Roffey Camp, Horsham,
January 12, 1916
Dear Everyone:
It is now 7:30 and I must write a few lines before lights are out. I have some news to tell you this time for we have been up to London on weekend, Lawson, Warren, and Bart, and it was certainly some weekend for all of us. We left Horsham at 8 Saturday morning arriving a little after nine at the Victoria Station in the very heart of London. From here we took a taxi cab to the Victoria League Club, a home for overseas soldiers, had lunch and engaged rooms for the night. Leaving the club we went first to Westminster Abbey where we spent an hour and half and could have spent a whole day easily and yet not seen it all. We saw the most interesting tombs. However I will just mention one or two which I remember particularly from among the hundreds that we saw. First and one of the most interesting to us was the tomb of the General Wolfe, a sculpture which represented Wolfe just in the moment of victory dying in the arms of his men. In the background was pictured the latter part of the conflict. Below was pictured the landing of the British forces - some of the boats loaded with men pulling into Wolfe's Cove, others already grounded or even clamoring out, and making their way op the steep bank onto the plains.
Another very beautiful piece of work was the tomb of one Lady [?] on which was represented Death bursting from the tomb and striking at Lady [?] feet as she lay dying in the arms of her husband while he tries in vain to shelter her It was by far the most beautiful thing we saw anywhere and considered one of the most wonderful pieces of sculpture in the Abbey. We also saw the tomb of Sir [somebody] Simpson, the discover of chloroform. I have heard someone talking about him, I think it was Walter Simpson. There are hundreds of others I might mention such as the royal tombs and some of the
tombs of the great authors and poets such as Tennyson and others. They were so beautiful that one could not pick out any ones particularly. Leaving there we went to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum where we spent three hours. The Wax Works, which have been in existence for almost a century and a half, are one of the chief places of interest in London. Saw images in wax of almost every great name in history from Julius Caesar to Edith Cavell. There certainly are some marvellous pieces of art. I am sending you a guide to the wax works in which I have marked some of the most interesting names. It is wonderful how true to life they are. For instance in the centre of the building is the figure of a lady asleep, a perfect dreamless sleep, and so true to nature is it that you can see the rise and fall off her breast and the expulsion from her nostrils as if she breathes. In all these faces and figures you can see the traits of character ascribed to them in history, for instance the strong commanding build of Edward I or the Black Prince contrasting with the weak vacillating Edward II and so it was all through the list of sovereigns.
Then again there were the great authors and poets such as Shakespeare, Dickens, Scott, Tennyson and Burns seated at their desks with a half finished page before them, their pen beside the paper and a distant look in their eyes as if they thought about the next sentence or verse. There was Queen Victoria seated on her desk, a half finished letter before her, her pen dropping from her fingers and her eyes looking far into the distance as she pictured some scene in her imagination. It was splendid! I wish you could just see it.
Leaving the wax works we went to Buckingham Palace. The Palace itself, although beautiful, is not the most beautiful in the city, but the surroundings are perfect. The park surrounding it, green and in midsummer, is a marvel. Words cannot describe the beauty of it but I am sending some postcards of some of the places we have seen which show their grandeur to a certain extent. Directly in front of the Palace is a statue of white marble to Queen Victoria, which is, I think, the most beautiful statue in London.
From the Palace we took taxi to Picadilly Circus which is really the name of a street which takes the same place in London that Sunnyside takes in Charlottetown on Saturday night. There was a steady flow of people, and more than any other crowd we had ever seen it was conspicuous for the number of officers that we saw. I don't know when I ever saw so many officers in my life as we met on the Circus in a few minutes Well we walked through the Circus around Leicester Square, through the Strand and back again to the Circus. At 6 p.m. we've went to Palladium one of the most up to date theatres where we saw a splendid show after which we had some lunch and went back to the Victoria
Club for the night. The next morning we got up, had breakfast getting out about 9:30. We walked around till 10 then took taxi and went to Whitehall to see the Horse Guard. They were splendid. They have perhaps the most elaborate uniform in the British army and are mounted on beautiful black horses and for two hours they remain motionless, both horse and rider, being so well trained that one can scarcely detect the slightest movement. From Whitehall we went to Buckingham Palace and arrived just in time to see the Guards change, a wonderful sight believe me. No man was under six feet. From here we went to St. Paul's Cathedral which was a large and beautiful building. We were there just as some morning service was going on and it was wonderful, especially the music. There was a large choir in the church and peals of the organ mingled with the perfect voices in the choir reaching back with a heavenly cadence which could scarcely help softening the most hardened person.
