Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his family, March 1919 - May 1919 - Part 4

Charleroi
Belgium
19/4/19
My darling Dear Dhusach
I have received quite
a long letter from you with quite a
lot of news in it. I was pleased to hear
from Mum that you are getting on well
with your music & that you will be able
to play hymns for Dida when he
comes home. That will be lovely. It
is still cold here darling especially
at night but the Spring it coming.
Yesterday it was very bright & sunny
Soon all my boys. Soldiers will be
sent to England & then I will be able
to come home to my darlings again
When you have learned a little more
Music you must try & teach the
Laddie a bit. Tell him I would
like him to learn to play a little
A few weeks back I had a lovely motor
car ride along a lovely big river called
the Meuze near here. All the trees had
lost their leaves but I could see
it would be just lovely when their leaves
were on. It was in the Towns along this
beautiful river that the Germans
were so cruel & in many places we
saw notices up telling that at those
places the Germans had shot so many
men women & children about 600 altogether
I sent a little book about it to
Mum.
This town of Charleroi is not very
nice there are hundreds of coal mines
all about & this makes it very dirty 
 

looking. It was only a small village not
so long ago & it was not until the mines
were worked that it grew up. So there are
no old buildings or churches to see
about it. The people are very nice. In this
house there are two dear little children
One is a wee girls like you Her name is
"Marieanna” Jinsen. She is nine years old
but is very thin & her face is just as white
as wax with big dark eyes. All through
the war they had little to eat so that has
made her so delicate looking. Her brother
is seven years old too like the laddie. He
is so thin & pale though. I can pick
him up in one hand. & I think he
cannot be strong at all. They are good little
things & play about in the home so quietly
that I never notice them when I am working.
The wee laddie likes me to take him up
& play with him. The little lady is a
very important little person & helps her
mummy quite a lot. The mother & father are
very nice. M Jinsen is a lawyer a barrister &
their house is nicely furnished. The little ones
dont go to School but a governess lady comes
& gives them lessons every morning. They
were a’stonished when I showed them the photos
of my pets to see how much bigger & stronger
mine were than theirs but I don't expect
they will give me one of them to take home
to you all the same. They don't talk a bit
of English except the laddie who says
"Good Morning" to me. Goodbye my darling
pet  God bless & Keep you safe for dida.
Give dear Mum & love & tish from Dida 
 

Charleroi
Belgium
19/4/19
My dear little Laddikin Laddie
I received your
little letter all right. It must
be very nice having dear little mummy
for a school teacher. I would like her for
a teacher too. Isn't she a darling little
mum. I am sure you are very good &
obedient to her always & try to work hard
& learn a lot from her. I hope the old
flue goes away quickly though
without any of my darlings catching
it. I got one cable from mum to tell
me you were all right but I see that
by the papers it is still very bad in
Melbourne these days. I shall be glad
when I am home with you again. There
is a little laddy laddie in this house
called Georges Jinsen. He is seven years
old but very pale & thin. He is so light that
I can throw him up in the air as easily as
I could you when you were such a tiny wee
laddikin before I left. He likes me to
play with him & he has learned to say
"good morning" to me in English but that
is all he will say in English. He chatters
away in French though. All the Belgians
about here used to be French & only
separated from France after the Battle of
Waterloo so they speak the Same
language as the French but pronounce
it a little differently like our Baaby
does her English sometimes. My dear wee
laddie I send you such a big big love &
tish. Look after dear little mum for me &
Keep her safe for Dida 
 

France
19/4/19
My dear little laddie,
Mum has been telling
me about the trip you and she had
up to Croydon & what a lovely time
you had there & ^about the calves & cows
& all the ^other things you saw. Some day
you must ask Uncle Rory if he will
take you up on his farm. It is lots
bigger than the Croydon one & he has
such a lot of horses & lovely little
foals & such a lot of white chookies
all over the paddocks & lots & lots of
sheep & wee lambs & more cows &
calves too but not nany. & a great big
river near & perhaps if you are
very good he will take you to the river
& teach you how to catch a fise
lovely fish for your dinner. & when
you are bigger he will show you how
to ride a horse & if you tippley
topply off at first you mustn't mind
or be afraid - cause Dida & Rory
& Geordie tipple topplied off lots of
times when they were wee people but
they tried not to cry but clambered
up again for more.
And some day you must ask Mum
to take you up to Ballarat & show 
 

