1 The Cottage Sund. Oct-15-1916 My dearest Sophy, This is a day of quiet so I
must take advantage of it to write
to you. I am afraid that you
will feel the sudden change to
cold that we had last night. Albert is I think, better, he
has more intervals of comfort
but cannot get to bed before
about 2 o'clock. Last night at that
hour he had a wretchedly bad
attack & was induced to inhale
an ' arugl' capsule which he likes
to keep as a refuge when he is
really bad. It relieved him won—
derfully & he had the best
night he has had for some
weeks. a 'delightful sleep'. We
had a long letter from Charlie
yesterday as far as we can make
out he had one nights sleep in
a weeks. Then he was tramping 2
2.
all day & dead tired & sleepy
at 9 so he went to bed, there
was call up at 10. to waken
night duty at the battery every
time he sat down he felt he
was dropping off to sleep so
walked about till 9 o'clock the
next morning ( I forgot to say that
the day before he did the
30 miles tramp through trenches
half had no supper the evening
before & no breakfast that
morning!) Then the Captain
came up & while C. was waiting
to be relieved he was talking
to him when suddenly every —
thing went round. & the next
thing he knew he was on
a stretcher he has no idea
how he fainted, They
took him off for a long way
in a Med X van to hospital 3
3.
he was so dead tired he
slept all the way & is very
indignant with the Capt for
sending him to hospital but
I think it was the one sensible
thing in the whole show
it really is irrational to use
up men in such a way — On one day I was left in
charge of a live battery
( he had never seen the guns
before) & orders came to fire
on an enemy tramway
but after 5 rounds the mist
came down so that the ob—
server could not see & they had
to stop to C's great sorrow
They seem to have been
moved backwards & for—
wards in the apparently 4
4
aimless way that they are
walked about & as C expresses
it they 'scavenged' 3 positions
for their battery & were
not allowed to occupy any
of them. I am sure the
work was very arduous
& the whole thing an en—
acting experience to the
boy which no doubt added to
the complete exhaustion
helped to finish him, he
wrote from hospital. up
& dressed on the 9 th the day
after he was brought there
& was very comfortable
& they were going to have
a concert that evening
& he said he was 'right
as rain ' & hoped to be sent 5
5
back next day he was only
concerned at being taken a—
way from his battery. He
has been laying his telephone
lines. He says their present
position is quite a good one
& they have billets in the one
house left standing & there
is a grand work = sleep, they
are making a splendid 'ob—
servation park' & he hopes they
may be left there to use it
but it is doubtful whether
they will not be moved on
I know you like to hear
of him, so have sent you
all the particulars. poor
miss Baird is weather bound
here by these awful gales
She is dangerously seasick
& it is sad if she is to lose the 6
6
good of her holiday by a bad
crossing we have quite lost
our hearts to her. I think she
is really happy at finding her—
self in a home once more
She has been over here for five
years away from her family
& is often homesick — There
was a wire from May this
morning to say that Jack
had arrived yesterday, & they
might perhaps read this
tomorrow afternoon. Will
you dear S. send this on to
Corris as it takes a long time
to give Charlie's news & it will
save me writing it out again
We are much looking forward
to having Jack & May with
us for a bit. The wind has been
so wild that the trees are nearly
leafless before they have turned Following is from the first page ever your very
loving Alice K. Wynne