Cecil Mills Collection - Wallet 1 - Part 11 of 12

6
& the camel men stood on one side. Then the
photo chap informed us Photos were 10 Piastres
each & how many did we want. We all took 2
each & had to pay cash on the nail & chance
them coming. (They have since turned up & I
think you will agree that they are very good.)
Then the youngsters wanted their backsheesh for
being in the photo. It appears that it is the
steady job of these youngsters to be there for this
purpose. This cost 1/2  Piastre. All the way up we
were pestered by hordes of natives trying to sell us
old roman coins about a million years old for about
5 Piastres each, we managed to drive these off
with the assistance of the Camel drivers. They were
eager to drive them off, for as soon as we dismounted
after the photo joke, they came at it themselves. It was
one of their own side lines. We then went down into
The Kings & Queens tombs & had a look round, the
pirate ringing in all the old gags about the top of the
tomb being 16 feet long & made of alabaster. Of course there
was a charge to go in, an old patriarch standing
at the grills collected 5 Piastres each. Then to have the
tombs lit up with a low class magnesian wire cost
another 5 Piastres, as soon as we finished with the
tombs we came across an old pirate sitting on his
haunches, with a weird circle with all sorts of points
branching out made in the sand with his finger.
This was the Official fortune teller, cost 5 Piastres each.
We each had to pick our own point out from the circle

The Young Men's Christian Association
OF TASMANIA, ON ACTIVE SERVCE WITH
The Australian imperial Forces

Y.M.C.A.

E.G. CLIFFIN
FIELD SERVICE SECRETARY

7/
& then he started all the business counting round all
these spikes & making various deviations out into the
sand & back into the circle. After each of these
performances which were accompanied with a lot of
gibberish, he would tell us what he had found out.
It was all rather humorous. None of us are going
to be killed. But we are not all going back together,
some of us are going back different ways from the
way we came. I've always got a smiling face.
Always merry & Bright &c.  One thing he told me
was a bit weird. He said, that after joining the
Army, I had left my own home & gone to live with
a very old friend, previous to coming away. That
was pretty right, as we certainly did go to live with
the [[?]]. After we got away from this Chap, or
rather while the performance was going on, a young
chap came along, with small pieces of Alabaster & Roman
Coins made in Birmingham. Fortunately the price of these
valuable articles was not excessive, Only 2 Piastres, but it
was the correct thing to do, to buy these mementoes in the
Tomb of the Kings & Queens from the Son of the Sheik. This
young Pirate according to Oscar Asche, was she son of the
Sheik.  Well the long & short of it all was, that we did not
see a great deal of the Pyramids at close quarters. One does
not want to go closely. They are marvellous enough without

8/
that.  Of course I cannot attempt to describe them.
They certainly give one a solemn feeling, seeing these
relics of ages long past standing out alone in the Desert.
We got back into Cairo about 1.30 & went to St James
for lunch. Then the trouble started & I got a bit of my
own back. I had been doing all the paying for the mob.
First of all the Motor Johnnie wanted another 20 Piastres
I coldly refused to even consider the question & told him to
Buzz off. He did not seem inclined to go, & muttered a bit
to himself, but an upward movement of my stick seemed
to decide him. Then it was the guides turn. [[?]]
to detail all his shortcomings from the beginning & how
all his promises had been either broken or only partially
carried out & gave him his P.T. 25 with great reluctance
The other chaps were all gathered on the steps of the restaurant
enjoying the joke. The climax was reached when the guide
put the acid on me for an extra P.T. 5 for the hire of his
donkey from where we got out of the Car & took the Camels.
After I regained my breath I told him off in great style.
The most scathing thing I could think of, was that he was
not even the fringe on a guides bootlace, that I never wanted
to see his ugly face again & that if he did not fade inside
2 seconds I would resort to the power of my boot so shift him.
He faded quickly, but he certainly had a profitable morning.
He probably got 1/2 of the money we paid to the pirates he 
introduced us to.
20/12/15
Got interrupted & now have to go to Lecture. Will write again
as soon as possible.
Your loving Husband
Cecil 

