Letters from Norman Griffiths Ellsworth to his Mother, 1914-1915, Part 9 of 27

[*(N.B.
look on the back
of this page)*]

[*Ps 
Give my love to Floss
N.G.E. *]

[*I met Bert Handley tonight in the Sergeants Canteen
he is looking fine. *]

Mena Camp,
Cairo, Egypt.
(Your birthday 16/3/15.)

My Dearest Mother & all at Home
I am pleased to tell
you that I've got another letter, each, from you and
Mab, and I can assure you that it is better than
getting a change of food for dinner. I might tell you
that when a mail comes in, rumours fly all around
the Camp as to the numbers of Bags contained in
the mail & it some times reaches the tall figures of
"Hundreds of Bags", but anyhow meals are very
little cared for on Mail day as every one in the Mess
goes into his corner, lies down, & reads his letters
over & over again & the Mess Orderly gets that
wild at us not coming to dinner, that he calls us
all the names he can lay his tongue to, & it generally
ends up by him clearing all the "stuff" away.
We don't mind this in the least, because we begin
to discuss the contents of each others letters & papers.
Yardley generally gets the "Table Talk" & we fly
to look at the page of photo's of week end Campers
at the Seaside, tell them off, then court martial them.
Of course, they generally come in for a pretty
solid round of abuse so richly deserved.

The Chap beat me
after all as the Cabinet 
turned out to be a P.C.
in a sort of frame.
________________________
I am sending it to
you by this mail
___________________

Page 2
Tommy Goodall gets the "Leader", "Weekly Times", Etc,
& the other boys get other papers that interest us for
a day or two.
I hope you got my Photo's alright. What do you
think of them? Is it any wonder I hate getting
them done, however, thats over thank goodness &
I hope I will not have to go through that performance
again. I just got a dozen & 1 Cabinet (chucked in)(which
I haven't got yet) & you are the only people I have
sent any to, the others, I had to give one each to all
the Mess, so that finished them. I will send the
Cabinet to you when I get it & Yardley has gone in to
get it to-day, so you can do what you like with it.
I am sending it to you per Registered Post, a
Souvenir of Egypt, showing the different kinds of
work carved on the statues of former Kings & Queens.
All the different designs represent incidents of
the deceaseds life, so one wants to examine them
very minutely.
I am also sending Rupert some Post Cards by
this mail & hope that he likes them. You told me
that he got my other cards & took them to school.
We are all in the best of health except Jack Hall,
who has just been taken to Hospital, ill with
Tollic Tonsillitis & he looks pretty miserable.

Page 3 
Some more Australian Toops have arrived here
& we are all pleased with the appearance & style
of them all; They are quite welcome here.
I am not surprised a bit to know that George
has caught the enlisting craze : I knew that he
would want to come sooner or later. I hope he
gets his Commission, altho' he will have to know
something of Map reading & Field sketching. I only
wish he was here now, because he would understand
the mysteries and history of this place more than me,
(being better read in these things). I have not the
least desire for a Commission & am perfectly content
with my lovely little gun & subsection, which I can
assure you, will do all that is asked of them.
We have been doing different kinds of Parades
lately & if it will not bore you too much, I will give you
a brief description of this weeks work. It is far
more interesting to us as it is such a change to the
horrible dust storms in the Desert which we have to
tolerate. One day, we Reveille at 4.45am, get a cup of
tea & 2 biscuits, then "hook in" the teams & go out & do
some manoeuvres & occupations of positions in which the
Subalterns were exercised in the work of Battery Commander
& Yardley & myself were busying ourselves in bringing
the Battery into Action, & I am pleased to say that