Leaving here we drove past the Bank of England, the Mansion House, home of the Lord Mayor, across the London Bridge, and all the other important buildings, across Tower Bridge, around the Tower which unfortunately was closed on Sunday and back past the Royal Mint to Whitehall. Am sending you postcard of these places which will describe them far better than I can. Arriving at Whitehall we walked around the Houses off Parliament, the House of Commons and House of Lords which were also closed on Sunday. Near the Tower is a monument to the (?) of London which I forgot to mention and it was deservedly called "the" bible of monuments. Another monument worth
mentioning is one near Whitehall erected to the memory of Nelson. From Whitehall we went to the British Museum which opens from 2 - 4 on Sunday and just to give you an idea of its size we spent the two hours just walking through the different apartments without spending any time on any particular objects. During most of the two hours we saw exhibits from every country in the world. Many things which I have read about and never hoped to see were there just as described. After the Museum closed we drove around for a while seeing some of the places where are we had not been before and then went back to Victoria Club, had supper, got rain coats and haversacks and made for Victoria Station. We went back to the station on the underground railway. We bought our tickets to an elevator, went down over a hundred feet when we came to the station with a train stopped at it, crowds and everything going on just the same as if we were not a hundred feet underground. We took the train which was electric and went at about five miles an hour to Charing Cross. We left the train, went up about 30 feet and took another one which took us to Victoria. This trip was a novel experience for us and one we shall not soon forget. From Victoria we travelled by train to Horsham arriving at 8 p.m. tired from the many sights and experiences of the last two days. Our only regret was that our time was so short for we were just beginning to find ourselves and at almost every place we went, we might have spent more time than we had.
Well, I don't know if I have a great deal of news. Our work from day-to-day is very much the same and I'm getting on fine. We are kept pretty busy of course but the work is so interesting that to us it is more like a game and after all it is only a part of the great game of life, although it may sometimes be a hard game where one breaks a collar bone in the vast game, yet from the very fact that it is hard and rough at times comes the knowledge that he who takes his part like the man and faces whatever comes is necessarily the better player, not only in the game but also in everything which follows. So it is in military life. This war is a great game. Each side has good cards, but it is the one that holds the best trumps that will win. Germany's best card is her military machine and so far it has
enabled her to hold her own; but nevertheless she is beaten, and only remains to be conquered, for her enemies hold the best trumps not only in material resources but also in the fact that the atrocities in Belgium and Serbia, the sinking of innocent persons on the high seas, and the murder of such a hero as Edith Cavell must be avenged. Have been talking to fellows home from the front, some on leave and some for good because of wounds received and one and all say that for the past year things have been at a standstill, with a few exceptions. They all say they expect a great drive which will soon result in victory.
We are all well now. There was a bad cold going for a while caused by the change in climate. I was fortunate enough to escape it. [unreadable portion, but it appears someone died] We buried him in Horsham cemetery. a very beautiful cemetery outside the town. He was the first to go from the 98th Siege.
Think I must close for this time. Got the records you sent today but there has not been a letter since the one you sent on the 20th of December. Am expecting mail today so I am sure there will soon be a bunch. I have written several letters, so let me know if you get them. I have a feeling that a good number of mail goes astray. Received a box of candy a few days ago and believe me it went right to the spot. Also had a letter from Enid written just before the holiday
