Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his family, November 1916 - December 1916 - Part 6

I am sorry I can give you no

particulars of Ronald Welsh. If 

Lil or her Mother or his people

wrote to the C.O. of whatever

Regiment he was attached to I

am sure he would reply fully

to then. Isn't little xxx ^Dhunach a dear

little [[xxx?]] to try to write & to play

& do all she can to learn. Tell her

that Dida thinks she is just the best

little girl in all the world for trying

so hard to learn [[?]] she gives at

school if she does better that all

the other wee girls Dida will be so

proud of her. You just needn't 

worry because the [[?]] [[?]] aren't 

like you any more. They don't

appear to be growing like you

& that what crack after all

dear old sunshine [[?]]

lady. Please give my love to

Andy Young. I am sorry he lost

his wee girlie. Poor Mrs Morrow

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was always nice ^very gentle lady. When

I saw Kathleen last she was just

a Dhusnet girl & promised to be

rather pretty & very like poor old

Andrew. Give my love to poor old

Nan. I hope she is a better now & will

be all right in the summer time which

will be very near to you now. I will

save enough to have my really &

truly this time darling to send 

this lovey off to you & my boy a beeny

being left for a long time camping.

I do hope the taffeta silks & scarf 

turn out to your liking & get to you

just about Xmas that would

be just lovely. Hope the old submarines

dont sink our mail. I hear a lot

of the letters from home went down

in the "Arabia". How funny that Mrs

Hick should have thought about

the little book he gave me & only

about a month ago I lose the sight

of it when I was so down in the 

dumps about the conscription

results. Now I will just open up

todays lesson & see what it

has to say. Oh isn't that funny.

In the 2nd paragraph it speaks of

annointing with oil. That is what

we have to do only the feet not the

head & in the same para it says

"The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost

shall teach you all things & bring all

things to you remembrances". I do

hope I am shewn a way to help

the poor boys & save them the

dreadful agony they have to suffer

I am so glad that Nana finds the

shawl useful. Tell her I am

wearing both pairs of her speckly

socks & they are far the warmest

I have & even then my feet get

chilly. You needn't feel out rather

cold dear old Mum. If the Bairnies

are not like you they & I will just

fold you up in my heart & keep you

good & warm there. Gen Walker had 

not to go through the trenches seeing

to the job I got him. If he had he

would have died for sure. I will

try & keep him out if it until

he is stronger. I saw in the Essendon

paper that Sergt Morrell whose

mother & sister you mentioned in

your letter to me a while back

had been killed at Pozieres. I am

longing to know if see you in your

white silk dearie pet. But more

so in the little blue . Euthynol

toothpaste is a pain here. Even

in the dugout it gets frozen quite

hard & when you press on it it

squeezes out the tube busts &

spreads all over the place. So 

dont send any more until

February at least. Thank you

very very much darling pet

for all the trouble you are

taking about the Depot.I had a

short note from xxx^Flory telling me

about the Hampers. I will

see that some one gets them all

right. I will write & tell her

ted I tell you I was nearly captured

by the Germans the other night. I

wanted to visit the front line &

get a guide to take me there. He

got lost & took me all over the 

place. Our line is only shell

holes held by posts of 8 or 10 men

& not a continuous line. After

a bit of anxious & thought we

we were getting mighty near the German

lines, so I stopped & asked here

if he knew for sure where he

wads. He seemed very doubtful

but said if we kept over to the

left about 200 yards we would be

sure to strike our line. It was

pretty dark. I said "now look

here, I think we are out of our lines

"I will stop here & you can go

"on & when you think our men

"are & then come back to me".

So off he went. I waited for an

hour, & as he did not come

back, I made a bee line for home

& got there very wet & muddy about

1am next morning. The next I

heard of my guide he was in

hospital at [[xxx?]] a bit of his foot

shoulder & rm damaged. It

appears that just as I thought

he had headed right into the

Germans. They were surprised

but threw bombs at him. He ran

away but slipped & fell into a

shell hole. A regular shower

of bombs fell around him but

the Germans didn't follow him

& he was able to get back to our lines.

Katie what a xxxx ^poor guide he was to

go & get lost like that. But the

country is basically puzzling in the

dark owing to the dozens of trenches

which get in your way. Often you

cannot cross them when you reach

them and you go along & find a

crossing & before you know where you

are they have bent round & when you

do cross them it is so dark & you

cannot face anything that will

make you to pack up your original

zone of march. Well dearie

Densher is waiting so I must

go.