Are you having troubles with teaching the foreigners? Seeing as you have no language in common, I would think it would be hard to explain yourself to them. What do you do with your free time? Plenty of walks around the lake and up the mountains if I know you. Boating on the lake too, or have you forgotten how to handle a boat now that I'm not there to bully you into it?
Now I think about it a bit more, do you actually have any free time? Or are you on call all the time, regardless of whether you are supposed to be teaching or supervising the students' free time? I would think that you would be glad to get away from them at times.
Speaking of boating, have you heard from Bob recently? He sent me a very mysterious letter the other week and I can't make head nor tail of his hints. It's something to do with an acquaintance and the acquaintance's sister, a boat race and capsizing the boat. It was very strange and not at all Bob-like really. The acquaintance was Ralph, and the sister was Lydia, if the names jog a memory at all.
Will you be going home to Pretty Maids this summer? If you are, will you be inviting anyone to stay for a length of time? It's just that a friend of mine is homeless this summer, and I was thinking that I'd invite him home. Bob's invited a few friends, and with the aunts already in residence, there may not be enough room for us all. I don't mind camping out in the orchard, but I can't expect Andrew to do the same. Let me know by return so I can let him know.
Your brother, Jack
XXX
Dear Sir,
I am writing to apply for the position recently advertised in The Times for a junior resident at the Sanatorium located at the Sonnalpe.
I have recently completed the final year of my degree and am looking for the best possible start for a successful medical career.
The work being done in studying and researching the scourge of tuberculosis interests me greatly and I believe it is vitally important work, and I would be proud to contribute to this work.
In support of my application I have attached a resume providing a summary of my relevant experience.
Referees and results are available upon request.
It would be my absolute pleasure to work at the Sanatorium, and I believe I have the potential to be a valuable member of your staff. I look forward to discussing my application further at interview.
Yours faithfully
John Maynard
XXX
Dear Dr Russell,
Thank you for the opportunity of meeting with me to discuss the role at your Sanatorium. I'm delighted to accept the position, and I look forward to commencing in a month's time, as per enclosed paperwork.
snip – Confirmation of details of travel arrangements and other related matters
As I mentioned in our meeting, my twin sister, Mollie, is a teacher at the Chalet School and it will be wonderful to be able to see her more often, both our work permitting of course.
Yours sincerely,
John Maynard
XXX
Dear Mollie,
I got the position that you told me about, I would never have thought to look in the International Positions section if you hadn't been writing long and enthusiastic letters about how wonderful Austria is and that I should think of looking for places out of England to start my career in.
I start in just over three weeks now, and it's going to be such an interesting place to work in, I think. Dr Russell has some very interesting and potentially revolutionary ideas about the treatment of TB and other diseases. There are things that he talked about before offering me the position that I don't think have entered the heads of the doctors here in the London hospitals, and it's here that they need to focus on. I lost count of the numbers of children and families I saw living in conditions we would have been ashamed to keep the pigs in.
Enough of those thoughts for the moment, it will be better to focus on what I can actually achieve working at the Sanatorium over the next few years. With any luck it will give me a really great grounding in TB research and I can come home to England and apply what I've learnt to the problems here.
I'm not sure exactly when I'll be able to meet with you once I arrive. I will be busy learning the ropes the first few weeks and I'm sure you will also be busy with your young charges too.
Your brother, the doctor (it feels funny writing that down, I wonder how long it will take to get used to).