Cecil Mills Collection - Wallet 2 - Part 4 of 22

Lt. CB Mills
23rd Battn

17./ 
Tel El Kebir.
21st  Jany 1915.
Friday

Dear Old Girl
Been down in the desert
now for 2 weeks & I like it much better than
being close to Cairo. Have recd a Bully from
you since I wrote last, & as a fresh lot of
mail is starting to straggle in Im looking
for a letter tomorrow or Sunday. Things are
going well in the training, of course some
of the men have taken French leave & bolted 
to Cairo, but they are soon collared there by
the Pickets & are brought back to do a few
days CB. & also lose some pay. I suppose
the authorities are scared to let the Gallipoli
boys loose in Cairo, as I suppose they would
roar the place up a bit. They have their
small innocent amusements here at night time
however. Down past the Horse Lines after
tea they gather in hundreds & they play
every fair gambling game that is known. One
chap in my Platoon started with 5 Piastres
the night before last, & ended up with £75;
playing Two up. As much as £200 has been
bet on the toss of the coins at one go. so our
A.I.F. privates are not afraid to bet when
they hold it. Lovely full moon tonight, cold
& sharp, really glorious weather, one ought to keep

2/ 
fit. Our Mess is getting very swanky lately. 
The President went up to Cairo last week & bought 
a couple of lamps & some crockery, not to mention 
some knives & forks. The hottest thing of the 
lot tho, are the tissue paper serviettes. The 
cooking is not too bad. At least I think it is 
jolly good & would often like to back my cart 
in again, but then we are our only drawing  
rations, so it is not much use, as far as 
meat is concerned. We have extras in the way 
of salads & sweets. Onion & tomato salad is 
one of our specials for lunch. I hope the  
onion habit does not become chronic with me, 
else I will become very unpopular upon my 
return. We do not seem any closer to going 
anywhere now, than we were last week, but we 
are certainly in a handy position to go wherever 
bec we may be wanted at any time. Jim Hancock 
is doing O.K. I wish I had him in my Company. 
I could easily make him a Sergeant, as we are 
frightfully short of good Non Coms. I dug 
up Corpl Pettit a few days ago. He is in C Co. 
He is a fine big young chap & is thought a  
great deal of, both by his own Officers & also the 
other Officers in the Battallion. I gave him  

3
 
the photo of  Mrs Wragge & the little girl, that 
you sent me. He seemed so glad to have it. 
Said it was only the other day that he had 
written over asking his sisters to send him 
photographs. Tonight I got a packet of 
raisins from Mrs. Hub, & the old Padre 
& I are having a great old go in, having 
raisin for raisin. I don't want to see them 
all go, but I'm afraid to knock off eating in 
case he scoffs the lot, a young Sub is also 
doing his share, but as its a big packet I'm 
hoping for the best. Our Coy was on fatigue  
duty all day today, so I did not have to go  
on Parade & tomorrow I'm orderly Officer 
for the Battallion & will be busy dodging 
about inspecting lines, tucker, investigating  
complaints &c. I can get two days leave 
next week if I want it & go up to Cairo. 
Don't know yet whether I will take it or not. 
It would be alright to go & stay at Shepherd's 
Hotel for a night & have breakfast in bed 
& not care a hang for any old Bugle, whether 
it was sounding Officers Mess or Lights Out, 
& as for Reveille, well that would be counted  
right out. Big bag of Mail has just come in, so 
Im out to investigate _

4/ 

Nothing doing for me in that lot, so Ill have
to wait until tomorrow to hear how you got on
going over to Sydney. Some of the letters today are
dated Melbourne 22nd Decr., so they were not
delayed any. No more tonight, no mail out for
sometime yet, so Ill finish this later. Ill send
Mrs. Hub a Post Card thanking her for the
Muscatels tho before I knock off writing
Sunday afternoon
Been out for a long walk along the irrigation
canal. It was very interesting. All the crops are  
looking splendid, but so they ought to as water
can be turned on at anytime it is required. Also
had a look through the native village of Tel El Kebir
It is about the cleanest native village Ive seen
so far, but of course that is not saying much as
every other one Ive seen has been absolutely filthy.
Had to dodge about a good deal yesterday as
Battallion Orderly Officer, but the greatest hard- 
ship of all was having to stay up till 10 o'çlock
at night to see Lights Out. Fancy the refined
cruelty of it, making me stop up that late at night
Did a bit of Military Sanitation yesterday. Had plenty
of fatigue men, so I designed & executed a new
washing place for the men, which I am glad to
say is working very well. To my grief & great annoyance

