OSE WWI Transcriptions from the Archives

13: L.E. Eyres – Tel-Hadi, Nissibin, Turkey – 29 Aug 1918 My dear Warden, As I am suffering a mild attack of malaria and jaundice together with an equally unpleasant though less describable, complaint. I am afraid I shall not make a very good correspondent, but I do not see that I deserve to get any better so long as my long intended letter to you remains unwritten. I can only plead in extenuation that the heat and sweat of the day makes writing a very sticky and uncomfortable business, and in the evening our escapes from stuffy rooms and enjoy an hour [or] two of comparative coolness in the moonlight or starlight. But my gratitude for the books has been none the less genuine for being unexpressed. They turned up about two months ago – Herodotus, three volumes of Grote, Locke, Hume’s Essays, and translations of Herodotus, Thucydides, The Republic, The Ethics. Until I got [a] fever I worked fairly diligently at the Herodotus and read four books and a half. In the last fortnight texts of the Republic, New Testament and Eudemian Ethics have reached me from Germany. The Herodotus, I blush to say, is unbroken ground, and is a great joy. But the Republic is an old favourite. The other day when I was in bed with fever and wanted a book to pass the time, I tried Scott’s Abbot, but found Plato the lighter reading of the two. (I have no hesitation in telling you these things now that school days are over). I don’t know why they sent me the Eudemian Ethics from Germany. I was hoping that a text of the Nicomachean might elucidate the translation which I confess puzzles me very badly though I have read the Ethics at least once and been to lectures and written essays on it – But this is enough shop. I hope you and Miss Sing are enjoying yourselves at Winchester. But if your travels have only whetted your appetite, I’m afraid you must chafe at times against the routine. Still, I have no doubt you meet it with the same cheerful face with which England in general seems to be meeting her troubles. My news is of course all four or five months old. My brother [H. T. Eyres, OSE, KIA 09/11/1918] was still training when I last heard. I wonder if you have met Skaife yet? He is back at Trinity reading medicine (one of ten undergraduates). I delight in the prospect of him as a brother-in-law. Did you know that Micklem, a nephew of Lady Powell’s, married a cousin of mine, Agatha Silcock? Life here goes on very smoothly. They have been building stone houses here all the summer, and I share a little room with another chap. The Hospital work keeps me busy these days, as there is a lot of malaria about especially among the Indians. Besides that, I am storekeeper for all the food and clothes which come from the Spanish consul at Aleppo. He looks after us very well, but never sends us any books. Capt. Newcomb however gets a fair number from home. I read Queed, the City of Beautiful Nonsense, and the Abbot recently and hope soon to read Vanity Fair for the third time. Long ago Aubrey Hunt [OSE] and I came to the conclusion (independently) that The Picture of Dorian Grey was the most revolting book we had ever read, I read enough yesterday to realize that I had not changed my opinion. He also has Merivale History of Rome which should be useful. Noel Hudson [OSE] hasn’t written to me for a long time. I hope he is too busy covering himself in glory. Seymour [OSE] tho’ was safely stowed away in India when I heard of him last. Strange [OSE] should be a Colonel by now if he is still distinguishing himself as he did at the beginning of the War. Have you news of any other of my contemporaries – those that are left? I have heard no news at all of Sherwell [OSE] or Goldingham [OSE], and nothing of Withington [OSE] since he was wounded with Hunt [OSE]. What about Wareing [OSE], Douglas [OSE], Nethersole [OSE], Estcourt [OSE], Cyril Bleaden [OSE], or anybody else that I might be interested in? I think I have about reached the space-limit, and it is past bed-time. Thank you very very much for the books – Even if I had given up all hope of Greats they would be a constant joy, but as it is they have a great practical value as well. Please don’t mention my various diseases to my people. They are all slight, but you know how parental anxiety magnifies these things. With love to you and Miss Sing, Laurence E. Eyres

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