Page:Letter from Maurice George Delpratt to Nell 2 - December 1918 - p3.jpeg



working daily They were in splendid condition & thoroughly cared for. Then 3 nights and four days of the tighter squeeze of a troop train to Calais. We were lucky to get straight through & it is only because preference is given to p.o.w’$s$. That we got either boat or train so quickly. Of course it is a bad time of year for getting anywhere & President Wilson’s arrival & the coming Peace conference all helped to jam the railways. We spent one day at Rouen & were given a warm welcome by the E.D.C. Hut. They gave us our meals gratis He organised a concert for us. These institutions & similar ones are a source of great wonder to us coming on them fresh. Everywhere women are working long hours day after day without asking anything for their work—some have been doing it for over 4 years. We spent two cold nights under canvas at Calais & a bad hour coming across the Channel to Dover. It beat to nothing any of the previous experiences I’ve been through. I don’t want to be disgusting, but I can’t figure out how one can continuously unload for 45 minutes without running short of supplies. I can tell you I made up my mind never to return to Australia ’till trains ran that way. At Dover our remains were played to a marquee & given cakes & tea. We stopped one night & reached London mid-day yesterday. & have been kept busy since. Tomorrow I am going to see cousin M$rs$ Manley who is staying at the Arundel Hotel & I hope also to see cousin May Tomlinson who is doing war work in London. But I am getting ahead of my letter. Here we were soon fixed a month’s pass & railway warrants & ₤50 placed to our credits at Commonwealth Savings Bank. I was very pleased to find that Paymaster had increased my allotment to 7/6 & paid all back credits from date of capture to same ℀. Now today your letter tells me it has gone into the Seventh War Loan. Was that an inspiration or did you get my letter with the vague hints about buying war bonds. I am very grateful indeed that these things have been so well looked after for me. Our own organisation here is very wonderful & makes me proud of the Australian brains & energy that made it all. I am writing this from the A.I.F. & War Chest Club where one can get everything one wants—a tea for a 1/- & meals at the same prices. Meals that would cost one 4/- elsewhere.