5/

I found it filthy late this afternoon. Jam tins
& scraps of food choking up the drainage.
I had a picket in charge to see the place was kept
clean so I put him under arrest for a start.
The men, or at least a great number of the men
have absolutely no conception of cleanliness &
sanitation. They are principally to blame for
any disease, just through their own sheer
carelessness, & not thinking little things are worth
bothering about. Saw Stuart Walker during the
week. He has also joined up with his Battalion.
They are probably going to the Canal tomorrow
Half of our Battalion Brigade expects to go on Tuesday. The
21st & 22nd Battns. We will probably follow in about
2 weeks time. Have no idea what is likely to
happen to us after the Canal business The vendors
of Furphy's & Ladrinagrams say we will all go to
France in the Spring, so as no one has any idea.
am not making any plans about the future.
Don't take any notice of rumours, & always wait
until I see it in Orders, before I really believe
anything. The Argus of 4th Decr came today.
& as I'd not seen it, it was just as good as if it 
had been yesterdays. Have not got any letters out
of this lot, but then I got a good wad last mail
so will probably get double lot again next time 

6/

Orders came out last night that all dismounted
Officers are to wear full web equipment & carry
rifles on all parades in future. Rather bad luck
as it is a nuisance carrying a Rifle at drill
when one is dodging round seeing that the men
are doing their job correctly. I've never been
issued with a rifle & I lost my web equipment
coming here from Cairo, so I don't know what
will happen to me tomorrow. I'm not going to
rush round getting the stuff until I have to.
Won't write anymore tonight, & will close this
up & send it off. Have no idea when the next
Mail goes out, so once it is in it will be safe
to go. Hope you got the photos taken at the
Pyramids safely. Give my love to all at
home & have a surf for me some nice
warm morning. It is rather too cold here in
the mornings to go surfing at present, but I
suppose in about a couple of months time, it
will be something to conjure up in ones mind.
With a big hug to Johnnie
Your loving husband
Cecil

Tel El Kebir.
Sunday
23: 1: 16. 

Hello Old Darling. 
Just a little private note to 
go in the other one.  Wrote notes to the 
Dad & Percy during the week & sent Post 
Cards to everyone else. Well I wonder how  
my Dearest girl & best boy are these days. 
Am so anxious to get word of how you got 
over to Sydney, but as there is still a lot of 
Mail to be sorted there will probably be a 
letter from you tomorrow or the next day. 
I hope your Father has got over my coming 
away by this time. Probably tho by now 
he sees that it was up to me. Our boy will 
be over 11 months old by the time you get this. 
Fancy him having 7 teeth & being able to  
say Dad Dad so early. It will be great to 
hear him say it, although it is a great pity 
not to hear him when he is just learning to 
say it.  & when my Dearest, are you going to 
teach him to say Mum Mum? Hope he can  
say it by now & also know who Mum stands 
for. Had my first off turn last night, 
since leaving Australia. Had mince for lunch 
& during the afternoon had a small bottle of 

Stout, anyhow my tea at night did not  
agree with it & about 9 o'clock it came on 
suddenly & I got rid of tea. stout & the mince 
in very rapid time, as soon as the mince was 
laid low I was right at once, so I'm blaming the 
mince more than the Egyptian Stout. Anyhow I'm  
quite right again today. The camp is getting 
busy with the different units making arrangements 
to move out. Have just heard that we are 
taking our tents & all on transport, so it is 
not much like fighting, Is it? Anyhow it won't  
worry me much for another 2 weeks. 
No more now old Pettie.  With Heaps of 
love from your old man who wants to  
get home to you as soon as possible, & never 
leave you again. 
Cecil

17 
CBMills Lt 
O.A.S. 
Abroad 
  
Mrs C.B. Mills 
C/. Dr. A Burne 
"Kinellan" 
Dalley St. 
Waverly 
New South Wales 
Australia 
  
Passed by 
No 3018 
CENSOR 
  
Lt CBMills 
23rd Battn.