Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliot to his family, November 1918 - February 1919 - Part 4

he said it was not because

he feared death that he had

written them as it might seem

to me who ^might read them but only

that he didn't want to leave her 

alone. His son had been killed in the

war before that. So there were

sad old times 400 years ago

just like there are now & having 

sweet old ladies like my Katie

to cheer & comfort their old men.

There is not a bit of news to

tell you. I believe we are to 

go to Germany some time or

other to relieve the Troops

who are there now but it

will be after Xmas some time.

Bye my dear old lady. With

heaps of love & tishes for you &

the wee pets from your Very

own Dida Don.

Dourlers

France

15/12/18

My dearest Katie,

I got just a bundle of

letters from you & one from Busby. Your

first one is dated 6^th Oct. You had

just heard from Mrs Layh that her

old man had cabled from Alexandria

that he was coming home. By now he will

be well & truly at home again & very

happy no doubt with his lady. In it ^you told me the
dear wee laddie said you were the best
mummy ever he had. The wee
lad is learning things. Soon he will
know that he has the best mummy in
all the world - thats what Poor old
Bob Smith. I hope he^will soon gets
better. It will be rotten bad luck for him
I have a letter from Johnny Avery &
Violet by the same mail. I will
enclose Violet. The both say
mother is well. It was very sad
about poor old Mrs Avery dying 

for sorting Lyn. And a queer 

old world isn't it Katie & its
dashed little use trying to
get any good at all out
of it. I see that letter also
you mention that Mrs Roberts

had asked you to go & see her but
your later letters dont say whether
you went or not. I am rather
surprised at her asking you to
do so. I have not heard for a long
time from Ruddick or [[Jim?]] In
[[Re?]], & I am in complete ignorance
as to how the business stands at
present. Not that it would help
much if I did know. In one of your the same
later letters you mention having
enclosed several cheques for
Moulie from the Trustees.
You must be very careful
about such things Katie
& be sure you understand them.
It is quite impossible that
Begg is banking them for me &
he should not do so even if it
were possible. You will find
that they are for costs & they
seem to be piling up against
us. It is rather a habit of Moulie
as I found when there to render
costs to Trustees. The Trustees
don't care a bit whether the
costs are a fair thing or not
they just pay them as they come
along. Whereas if the costs were
rendered to the client he might

question some & ask.
that they be reduc Old Kiddle
was always do that. If they
send any more j trot along with
it to Mr Lowe ask him can
he explain th tuation t &
to tell Begg ould prefer it all
the costs are dered by paid
by you & I don't wa the Trustees
charge af ached at a nd because
the Tu is will c it all
up a st me & u ill probably
han pay dow the amount
to y they re to be doing it.
Moules woul t perhaps like
hange you uch direct the
hey know th ustees Coy will not
raise any tion show by the
Bill is oesn't come out
of their p ket bout out of mine
In all money matters you
must to understand them
some day. The next letter is a wee
[[?]] dated 13^th Oct. In it you
mention about Lyn treating my wound
'as' a joke. Fortunately (or unfortunately)
for me however the man aimed just a tiny
bit to the left otherwise the Bullet

would have gone straight into the
groin & I'd have got a neat little
wooden cross with others of the boys
over here for ever in place of the other
little one I wear. Such subjects are not
for idle jests as I shall tell her if her
letter comes along. I am glad you
gave Lieut Gillies letter to poor old Hugo
You always do the right thing darling
In a former letter I told you I
think about Bob. Marshall. I shall
always admire him for the fact that
he never disclosed who he was to
me until I had picked him out
as a fine boy & given him an
Commission. Then he was wounded
He wrote & told me who he was.
He has not been back to us yet.
but I expect he will be and soon.
I liked the Photos of the wee
people - Sagy ^[[?]] will soon not be a
"wee" lady any more. It is sad
that I have seen so little of the
dear wee girl pet in her babyhood.
I had a letter from Mr Bull who said
he had seen you & them. He said the
laddie "was very well behaved which
is a great deal these time." He
said [[?]] had a quaint way
of speaking always looking you straight
in the face - 'specs the poor wee pet talks

Irish like Baaby or something.
I do wish I would see them for a bit
Katie love. The next letter is the 20th
Oct. telling about the false alarm about
Peace & also about the poor wee laddie
being pushed over on his head by some
other boy. What a [[??]] that boy
was & what a blessing the wee chap
was not worse hurt damaged than he was
but it must have hurt him
dreadfully at the time. I did fee
sorry for the poor little chap.