DIY History | Transcribe | World War I Diaries and Letters | Robert Morriss Browning correspondence to Mabel C. Williams, August-December, 1919 | 1919-12-21 Robert M. Browning to Dr. Mabel C. Williams Page 2

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Robert Morriss Browning correspondence to Mabel C. Williams, August-December, 1919

1919-12-21 Robert M. Browning to Dr. Mabel C. Williams Page 2

grab off a piece of U.S.A. for mine own and start right in making at least on blade of grass grow where none grew before.
Who is the new head to the School of Music? I am very glad Nesta is giving her whole time to Music! I always thought she was making a mistake in the other field.
I know I am in the wrong pew in the service. I feel sometimes that the best thing for me would be to sit right down and write out my resignation. In fact I've half promised myself to do it within a month. I want to get two weeks leave for sight seeing before the resignation goes in, however, as I feel that with a resignation handed in a request for leave would be disapproved. The papers still refer to is as the Silesian Forces, or Silesian Expedition, but I think we'll never get to Silesia. Drilling from daylight to dark six days a week with no train connections on Sunday does not appeal to me as a profitable way to spend the winter. Of course, I get beaucoup marks but marks are not all that I want.
I've found it very easy to remember my German and have little difficulty in saying whatever I want to and am understanding what is said to me. Have met a number of very pleasant people. I am billeted with a physician who has given me his shoulder strap and collar insignia. He was a Hauptman at the front the whole time, and has some pretty decorations, including the Iron Cross of course. I have an iron cross, too, the real thing. It cost 20 marks or about 44 cents.
The Germans like Americans pretty well. The merchants & poorer people because we are so open handed, and the better class because we have maintained order and saved them from Bolsheviks or anarchists who are fairly numerous. Some of my German friends have spoken of their sufferings during the war. One rather beautiful lady told a heartrending little story about her hungry children begging for bread. "Nur ein stuck Brot, mama, und der kannst all mein Geld haben" bringing his little tin bank up as he begged, with tears pouring down his cheeks.
I've lost most of my hatred for Germans. It's only the few at the top that deserve the slow & lingering torture that I used to imagine. - Sincerely Bob.
P.S. The people in general still love the Kaiser altho they feel that his desertion and flight to Holland was a very black mark against him. But for that they'd welcome him back. Hindenburg & Ludendorff are still popular idols They say "Ludendorff is in the bud what Hindenburg is in the flower"

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grab off a piece of U.S.A. for mine own and start right in making at least on blade of grass grow where none grew before. Who is the new head to the School of Music? I am very glad Nesta is giving her whole time to Music! I always thought she was making a mistake in the other field. I know I am in the wrong pew in the service. I feel sometimes that the best thing for me would be to sit right down and write out my resignation. In fact I've half promised myself to do it within a month. I want to get two weeks leave for sight seeing before the resignation goes in, however, as I feel that with a resignation handed in a request for leave would be disapproved. The papers still refer to is as the Silesian Forces, or Silesian Expedition, but I think we'll never get to Silesia. Drilling from daylight to dark six days a week with no train connections on Sunday does not appeal to me as a profitable way to spend the winter. Of course, I get beaucoup marks but marks are not all that I want. I've found it very easy to remember my German and have little difficulty in saying whatever I want to and am understanding what is said to me. Have met a number of very pleasant people. I am billeted with a physician who has given me his shoulder strap and collar insignia. He was a Hauptman at the front the whole time, and has some pretty decorations, including the Iron Cross of course. I have an iron cross, too, the real thing. It cost 20 marks or about 44 cents. The Germans like Americans pretty well. The merchants & poorer people because we are so open handed, and the better class because we have maintained order and saved them from Bolsheviks or anarchists who are fairly numerous. Some of my German friends have spoken of their sufferings during the war. One rather beautiful lady told a heartrending little story about her hungry children begging for bread. "Nur ein stuck Brot, mama, und der kannst all mein Geld haben" bringing his little tin bank up as he begged, with tears pouring down his cheeks. I've lost most of my hatred for Germans. It's only the few at the top that deserve the slow & lingering torture that I used to imagine. - Sincerely Bob. P.S. The people in general still love the Kaiser altho they feel that his desertion and flight to Holland was a very black mark against him. But for that they'd welcome him back. Hindenburg & Ludendorff are still popular idols They say "Ludendorff is in the bud what Hindenburg is in the flower"