1 Up East Ward
Lord Derby War Hospital
Warrington
Sept. 4, 17

Dear Lulu

It is too bad to practice my right hand scribble on you, but have patience with me, & maybe someday I shall be able to be quite a respectable writer.

As you will see, I have again changed my address. They seem determined to let me see England before I return, & all my impatience seem of no avail. I told you how Fritz kept bombing Ramsgate, & of the partial destruction of our hospital; well a removal was decided upon & the patients have been scattered all over the country until a new one, in another place, was decided upon, probably at Buxton, in Derbyshire.

Warrington is in Lancashire, one of the crowded towns in the very heart of industrial England. Where I have been [?] has been mostly in rural England, & this change is most acceptable in giving me a chance to study the crowded life of the town dwellers.

It is very near Manchester - only about 16 miles - & I have already made two trips there. You see I am really "awaiting transportation" as my medical sheet shows, & I should have been on leave by this time had not Fritz sent it up in smoke. To get permission to go anywhere from this place is next to impossible; & while I asked permission to go for one day, I shall not ask again, but shall make trips now & again without permission.

I went by car (tram) the other day because the military police guard the railway. It took over 4 hours each way besides an eight or nine miles walk, & I had only two hours at home, but it was worth it. The car went through several great spinning, waving & mining centres & the country in between was beautifully rural. If you could only have sat next to me Lulu & seen the quaint sights & heard the queer talk, it would have made your foot better right away, I am sure.

But all the time I am wondering how you are getting along now, if you are suffering pain. Since my own experience I know how hard it is to be awake night after night with the monotonous throb of pain. The nights seem so long, & the dawns so slowly. The helplessness too seems to pray on your mind, & at times you wonder whether it is worth while. If it was not for the kindness of these around us faith in God would be shaken. I know you will never receive all the care & attention that is necessary, & I hope you will not be tempted to do too much moving about; better a month in bed than three months disappointment & weakness. Soon I hope to be back now & we can form a cripple association, or a sort of mutual commiseration society.

You would have laughed to see my sisters surprise when I when I walked into the home in Mfr. My brother-in-law was just getting ready to go back from leave on his way to France again, so I had come just at the right moment. It is hard to see a parting so I was glad at once that I could only stay a few minutes. England is suffering intensely over the war, but it is great to see how determined they are to go on until they have won. All this pain must make England better.

Well, keep up our spirits, my dear Lulu, I shall have many things to tell you when I get to Digby. You can never make me impatient by asking questions for that is just what I like; it gives me a chance to spin yarn, & that is what I like.

I am sending you a view of the baptistery at Canterbury Cathedral; it is wrapped in a cheap view of the town hall in Caras. I bought the latter only because I had to get something to get a cover to send the former in. Warrington contains little that makes a picture? It is the life of the place that is so interesting, & only moving pictures can give that.

Well, good-bye for the present my dear girl, & let up pray that we may soon be together once more.

With best love,

Yours as ever

Tom