SCHOOL OF AERIAL GUNNERY
ROYAL AIR FORCE
BEAMSVILLE
Saturday
May 11th 1918.
Darling, Quite a long letter for you tonight, the first for some time. You are hereby formally pardoned & excused for not writing much or frequently untill [sic] such time as you get a help. On second thoughts I withdraw the frequent part I must have my letters at least every other day. They can be as short as you like just 2 or 3 sentences will do but I must have my letters.
If you don’t get a help soon I will send as [sic] Ad to the Courier offering $50 a month for a good girl & wouldn’t that make the natives sit up? I expect there are a lot of bally women with about 2 kids & a man in the house who have help & it rather annoys me.
Smith has gone off to Montreal on a weekend. He was very keen to take me with him but I had my last one too recently. I should have had a pretty good time as he’s a very wealthy young man & his mother’s house where we should have stayed is “some mansion”. Incidentally Montreal isn’t dry yet & I haven’t had a drink since I finished that bottle just before I left. That seems a devil of a time ago but really I think I’ve probably(1) served half my time in the army now. I think they will probably(2) get a decision before the winter comes.
I don’t suppose the kids are really to blame for damaging the tricycle so soon. Like most things made in this country its probably(3) shoddy & nowhere near strong enough for its job.
As regards the spring, It always is very low at this time of year. Probably(4) the approach to the intake does want cleaning out a bit and I suppose the tap at Garnetts is on all the time but that can’t be helped. If that standerd [sic] by the barn is leaking badly shut it off at the stop & waste & that may help some. The spring should get gradually stronger all the time now.
(1) (2) (3) (4) Pardon faulty style!
My wrist watch has played me false. For some reason it gained ½ hour yesterday morning & I put it right at dinner time & it gained another ½ hour in the afternoon. I showed it to a watch maker & he tinkered with its inside & put it on the blink altogether. So this morning I had to get up by guess work & did so ½ hour too early, a horrible thing to do. I’ve borrowed a watch now while mine gets fixed so I hope such a thing won’t occur again.
A bitter frost last night & having omitted to make my bed properly I kept waking up at intervals nearly frozen but too sleepy to fix the bed clothes. You probably know the feeling. I’ve made up a lovely bed for tonight. (Wish you were here)
I feel rather like a miser about my precious service leave. Its so nice to think its coming one of these days that there will be a horrible blank when I’ve had it. I think I’ll make a great effort to get it in June. Mosquitos [sic] will be at their worst of course & will probably make picnics at the little ‘ouse almost unbearable but the days are long & we can all motor out in the evening. I’m longing to wash your dishes again & get in your way in the kitchen. Sweetheart, there’s a good time coming when the war’s over. The kids are getting to an age when they don’t want so much attention & I think you & I will be able to run things pretty easily even if help fails us but with luck we shall usually have someone to do most of the work, but when we haven’t it won’t matter very much. We got along nicely last summer & Dicky wanted lots more attention then than he willin future.
Of course Morrison was quite wrong to cut across the road like that. Coming out of a side street he is supposed to see that no Main Street traffic is likely to run into him. You seem to have done the right thing at the right time. Good girl!
I think I’ve babbled on long enough. I haven’t told you much news, but I haven’t done anything very thrilling.
Sorry the Casorso boys can’t come & see you personally to say Good-bye. Bear up.
Very bestest love
your Robin.
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SCHOOL OF AERIAL GUNNERY
ROYAL AIR FORCE
BEAMSVILLE
Sunday [May 12, 1918?]
Darling, I enclose a picture instead of a letter for a change. Its been a pouring wet day & I slept most of the afternoon. Went to church this evening. Ugly little church with an ugly little parson. His wife stood in the door going out & asked any R. F. C. men to go to the Rectory for a cup of tea. I nearly went but thought better of it at the last moment as I didn’t think I would have anything in common with hm so came back here & drew this picture for you.
Lots of love
your Robin:
Notes on picture of my sleeping quarters
- 1) The rafters are not evenly spaced even in the original but they are not quite so bad as mine.
- 2) I put my trousers of the chair as I got the perspective of the seat all wrong & had to cover it up.
- 3) Observe ruck in rug & corner turned up (a touch of genius, I think)
- 4) Note electric light switch. I have to untuck myself & stand on my bed to reach it.
- 5) I have lots more clothes lying about but couldn’t draw them.
- 6) Aren’t I clever?
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SCHOOL OF AERIAL GUNNERY
ROYAL AIR FORCE
BEAMSVILLE
Monday [May 13, 1918?]
