Letters from Norman Griffiths Ellsworth to his Mother, 1916 - Part 23 of 28

1st Austen Divn  ArtyBase Details. 
Army Post Office, S17.  
B.E.F. France. 
Sept 12th 1916. 
  
Dearest Mother, & all at Home, 
As 
you can see by the above address,  
I am still at the 
Base, & am still an Ins- 
tructor at the B. F. A. Inst- 
ructional School, & goodness 
only knows when I shall get 
up to the front. 
You will be 
surprised to know that some 
of the men in detention 
are in for " trying to get 
up to the firing line without 
permission '

2/ 
So this will give you some 
idea how eager they are 
to get back to the fight, & also 
how hard to do so. Being 
an N.C.O, seems to put  
the "Kibosh" on my chances 
of returning to the front, & 
they are keeping me for  
breaking in the reinforcements 
for the batteries, & what  
a time I am having too. 
I  
go on duty for 4½ hours 
daily; (afternoon one day 
& morning next day) so you 
see the hours are not 
long, altho' it is solid 
whilst it lasts.

3/ 
The school is known to all 
here as the "Bull ring", & 
we instructors have to 
wear a yellow band on 
our left arms. The Bull 
ring embraces Artillery; 
Engineering; & Infantry, & 
it is here that all men go 
thro' their final preparation 
at our hands, before going 
into the trenches, & there 
are millions of troops, so 
you see we have our 
work cut out. 
I do not  
get on too well with the  
French language, & I often 
wonder how the devil

4/ 
 the French understand each 
other, & the money too, - 
for instance, ½d = 5 centimes 
& 1d = 10 centimes; & 2½d = 
25 centimes; 5d = 50 centimes 
10d = 1 franc: 1/ 7 ½d = 2 francs 
& 4/- = 5 francs, & so on, 
& it ties me up at times 
completely , & I often wonder 
why the dooce can't we 
have a universal language, 
& coinage, & do away with 
all this nonsense! 
The French 
where we are, are a dirty 
lot, & mostly fishermen & 
family, & their town simply 
stinks fearfully

5/ 
I wrote in my previous letters 
to you to send me a shirt, 
singlet, & socks occasionally 
as the issue of clothing is  
very meagre, but do not 
trouble to send scarfs, or 
mufflers, or mittens, or 
any thing like that , please 
as those kind of things 
are no good whatever. I 
get a swim & a hot bath 
regularly, as the sea is 
quite handy, but the 
body lice are almost 
as bad as when I was  
on the Peninsular, so I 
could do with a decent 
disinfectant for my shirt

6/ 
I am not allowed to write 
long letters to you, so you 
must be just content enough 
to know each week, 
that I am in the best of 
health, & living on good 
food, & detailed letters 
are now out of the question 
but the war will be over by 
next July, so let that console 
you. I have quite given up 
hope of ever hearing from 
you again, as it is now 3  
months since I last got a letter  
of any sort, so you can 
imagine my feeling towards 
our Postal Authorities, 
the dirty dogs!

7/ 
Do send me a newspaper 
or two from Melbourne, 
Mum, as I am nearly for- 
getting what Melbourne is  
like. - I do not know 
when I last saw a Melb- 
paper. 
Well , I must close  
now,- hoping you are  
all well, & with fondest 
love to you all, all relat- 
ions, & all friends & enquirers 
etc; etc; , & a big whack 
of love to you all. 
I am  
Sour loving son.  
Norman.

1st Australian Division Artillery Base Details 
Army Post Office, S17, B.E.F. 
France   September 25th 1916. 
  
Dearest Mother, & all at Home  
Just a line to let you know 
that I am still well, & am still, as you can see by the 
above address, at the R.F.A. School, but I think that 
before long, I will be able to get up to the Battery, as I  
am the only permanent Sergeant in this Depot, so you  
see that I stand a good chance of soon rejoining 
the boys again. 
I am very pleased to tell you that I 
received your most welcome parcel of sox from Floss, 
& the beautiful pair of gloves from you which, I can 
assure you, were both most acceptable, & I cannot 
thank you both enough for them. 
I hope some day 
to repay you for the many kindnesses. 
The letters are 
beginning to come to me now, & I have received two 
from Mab, & one from you, & 3 from Ruby Davidson 
& I am once more very happy, & all I want now 
is some reading matter, including some Argus' 
& such like, as it is years since I saw some  
Melbourne News, so I hope that you can manage 
to send me a paper or two occasionally. 
I hope 
that you get my Letters O.K. as I have written 

2/ 
every week whether a Mail goes out or not,- 
but now I hope you will not be offended at 
not getting any description of places in my letters 
as every bit of correspondence is very strictly 
censored, & so I must not even name the town 
that I am in, altho' probably you know it. 
I have 
not seen anything to rave about in France  
yet, & of course the language ties me up, also 
the money. The other day I went in to buy 
a shirt, & a french woman served me, & on  
looking at my book for the translation of the 
word, shirt, I found to my dismay & extreme 
confusion that it was " La Chimine", & so I  
thought that I asked for a chemise, that she 
might possibly serve me with the feminine 
article, & so I just pointed to my shirt. 
I 
 got a letter from May Tilton, she appears to 
have not received my letters. 
I am terribly sorry 
about pore Amy Ellsworth, - it has really 
upset me. Give my love to them all  
Well, I must close now, with fondest  
love to you all, & hoping you are all well 
Believe me, 
Your loving son 
Norman.