BEF
17 April 1918
My dear Father
Your letter telling me of Aunt Lottie’s death was very much delayed. I have now heard also from May, whose letter gave me fuller particulars. I am very glad to know that her end was quiet and painless. But it is sad to think that she has gone; for she had been for so long such a very stalwart bough of the family tree. You especially cannot fail to miss her keenly.
My letter to Kathleen will probably reach home not long before this. You will know from that that we are at present taking breath. Rest is a great relief; but at a time like this the impending anxiety of further action that cannot in the circumstances, be long delayed, makes one feel almost anxious to get on with it and get it over.
I am very perturbed by the Irish conscription clause of the Man-Power Bill. The hour for that struck long since. It intensifies Irish unrest and sectional differences and provides reserves that will be available only when the crisis has passed and the end is no longer in doubt. Indeed the last count appears to me to condemn the whole Bill. The age extension should have operated before if at all.
Have you news of Arthur? I should be glad to hear; for one never knows how things may be ordered in warfare of this nature. Some CCSs hung on till the last possible moment in the retreat.
Love to all from
George