No 10  On Active Service Abroad

Mrs C.B. Mills
C/. Dr A Burne
Kinellan
Dalley St
Waverley     NSWales
Australia

SCHOOL OF INSTRUCTION
C P MILLS

Training School, Zeitoun
21:12:15 

Dear Old Girl
Had to finish off my last letter
in a very hurried manner, before going on Parade on Monday
morning, as there was the off chance of it catching a
mail. Well [[?]] your Cable reached me last Sunday
morning & I was glad to get it to know you & Johnnie are
quite OK & that you will be over at Kinellan by Christmas.
By jove it is wonderful to think that Christmas Day is
only 4 days away. Time flies in a most mysterious
fashion here. Never time to do anything outside ones
job, & perhaps it is just as well. The telegram you sent me
to Freemantle arrived today & considering the Authorities
would have to dig up what Units came on the Ulysses & then
find out which Unit I was in, I dont think it is so bad
on behalf of the Postal People. I think its quite likely
that the letter by the Dimboola will arrive in due course.
The results of last Saturdays examinations are out. I got
84 out of 100 & I'm quite satisfied. That was for the written
examination on all the work we had had during the first
week. I only got 75 for the Oral examination on Musketry.
I'm about in the middle of the bunch so far & I hope I can
keep it up. Think Ill do well in the Practical Exams when
they come on next week. Last Sunday afternoon I went
out to the Citadel. That is the old fortress that Napoleon
took & from where he smashed up the mosque. There is still

an old cannon bullet ball in one of the Walls.
There are lots of mosques about there, one very
beautiful one, The Mahomed Aly Mosque, built by some
old Jackeroo. It is a glorious bit of Architecture, with
the most glorious windows of stained glass. There are
600 lamps in it, now all electric lights, but once they
were candles. Some of the crystal chandeliers are
very beautiful & it would be fine to see the place lit up.
The chap that built it was a most celebrated architect. He
built 2 the same design, one previous to this in
Constantinople. The playful old Sultan who was boss
cocky here in those days was so pleased with the mosque
on completion, that he had both hands of the Architect
cut off, so that he could not build another. of Nice way
of expressing his appreciation. There is no doubt about
it they were some Builders in those old days.
Have had no time to write to anyone else lately, so
you might let then know you've heard regularly & that I'm
quite A 1. There is a very hopeful view of things taken
here by the Imperial men at this School. They are all
light duty men, unfit for further active service. All from the
first British Expeditionary Force, were in the retreat from
Mons &c. Some of the tales they tell makes one realise how
close we were to being wiped out. Last October 12 months
there were only the men in the trenches between the Germans
& Calais. Absolutely no Reserves at all. The cooks used to be
in the fighting line at times. They reckon if the Germans
with their picked troops could not break through then, its
God help their chances now. Everything is all ready for the
big sweep next Spring, so at the very latest you can write
down next June as the end of it all & its going to be the
ending we all want. No more now old Darling. Give the boy
a big hug.  Love to all at Kinellan & such a lot for yourself old 
Sweety Heart.  I can already imagine myself on the transport coming home
Your loving Husband       Cecil 

No 11
On Active Service
Abroad

AUSTRALIAN BASE
27-XII-15
DETAILS P.O.

Mrs. C. B. Mills

C/. Dr. A Burne
"Kinellan"
Dalley St
Waverley
N.S. Wales
Australia

Lt. C B Mills
6/23rd Battn
A. I. F.  

Zeitoun School
26 : 12 : 15

Dear Fairy
Nice old N’s letter
turned up tonight & as that is the third
I’ve had I know there are two others
floating round somewhere that may turn
up one of these days. I judged that you
had recd my letters from Freemantle. I
got a letter from Percy & Roddy during the
week & they both had recd my letters.
Well Christmas is over once more, & taking
it all round we had a very happy time as
things go. Everybody  kept to the Motto “
Always Merry & Bright”. We chaps at the School
were invited back to our own Training
Battallion for the day. We had a splendid
dinner cooked by Australians. After the
rotten nigger food we have been getting, it
was certainly very nice. I ll be glad when
the School is over & I get back, as nigger
tucker does not agree with me. The photo
of John & Lawrie  was great. Our youngster
is almost as big as Lawrie I think. We
have all been toiling very hard at this
School. The Imperial Officers altho very
nice in some ways, often rub us up the

