Letters from Norman Griffiths Ellsworth to his Family, 1917 - Part 6 of 7

France.
7^th May '17
My Dearest Mother & all at Home,
So
you see by the above that I
have spent another birthday
at the front, & I am now
painfully concious of being
31 years of age, so you must
expect some grey hairs on
me when I return.
Fritz "straffed" us horribly
to celebrate the day with a
big 9.5 gun, & kept going until
it was too dark for him to see,
so we feel quite "washed
out" now, & hope our heavies
will locate him tomorrow.
It is rather a coincidence
that my birthdays at the
front should be very hot
for me, & I hope to spend
the next one at home, and
in quite comfortable surroundings,
and not have to grab 

2/
a leg of mutton chop off the
table, & fly for my life,
with this howling cow coming
at 2,000 miles an hour.
The most remarkable thing
is, that altho' he landed
right in our horse lines twice
& in the wagon park twice, he
never hit a horse or man,
or anything except the ground.
He makes a hole 6 feet
deep, & 12 feet in circumference
so you can tell what we
miss. - anyhow we
have shifted now, & we
are in a more secure position
I hope that this news will
not excite you, - or cause
you to worry, because we
are quite safe now & he cant
get us here.
The weather is fine now
& it is a treat to be able to
get ones boots & leggins clean
again, & walk on hard ground

3
We got our usual comforts
etc from the 2^nd F.A. Bde
Comforts fund in Melbourne, &
we are well looked after by
these good people, & we cannot
appreciate then kindness enough
They are always sending
in things, & the parcels of private
people are often sent thro them
& they nearly always reach their
destination, so perhaps it is
just as well to bear this in
mind if you ever want to
send me anything. - Mrs
Dodd, - & Mr Strachan
are, I believe, the principal
people who are running it.
Well Mum, there is
no more news of Jack, so
I suppose Fritz has him
Tell Aunt & Uncle not to
worry as he will be alright
I have met nearly
all the old boys of the
4^th & other batteries, &

4/
they all look fine
Fred Conradi, & Jack Hall
look particularly fine & Braith
- well, I have had to
rouse him up about his intemperance,
- he is going on
all right now, I'm glad to
say. - He is a demon
when "boozed".
I have received several
letters from you, & Mab, &
papers etc, - & also some
from Ruby Davidson. - all
other friends appear to have
turned me down for letters
Am glad Geo & Chas are
getting on well, & continue to
do so. I hope you are
all well at Home, - (How
I long for it). Give my love
to all relations & fondest
love to all the family &
yourself
Yours lovingly
Yake.
SG Friend

[*Groves*]
France.
1^st June 1917.
My Dear Mab,
Many thanks for your
bonny letters which I receive from
time to time, also the "Table Talks"
which are enjoyable reading, altho'
when one picks out paragraphs of
news of "Queenie" Relph being married
to poor little Elsa Luchmann (this
was the way her name spelt before
the war) and styling himself as
having "recently returned from Active
Service", -  well! I feel that
my tongue cleaves to the roof
of my mouth in absolute contempt
& disgust. He has never been
to the Front, & the only time he has
heard gun fire, was at Mena
when we did our practise shoot
before going to Gallipoli, & he
got "cold feet" & stopped back at
the base in Alexandria, from
whence he "swung the lead" &
eventually got returned to Australia.

2/
He must feel thoroughly ashamed
of himself when he thinks of it all,
& taking down a poor innocent
girl who has fallen a victim to
his rotten imposition. Why can't
you people check these impostors
& keep them in their place. If he
had been wounded & returned, then
one might have expected his swank
-but its just like him.
Well dear Girl, so Jack Tilton is
in Wahn Camp, Germany, & Mary has
heard from him, so he escaped
our barrage alright, - is very lucky
to be alive, because the gaps in
the wire thro' which they had to
pass were heavily shelled by all
sorts of shells, including gas shells,
& only he can tell us after the
show is over what he went thro'.
We are still having a good time
& things are pretty quiet where we
are at present, but I expect 

3/
we will be going into some big stunt
soon.
We have a fine Tommy Divn
band plays in the beautiful woods
that we are by, & they comprise
of English professionals, & gave us
a rattling programme last night
including "William Tell"; "Poet & Peasant"
"Dreams of Autumn"; & "Valse Septembre"
etc, etc & I did enjoy it, & am
eagerly awaiting their next performance
I lost my watch last week whilst
on the journey up to here, & it is the
one I have had all thro' Egypt,
Anzac; Lemnos; England; & France
& I would have rather lost 100
francs than it, - however I
have another one now, & don't
miss it much.
I received the photo of you,
Mother, & Rupert in the front garden
& I was happy to see you all again
- By jingo you all do look

4
well, but mother should smile more
- but Rupert, - good heavens
I couldn't believe it was him, he
has grown so, & the living image
of poor Alt too, - but by jove
his eyes are just the same, and
I want you to get them fixed
up at once with my money, and
at the very best oculists in
Melboune, & I don't care a damn
what it costs either, - only get
it done at once, please, & don't
delay any further.
Have a "blow out" yourselves
at my expense too, whilst you
are about it, so don't forget.
If you don't get a letter from
me next week, its because we
are on the more, & there's no chance
of letter writing then
Hope you are all well; - my
best love to you all from
Yake