Page 4
as far as we were concerned, our work was successfully
carried out. We returned to Camp at 10am, watered &
fed the horses, then had breakfast. By this time, our
belts were pretty well tightened right up, but Steak,
Chops & eggs soon rectified this. We only had to parade
then for midday stables & 4pm stables. This is not
bad as we do our work before the sun gets too Hot.
Next day, however, we Reveille at 6am, & at
9am, went out with Guns & wagons, up to the
Pyramids, where all half broken down walls & an
underground city, (or the remains I should say) &
the Major made us take the guns & vehicles over the
roughest part & in places, we had to unhook the
Teams and bodily lift the limber and gun over a 5 feet
stone wall, hook in again & and go at a sand
& loose stone wall at the Full Gallop. All my
horses & men faced this hard work with the greatest
of pluck & energy. Whilst lifting our limber on to
a stony shelf 4 feet high, we had the unique experience
of getting wet through in 2 minutes & thoroughly
dry again in 5 minutes. It rained for the 2nd time
since we landed in Egypt. To morrow, we have
to go down to the Canal & swim ourselves, & horses across
then float our Guns & wagons across by using barrels.
This is interesting work & all the boys like it

Page 5
as it is such a contrast to dragging through the
Desert day after day. Next day we have to take
all our War Equipment over a Pontoon Bridge
built by our Engineers. Our other performances
this week consists of going up & down slopes of
45 degrees fully horsed & manned, so its a case
for the Gunners hanging on for dear life.
We have had our new peak caps issued to us
as they just arrived from England & have different cloth
to thatose of the Australian caps. Of course, we look a lot
of "gooeys" in them at present, because everybody wears
them a different way to anybody else. Its very funny now
as all the boys talk to each other like a lot of "Cockneys"
I am sending by this letter a Photo of my crack
Bombardier (Ronald Cavalier of Malvern 19 years of age)
He is admitted by everybody to be the smartest
Bombardier in the Brigade & he made a name for
himself by being the first man to Qualify in the very
stiff Gun Laying Tests recently held. He is another of
my boys who, by his willing & loyal assistance, has
helped to make my Subsection a most successful one.
In the Photo, the Gun Layers Badge is to be seen
just above his stripe (L for Layer).
I am pleased to tell you that I am in the 
very best of health & the pink of condition and 

Page 6
that my "bingy" is gradually decreasing. You will
see by my Photo that I have no moustache & it is
my strong intention not to grow one, so you can
rest assured on that point. I am simply in my
Glory & altho' we are getting a little tired of this
place, we are still a very happy lot, even tho'
all the Tradesmen still charge us exhorbitant
prices for everything. The advertisements & signs
painted on every shop in Egypt are quite correct,
"Special Prices for Australian Soldiers". (Twice the
price is the rule). I hope that the Australian Public
is quite convinced by now, that Captain Bean is not
worthy of being an Australian. Several English papers
such as the "Times" "Daily Mirror" & other big journals
have sent Press representatives out to Egypt to have
a look at us & we all feel highly flattered by
their comments on the Australian Soldier in Egypt.
 I am glad to know that everybody at home is so
well. I cannot say what joy it gives me to get letters
from Home. So long as I get a letter from you and
Mab, I don’t care a hang if I don’t get any others.
I hope Miss Taylor is well. Give her my kind
regards & thank her for her kind enquiries. Tell her
that the two blue calico (or something else) bags which she
also kindly made for me, are still in use & are amongst

Page 7
the handiest articles I have brought from Melbourne.
I am glad to know that Jack Tilton is going to 
have a shot for the Contingent. I should think he
would have a very good chance, only for his age.
I can’t imagine how any unmarried man above 
the age of 21, who has no encumbrances whatever,
can resist enlisting for the War. Personally, if I
had stayed at home, I would never have been able
to hold my head up & look any decent girl in the face.
Surely everyone must realise that the Empire
is going thro’ a Crisis it has never gone thro’ before,
& that every one is expected to do his duty now.
I hope Mr Algie can fix George up alright & I
also hope Mrs Algie is quite well by now. Give my
kind regards to both Mr, Mrs & Belle Algie.
I often think of all relations so don’t let them
think I’ve forgotten them.
Well, Mother dear, I’ll close now till next week
so with fondest love to all at Home & else-
where & an extra ration for yourself
I remain
Your loving Son

Norman
P.S
I hope you had that
“blow out” on your birthday
that I said you were to have.
 ————————-
All the boys in the Mess drank your health &
wish you a Many Happy Returns of the Day.

[* 1  Piastre. Inside (silver)
(Value  2 1/4’ in English)*]