Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/94/1 - November - December 1917 - Part 4

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might pay homage to some sweet

goddess. She has dauntless courage,

& high spirit & yet such sweet

tenderness for all others that I

think goodness with her xxx

is a gift of genius. There is

noone I know who sees so straight

& quick what others are in need

of. I never get a parcel from

her but what it contains exactly

the things one needed; & often had

scarcely realised how much one

needed them until one had opened

it up. If she has some old diare

book or clothing or ^indoor playing-game

wh others wd discard, she sends

it straight to the very person,

somewhere in within the wide circle

of her sympathy, to whom it gives

real joy - I have never constantly 

 

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wondered at those shafts of

intuition & have never known

them miss their mark. It is a

wonderful power - but what is

more wonderful is the sweet address

with which each of her acts is done

-the Youthful fresh light in her

eyes with which she makes each

sweet action pass for ordinary everyday

matter of course - The old father

deserved her, a man of brilliant

intellect, entire unselfishness,

whom age has wonderfully mellowed;

& the hardest worker that I

have ever known.

 

Nov. 23. Went to 18 Bn & got their

story.

The British have taken

Bourlon - the lamp of a hill wh used

to look at you wherever you stood from Noremie

to Hermins. It looks into I back o I German line.

 

Nov.24. Went to Wilkins to Messinas

 

38

X at the 29 Bn HQrs (in the

old gun pit house by Delconick Fm.)

they had just received the London

papers o I day before.

 

Even in the Ypres battle the

26Bn tell me they used to send

a runner on a bicycle back

to Poperimple or thereabouts to

buy I London papers & bring

them up!

 

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to get photos of the Doure Valley

the mine craters & the

Blaauwepoortbeek & Odd Trench.

I never saw a place so changed.

As we looked towards Trarneton

you cd actually see a solitary

German battery firing - Wilkins

saw I flash distinctly - but tho'

we were photographing in I open

within a mile or less o I front line

not a shell came near us. X

 

The Col. Lord promised me

to get out for the Aust. War

Museums 2 of the bridges wh

his men put across the Doure

River & wh are still there.

On our way back Gen. McNicoll

where I ^called told me he had just given

the same order. They will be

most interesting exhibits some

day in the Aust. Museums. Wilkins

photographed ^one of them where They were it lay.

 

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X Germany will not recognise

the Russian Govt till I Russian Army

has retired 100 kilometres.

 

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Nov 25.  To 19th Bn - who gave me

a fine ^rigidly truthful account o I battle

of Oct 9.

 

Lenin has finally captured

St Petersburg & Moscow apptly;

after defeating Kerensky; & is

making a separate peace w

Germany. The ^Russian Army has bn

ordered by him to disarm.

 

Lord Robert Cecil stated in I

Commons tt the allies might have

to do business w I Russian Gov

leaders, but they wd not

recognise the present Govt there.

 

Nov 26. (Sunday)

To the 20th Bn. Old Ralston,

their Colonel has a great grit

Beieris in him. Byers of 18th told me

tt on Oct 7 at 5 pm when a

devil of a barrage opened on 

 

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the support trenches on Broodseinds

N of the X Roads, & he went

out to becse a runner came in

saying "Our people are retiring-"

he went out & there sure eno'

were a number of our men

coming back on I hill crest. He

ws horrified. Then he heard a

shrill voice: You buggers! Come

up here will you - you - - 

-where the - are you getting

to." It ws old Ralston - it ws

the hour for him to move his battalion

he got tt coy further N & forwards

& this very heavy barrage caught

them in I middle of it.

 

They lost 60 men in tt barrage -

in A coy - but he got them through.

He is getting very gray - He

is apt to get excited in a critical

time but theres no doubt he is

brave - & w all his excitability

his battalion has a real affection

for him.

 

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Nov 27.  To the 28th Bn all day.

Our battalions are full of their

football, their sports; the 22 Bn

starting a newspaper; and a

debating socy. The brigades run

football competitions.

 

A letter from old Jock very

disappointed abt I failure of

Gen. Birdwood to approve of a plan

of his for giving Australians

some sort of antidote to the

"presentations" measures agst

Venereal Diseases instituted by

Howse. They poke under I nose

of every boy going on leave.

Whether he wants it or not, a

packet with a French letter, various

ointments & so on to be used when

he picks up a woman. Jock

sees - & he is right - enormous

dangers to the nation in this

practise. It is necessary in some

 

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cases perhaps. He sees I

difficulty & admits tt Howse

may be right to take some

such step. "But at any rate"

Jock says "let them have the

other sort of help too". He wants

to start a crusade among I

men to join a "League of Honours"

to safeguard our racial purity -

for I sake of our future youngsters

& the stamina of our race. Jock

has done wonders among I

poor chaps he is surrounded

with at the V.D: hospital -

& he knows tt if you appeal

to I Australian rightly you

can get hold of I generous side

of him.

 

Archdeacon Ward has

been on a crusade round I

troops of the A.I.F. & if he cd

 

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have got asked them to join some

such league it wd have bn

a help to I men: "I promise to

safeguard the purity of the

Australian race by continence

& restraint"- or some such simple

formula, is the pledge; the badge

an Australian boy standing before

an Australian flag; & the pledge

involves looking after a mate

if he is drunk as well as

looking after yourself.

 

When Archdeacon Ward wrote

to Birdie, B. referred I letter

to Howse - & Hose sd: Is

Ward mad?If he wernt It's a good thing he's going

to Australia for a holiday or

he wd go off his head! Doesn't

he know this is a primitive

instinct w men & you cannot

 

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stop it". I wanted Jock or some

Doctor to follow Wards lectures

up - an earnest doctor wd

be better than ward who does

not impress me at all, & it

wd be grand to bring this

force under old J's wonderful

influence; but B. was put off

by Howse's cynicism.

 

Now Howse is wrong for

all his ability. Cynicism takes

you nowhere, makes no ground,

does no good in I world; &

something can always be done

by appealing to I good in

Australians. Jock knows how

to do that.

 

There has bn heavy

firing up at Ypres all I

aftn & evg. 

 

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Send in German Disc.

__________________________

28th Nov. To the 25th Bn. Photographed

their football team. The

battalions are just like a lot

of Oxford Colleges in the

October term - more keen

on their football for I moment 

than on anything else in I

world. The competitions are

mostly by brigades.

 

29th Nov. A fine day so I went

up to Messines to get some

of the photos which I took

(all out of focus) on the last

visit - a couple of panoramas,

the Russian Sap across [shorthand symbol],

the great mine crater near St Ives,

the upturned pillboxes - Everyone