Letter from Roy Bruce to Maud Bruce

Had a letter & tobacco from
Harvey & letter from
Miss Trask .
R Roy .

Two quite respectably
fat letters arrived from you two days
ago, and didn't take long in
coming either, which reminds me
of a riddle:-
"What are the signs of the coming woman?
"Short pants!" and you can take it
whichever way you like.

I was awfully glad
you had seen Andrews and that they
had both arrived safely in N.Z. New Zealand In his
last letter to me he was very cut up
at having to throw up the sponge, but
as I pointed out to him anyone who
wanted more than two years of war
was an absolute glutton, and there are

limits to everyone's endurance. A
platitude perhaps but very real in this
game. I hope they came down &
stayed with you or at least you
have been able to see him and get
plenty of local colour. (Egyptian etc).
It is now absolutely necessary that
I see him before you, otherwise our
yarns might not exactly tally, ha, ha!.
Please don't think any more about
what you thought & wrote about us, it
is done with now, and I am quite
sure a few yarns with him, will
tell you more about the conditions
of things out here, than I could do
with years of letter writing.

I am sorry to hear little Clarke
has crossed the divide, poor old Frank
Knubley has just got news that Alfred
died of wounds. Frank is one of my

Sergeants. He is terribly cut up. I
am sending him to Cairo for three
weeks at the School there, and I
have also recommended him for a
commission.

I did not know that Harrison
had departed - where is he?

Congratulations on that G.U. medal
and your other wins. I suppose you
had a goodly number of opponents?

If Nicholls came with the 18 th
and stayed with the cavalry, he is
in Egypt now at MOASCAR . I hear
they are in quarantine with measles.
We want him in the Brigade very
badly, some of the regiments are
so badly off for officers, it will be
rather curious meeting him again,
this time as my junior. I owe him
a lot for the indefatigable way he used

to coach me.

You don't seem pleased with M rs
Harrison , but why stoop to quarrel
with a woman of that class.

I am afraid there is no chance
of my being home for Christmas or
anywhere near it. I am feeling
very well just now with the advent
of the cooler weather, and nothing
short of getting in the way of one
of brother Turk's little billet doux is
likely to get me back to N.Z. New Zealand so far
as I can see. We hope soon to take
EL ARISH - one thing you may be
sure of is that unless we move to
FRANCE or SALONIKA before next summer,
part of another summer in the desert
will render me unfit for service in a
tropical climate - that is the most
consolation I can give you.

A good idea of yours to beat
back to the Mackenzie on certain
dates. I shall explain to the Steam-
ship Coy Company , and I am quite sure they
will oblige.

I hear that living in England
is terribly expensive now. Col. Findlay
has just returned (his wife is there) &
he says 1 = 12/- before the war. I
may know something definite as to
our movements after we get EL ARISH .
I want to get you out of N.Z. New Zealand as
soon as possible, any rate for a time.
This war is altering the human outlook
so much, and buried where you are
one is apt to get left, although like
you I want to go back to N.Z. New Zealand I will
probably have seen enough when this
is over. There are also worse places

than TIMARU .

I am very glad you are going on
so well with your songs, poetry &
legends etc. I think that is far
more suitable than these fortune
telling schemes. Your interviews
with the Maoris must have been
very interesting, but don't lay too
much stress on them honouring you
by their presence. Remember always
they are the subject race.

If you are going to contribute to
magazines etc, you must put the
money objective in the background
and write and send your stuff for
the art that is in it and for the
art alone, the money will follow
as a sequence, but if you start writing

with money as the primary thing
you will fail. To write for
money one requires a mind like
a machine, to write by the mile
and cut off by the yard. You
certainly haven't that sort of mind,
so write and work for the art
that is in you and for the art
alone, all the rest will follow.

I am enclosing a few odd
snaps taken round about here. I
hope the book and Helen 's chain
reach you alright. I also sent
my godson an article (not a
bedroom one)

The squadron is flourishing.
The Colonel said the horses were looking

better than any in the Reg t Regiment .
Bob Shute , who, I have an idea is a
pal of yours, is one of my cooks. He
arrived with some recent re-inforce-
ments.

Good bye for the present, dear
old thing. Remember me to
anyone who asks. Kiss Helen ,
that daughter of mine, for me and
with a good old humbug for
yourself.
Your affectionate husband
Roy