My darling, Whats all this about a velocipede. The thing I got at Eatons is what they call a tricycle in this country. Its much like Amy’s only smaller. When I was about 8 years old (nearly 30 years ago) we had one with a little wheel in front & 2 big wheels behind but I doubt if you can get such a thing nowadays. It was driven by a chain like a bicycle & would cost a small fortune out here. We used to have some dire and dreadul catastrophes with it.
I heard from Barty today. He seems quite pleased with the team & wonders how he ever got along without them. Whats happened to the sandy hill. It usen’t to be too bad last year. Its going to be a horrid nuisance if you’ve got to go round by Garnett’s all the time. Have you been up to the other end upupome yet. You might have a look sometime & see if much water is coming out of the pipe up there. If so you might deflect it so that it runs down to the flume & stops it drying out too much.
Look ye here. Search out a couple of pairs of old thin pyjamas for me & send them to me sometime. Now that I’ve got a little home of my own (however humble) I may as well enjoy some of the minor luxuries of life. Some of my pyjamas were pretty bad, but perhaps you’d better not send them as there is no one here to stitch em up if they get too badly ripped. It won’t matter much if they get lost will it? They haven’t had much wear the last few years.
I am seriously thinking of starting off the day with a cold sponge down & perhaps some rubbing exercises now that it has got warmer. I am surprisingly good at getting up these days & so far have had no rush in the morning to get my team away in good time. It used to be such an effort for me to leave my drowsy couch too. I wonder where the difference is!! When we were in the garage the other night fixing up Smith’s bicycle a fellow came in with a Ford that had an electric starter. It looked so nice to see him get in & settle down & then start the car that I asked him about it. He had had the starter over a year & said it was a complete success especially in the winter. There’s no reason why it shouldn’t be. All it does is to crank the motor considerably faster than one can do it by hand. Perhaps we’ll have one one of these days.
The papers really look a little brighter nowadays. If the next German push fails I don’t see how they can go on very much longer. We are not going to be so silly as to be caught short handed twice.
I’ll have to stop now. Lets have a photograph soon of a frilly blouse & summer skirt.
Best love
your Robin.
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SCHOOL OF AERIAL GUNNERY
ROYAL AIR FORCE
BEAMSVILLE
May 14th 1918.
Darling, A most satisfactory day today, in contrast to yesterday which wasn’t so good. Your mail was the trouble yesterday. I only got a little wee letter which was a distinct blow as I hadn’t had a proper letter for some time. You said you thought your big letter might be understamped & hoped it wouldn’t be delayed. It was understamped & was delayed & I haven’t got it yet altho’ I’ve had 2 since. Next time stick another stamp on for luck. Today I got 2 letters each with $50 in them so I’m feeling very wealthy. I haven’t had a chance to cash them yet & after paying for my supper & buying some stamps I have exactly 1 cent left. Smith is in the same plight & 2 fellows who joined us at supper had just returned from leave & were of course broke so we couldn’t borrow from them.
A very delightful letter today too about Dickie & his “wait a minter”. I like his suggestion too that I should use your bed in preference to his. Fancy lying in bed of a morning & having those kids climbing around. Its simply great to have it to look forward too [sic].
I have got my subsistence allowance seen to now so I shan’t have to spend so much of my own money on eating. It wont be very long before I write for more. This last $50 is to be tucked away in the back of my belt & only used for emergencies, so that doesn’t count. About $15 of the other $50 goes in debts & a new cap & I shall write for more when I’m reduced to $15 so it just depends on how long I make $20 last.
I pulled off a real good stunt today. I have been sleeping on a wooden bunk (very narrow) with a straw pallaisse & down at the Quarter Masters Stores, to which department my team belongs & where I report for orders, I’ve noticed some very classy spring beds such as we have at home & genuine mattresses which I’ve coveted. So today I applied for one on the grounds that sleeping in the loft as I do I suffer from mice running about over my little low bunk but that if I had an iron bed they wouldn’t be able to get up the legs. I got it allright [sic] & carried it back in triumph. So I’ll sleep in real luxury tonight. It was quite a brain wave as altho’ I’ve heard mice rustling about I’ve never seen one. They are very decent fellows in the QM Stores from the Lieut down which makes it very nice for me as they are my particular bosses.
Morely came back to duty today after being laid off for two months with his broken arm. He managed to get 3 weeks at home with it & was hoping all the time he’d break it again but had no luck.
The enclosed photograph is the crash in Texas in which Vernon Castle was killed. It will do for the album. For the third time a machine crashed within 100 yards of me today. None of them have been serious from the pilots point of view altho’ today the bus itself was wrecked all to pieces. The funny thing is I haven’t seen any of them. I’ve been looking the other way or behind a tree or something.
No more now. Hope the sour faced dame is a success. You di right about the Y. M. C. A. I owed them something for the time I spent at the Exhibition Camp.
Bestestestestestest love
your Robin.
