Canadian Hospital
Ward G.
Kirkdale, Liverpool
Nov. 4., '17

My dear Lulu

I am back again at my hospital home after a very happy, happy time with my father, brother & sisters & with the little nephews & nieces. I watched all the time for a telegram summing me back to embark, but none came, & now I hear here that we are not likely to go until the middle of this month.

I got in last night, & tonight it is Sunday - I have just returned from church. It is curious that whenever I go to a good civilian service, where it is warm & cozy & where men & women are present my heart just aches to be back with you in Canada. It seems that the craving for feminine society is stimulated by worship. I cannot account for it but it seems true none-the-less. If my dear Lulu some of the men who left Canada good men, come back with a record that will not be so good as their friends expect, don't be too hard on them, my Lulu. Warfare seems to throw off restraints & create engrained habits, we kill, suffer pain, face death, plan cruel suffering on our enemies. It seems proper to do things - for the time being - that are all wrong. Just to throw off this formed habit, and another, is not easy. And on the top of this trembling structure comes the natural love for home & the society of women with its refinement, tenderness & sympathy, & sometimes men go wrong. I have many safeguards; relatives who love & trust me implicitly, a lifetime of Christian culture, a college training, & the fact that I am a man set apart to teach moral truth & teach self control, so I have a thousand advantages that some of these men have not had, & so ought to be an example. And yet I feel the temptation. May God preserve us all in these tragic times.

But what a vein I have struck. Fancy writing so to a lady! I feel somehow that I can tell you anything; don't misunderstand me, Lulu dear, will you?

I have just received four letters from you after a famine of nearly three weeks. Two I got at my Fathers, & two last night when I arrived here, I am so glad that you are having - or had I suppose - a good holiday. It seems to even things up better. But I think it would be nicer if we could enjoy them together, they would be more than doubled. I have never been to Niagara, nor to Toronto, & I have spent only a few hours in Montreal, but I did visit the great St. James Church while I was there. It is a splendid place I know, but I did not really appreciate it as I would now. I was a "Canadian" of about two hours old, & was excited about everything, so could concentrate on nothing. I hope someday to see it again. Maybe we shall see it together.

I am a little troubled, Lulu dear, about this Italian news. The war seems so far from being won that I begin to wonder whether I could not do something more to help to end it successfully. I shall not move in the matter until I see you & we talk it over together. May it come soon!

I suppose by this time you are safely back at Digby, settling down once again to normal life. I hope, my dear Lulu, that you won't do too much, & overtax your strengths. Surely it is not wise to have too many pupils, for it must be a tax both on your physical strength & upon your nerves. I want to see you looking healthy - strong when I came back, you know. Remember that I shall regard your home as my convalescent home, you as my nurse, so you will need to be ever so well.

During my visit home I learned to love very much some of my little new-found nephews & nieces. We grew very fond of each other. I wonder if any of them will emigrate to Canada after the war! Clarence whose photo I sent you is a fine boy - the oldest of them. Little Bessie, my sister Ellen's 7 year old girl is brimful of mischief & fun with the merriest eyes, as is little Eileen, my brother James' daughter. I have always been fond of children, & these are of my own flesh & blood - as they used to say.

Well, I must stop this rambling letter. I hope you got my photo safely, which I sent a few days ago. Is it like what you thought? My sisters say it us just like me. I will send you a book I am reading, & ask you to tell me what you think of it.

With very best love,

Yours,

Tom