you the lake & the lovely gardens &
statues there & if you are very good
Mum will take you to see the House
that Dida & Uncle Geordie & Rory &
Ickie Auntie lived in when they
were little & Grandma who was
their mum & Grandfather who has gone
to Heaven was there with them as their
Dida. - Perhaps Grandma will show
you his photo when he was old - but
once he was a big strong man bigger &
stronger than your Dida. And if you
are very very good mum will take
you & show you Ballarat College where
Dida & Rory & Geordie went to school
& where ^they put Geordie & Dida's name on
a Board to show that they were
the top of all the boys in the School
when they were there.
Laddie - Dida was so delighted when
Mum told me him Dhusach was ^again top of
her class. I Know she is older than
you & you are only a weee laddie still -
But just as soon as you can dear
laddie I want you to try hard to get
to the top of your class too like Geordie
& Dida & Dhusach. It will just delight
Dida if you do - If you try your 
 

Very hardest dear laddie & some one
is better than you still then it wont
matter Dida wil be just as pleased
as if you won, but Mun thinks you
are not very keen on learning lessons &
don't try your Very hardesto - That is
sad for Dida to Know because if Dida
is Killed the Laddie boy will have to
work for Mum & Dear & Dhusach when
they he is grown up & he won't be able
to work for them nearly as well unless
he learns all the wonderful things that
there is to learn in the world & that
your teachers will teach you about
if you try hard. Perhaps you are
too wee a laddie yet to understand, dear
darling laddie, but if mum reads this
letter to you again after you are another
year at School you may understand
why Dida wants you to get educated
Mum Knows - and perhaps she can tell
you. Even if you become a farmer it
will be so much better & help you if
you Know all the lots & lots of things
you can learn at school. So I want
my dear laddie boy to be Keen on his
lessons & to say to himself – I am an
Elliott – & they never admit they are 
 

beaten but just Keep fighting on & I
must always do the same. Always
tell mum everything you do even if
it was naughty - laddie boy - Mum
may be a bit offended at the time but
she will forgive you quickly - but she
would be so sad if she found you
did naughty things & were ashamed
to tell her – that would be being a coward
& Mum wants her laddie to be be a brave
man. Dear wee Laddie you can be the greatest
Comfort to Mum & Dear & Dida – you must
try to be glad that God sent you to be our
own Dear laddie to comfort & help us
We would be very sad now if we had
no laddie - no one to be an Elliott after
us & fight for us if another old
Kaiser came along - when we are
old & wanted to burn our houses &
to Kill us - but we have a dear
wee laddie & we don't really mind
if sometimes he can't help being a
naughty young rogue full of mischief
so long as he is brave & truthful.
Mum has told me about a little
Pirani Boy giving you his Tricycle -
Wasn't he a good boy to give you that
You must thank people so much when 
 

they do nice things like that for
you. There are such a lot of people
who will do nasty mean & Kaiser
Billish things to you but only a few
who will do nice Kind generous
things for you - So dear laddie
you must always thank them
very nicely for their goodness to you
& try to do something for them
in return - Some day you may find
out that little Pirani boy wants
something very much & you must
remember always how he pleased you
once & take such a lot of pains to
get him what he wants in return
Now this is a big long grown up
letter to write to a wee man like
you. But I love you such a lot my
own dear wee laddie that I haven't
seen ^for so long I cannot be near you to advise
you like other Dida's are so I must
write. I'd love to get a wee letter from
you with Mum's whenever you have
time dear laddie boy.
Heaps of Kisses & loves from
your very own Dida.
Are you being very good & loving to dear
old Nana & Grandma & dear wee Jacquelyn ? 
 

4
30^th April 1919
My dearest Katie love.
I am now over
here having arrived
yesterday & am now
awaiting instructions
from Head Quarters
as to when I am to
get a ship to go home.
I have just arranged
to have shipped to you
another box with some
shell cases & bayonets in it
for you also a leather
box with my ^Top High Hat
in it. It is only a nuisance
to me over here.
Just before I left France
I receved another mail
from you - three letters
in all - all older
PTO 
 

[* DRL 3297 3^rd S. *]
than the ones that I got
by the previous mail. Oh
Katie you will understand
about the papers & the pipes.
They belong to Uncle Jim.
I took the boxes of cuurios
out to his place & gave
him some of the shells.
Then after showing him
the others we repacked
them & got them into two
cases. He put the two &
the empty case in his garage.
Later on I sent Capt Haddow
over with a new lot in a box.
When the time came for him Uncle.
to go to Jamaica he had the
two cases moved to his office but
put a number of papers of his
own into the empty box
& sent it also to his office
Later when the boxes were
handed over to the A.I.F. this
box of papers was included.
It contained his will &
marriage certificate etc
etc & you must have it
sent back as soon as
possible. I am so sorry