2/
wrong way. They very often ring in a
covert sneer at Australians that makes us
all boil, but we cannot say a word &
have to take it sitting down. I did pretty
well in the Exams this last week. Got
88 for 2nd Oral Musketry, 96 for Company
Drill & 95 for the second written paper.
That has brought my average up considerably
after my poor start & I hope to be able to
keep it up. On Christmas Eve, we finished
up here about 5 o’clock so I had a nice
bath & change of clothes & went into
Sheppeards Hotel in Cairo for dinner, & to
admire the youth & beauty of this gay City.
Nearly all the men were Officers, Mixture
of Australians & Imperials. They had
dancing &c & it was all very lively & cosmopolitan
but it seemed very dull all the same.
Xmas Day itself was really jolly, I am
sending you a Menu (with the Pyramid
Photos) to show you what a swagger show
it was. Today we had Church Parade at
9 o'clock, then had the whole day off.
I had lunch in Town & then went out to
Gezireh Hospital to see Massie Chisholm &
Harold O’Brien. Had a long yarn to O’Brien,

3/
but Massie was out. Returning to Town I
bumped into two of the 5th L. H. (Queensland)
& made inquiries about Schuchard. He was
sent away from Gallipoli about a week before
the evacuation to Malta. They said he was not
very bad, but they got rid of everyone that was
a bit off colour before the evacuation commenced.
These 2 chaps only got in last night they looked
2 hard case rag time soldiers. Had Queensland
Hats on, Tommie Tunics  & any old sort of
pants, but they were quite happy & had any
amount of money. They say the evacuation was
wonderful, there were only 4 casualties, but
they reckon we must have inflicted great
losses on the Turks. The Turks had shelled our
trenches which were empty & then charged. The
trenches were all mined. The mines were fired
& the Naval guns got busy & shelled the trenches.
Of course to one knows what damage was
actually done. Of course this may only be a
“Latrineagram” as they call rumours over here.
There was another disturbance in town last
night. The men full of beer & enthusiasm
got down in the “Wazza” the native Quarter I told
you about & commenced to liven things up. Set
fire to a few places & broke all the glass lamps 

4/
they could come across. Only a couple of men
killed I think. Have no idea yet what use
we are going to be put to here. Present indications
point to a long stay here. I hope they take us
away from Cairo. It would be very much
better for the men. There is still too much V.D
knocking about. I sent you a Cable on Friday
that I hope you recd safely on Xmas Day. Anyhow
even if you did not get it for a couple of days
it would always come in handy. The Mgr of the
Eastern Extension Cable told me he was just about
full of the War & Australian Soldiers. There were
over 700 cables ahead of mine & they were still
pouring in. The Week End cable service is a great
idea. That cable only cost me P.T. 33 or 7/-
So it was not an awful amount of money.
None of the Xmas Billies came our way yesterday,
but most of us got a little tin box with 2 Packets
of Cigarettes, 2 cigars a tin of Tobacco, 1 doz Gippy
Postcards & a Xmas card. Praps the Billies will
come to light later on. The men did not get
anything very startling in the way of Xmas
Cheer. Double supply of tinned Fish was about
the extent of the generosity of the Authorities.
A couple of our Chaps here at the School have been
pretty bad with the [[?]]    Ill be back in a minute, Ive been

5/
awfully lucky so far & hope it continues, as
it knocks the dickens out of them in no time.
Well Bessie it is 5 o'clock Reveille tomorrow
morning & Parade at 6 am for about
3 1/2 hours field operations. It will be a
pretty rotten morning, as we will only have
a cup of tea & a Biscuit before we start.
Fortunately Ive not eaten all that lovely
chocolate you sent me, so Ill be pretty right.
Had my first smoke out of the Xmas
pipe yesterday, altho my others were all
pretty ripe I managed to hold off yours until
the actual day arrived. It started very well-
I think it will be a beauty. Well old Dearie
I don't know whether you got all the squeezes
I gave you on Christmas Day. If you did
your ribs must be pretty sore. Its great
to know that you & the Boshter are so well.
It leaves me far more contented when I know
that. With all my love to my Dear old wife 
& Boy.
Your loving Husband
Cecil.
Love to all at Kinellan