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SCHOOL OF AERIAL GUNNERY
ROYAL AIR FORCE
BEAMSVILLE
Thursday
May 17th 1918. [sic—May 17, 1918 was a Friday]
Darling, Not very much news. I spent the afternoon working on the tennis court again. I haven’t been there for a long time & they have been working at it more or less all the time but its still a hopeless looking proposition. We are making up a party to hire a motor to go to Niagara Falls next Saturday if we get a half holiday & the weather stays fine. Its only 20 miles off & we get the car for $15 so if we get 6 it won’t cost much but I don’t think we are going to fill ap the car too much.
I hope you’re not going to count too much on Miss Lees. It seems a long time to wait if she’s only coming for 2 or 3 weeks. I suppose you’ll go camping fairly early in July if the skeeters aren’t too bad. I wonder is Miss Cochrane would come & stay with you a bit while you’re there, not necessarily to work altho’ doubtless she’ll do her share but she would be good company for you. I expect Norah will be around quite a lot, (Smith is playing the piano & I have just made him play “My little grey home in the West. I tell him it gives me the right atmosphere for my letter) but you may find it a little slow down there after about 6 weeks or so.
I could do nicely with about 6 weeks of doing just what I liked when I liked. It would be such a change even tho’ now I am to a certain extent my own master. I wonder if I shall find the kids very changed when I come back. Of course they’ll have grown but I don’t know how much to expect and I suppose all their mannerisms will be different. It will seem so odd & really quite interesting. I think I expect to find Dickie the least changed of the lot. Am I right? I don’t mean in appearance but in his ways.
Thank Mary for her letter. I will write to her soon. What does being in the second reader mean? Is it second from the top or the bottom. Her writing is very much better.
No time for more. Best love
your Robin
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SCHOOL OF AERIAL GUNNERY
ROYAL AIR FORCE
BEAMSVILLE
Sunday
May 18th (?) 1918. [Sic. May 18, 1918 was a Saturday.]
Darling, A most successful trip to Niagara Falls yesterday. Four of us went & 2 of them had cameras so I hope to send you some snaps of the outing. The Falls really are wonderful as other people have discovered before. We took a trip in the “Maid of the Mist” a very famous little steamer that takes you close up to the bottom of the Falls right amongst the spray. They provide you with rubber coats & hats for its like being in a heavy rainstorm. We couldn’t go to the place where you get the best view of the Falls as the Govt. have a big enclosure shut off there and we couldn’t go along the passage that is built between the Falls & the rock as it isn’t open for the season yet.
We tried very hard to get across to the American side but they have got sentries on the 2 bridges so of course we couldn’t do it. [The letter is written in pencil from this point on.]
(Just run out of ink)
The town of Niagara on the Canadian side is a gloomy little place so we got to rather a dead end & decided to come home & stop at St. Catherine’s on the way. We wandered around for a bit & found a place where the local young folks were having their usual Saturday night dance, everybody welcome, so we drifted in there. It was just like one of the old dances at Kelowna. The music was the slowest you ever heard & about 50 very moist couples revolved slowly round the room. It was frightfully hot even sitting by an open window. In between dances they all sat on chairs round the room there being nowhere else to sit. After I’d watched for some time I plucked up my courage & sallied up to the end of the room where there was a lone girl sitting & when I got closer I found she was not so plain as I feared she was going to be but she said she couldn’t dance a one step & we were going to wait for the next but her sister came to take her home so my little adventure was nipped in the bud. After that I couldn’t be bothered to find another girl so left & cooled off in the street untill [sic] the other two came down. The fourth man of our party was an ardent prohibitionist & didn’t dance or smoke.
Such, my dear, is an account of my first adventure in the gay life since I became a soldier. I hope the lure of the dance hall won’t be too much for me. We left there about 11.30 & just got back to the guard house in time. Altogether a most satisfactory day but it must be confessed that since prohibition came in there is very little to do in any of these places to kill time untill [sic] its time to come home, & when home is either a tent or a stable its not sufficiently attractive to get there early when you do get a chance to stay away till midnight.
Its getting quite hot here now & its about the moistest heat you can imagine. Hot clammy winds & hot nights. One drips with sweat at the least exertion. I’m afraid I shall very soon loose the extra weight I put on.
The self starter I was referring to was an electric one & costs in the neighbourhood of $100 or so. I don’t know whether Knox’s is very easy to work on or not. The next time you get a chance get him to let you try it yourself & if you find its easier than cranking in front by all means get one. It isn’t a self starter by any means as you have to keep pulling on a cable thats fastened close to the bottom of the steering pillar untill [sic]the engine starts. Perhaps you get an easier pull that way & there is no danger of a backfire hurting you. Its quite worth finding out how you like it.
No more now.
Best love
your Robin.