S.S. "Benares", Port Said, Egypt
February 18, 1920
Just what I was going to do to that porter I am not sure. The baggage turned up on a hand car, so that we got to bed about one A.M. There was a masquerade ball going on in the wretched hotel with three half drunken revellers running in and out of the next room; while the dock just below was filled with loading ships. Fine place for sleep!
I have had an important and long letter to write to President Judson and this has taken all my time. I write in a tucked up little dining saloon, as we are three in our cabin and there is no room there. I am sorry not to have been able to send you a good home letter every day or two; but the position has been simply desperate. If it could have been anticipated that I was to buy on such an astonishing scale, I would have taken out a secretary with me. It has been a killing pace, with never a minute to write a respectable letter and the unanswered correspondence growing into a huge pile. The steward wants this table and I must stop. Have just cabled you. Will write to mail also from the other end of the canal.
Worlds of love to all my dear ones,
More soon,
Your loving husband.