Letter from Harry Massey to Barbara Massey

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Letter written by Harry Massey from the No. 6 Palestine company at the Bluffs to Barbara Massey.

This is a scanned version of the original image in Special Collections and Archives at Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vt.



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Letter No. 97 Sunday, Feb 8th Major J. H. Massey 6, Palestinian Corp, The Buffs M.E.F. My darling sweet Barbara - I do hope that you are not having any more of those frightful lapses in my letters. In any case, you know that the fault is not mine, - perhaps that helps a little bit. Your no. 74 of Dec 7th came today, & was awfully unhappy, because you had had no letter for 4-5 weeks, & you had just had an AG to tell you there was no news, which merely exasperated you. But darling, I'm sure you understood that it was only a case of no news since the last AG - both of which had been written weeks after all the letters which you should have had, but had not. Today, I promptly composed a long cable which would have cost about 10f, & then realised in time that I had had about 8 AGs pcs from you, written since Dec 7th, & telling me all the things which you wanted to know, & so my cable would only be wasted. I tore it up. But I shall probably write another one tomorrow, to clear up a few points. Your birthday cable arrived yesterday, & thank you very much my sweetheart. It was lovely to have it. But you were still in suspense about my posting home. My AGs surely must have arrived by now, but I will make sure to cable tomorrow. Darling one, if & when I do get posted home, & in any case when I come home - I shall want you to know about it as soon as ever possible; & I shall be wanting to meet you at the earliest possible moment after I set foot on English soil. And so, I shall be very efficient & leave no stone unturned to ensure these things. I shall write you an Air Mail letter, or Air Mail letter card.

Last edit about 1 year ago by shashathree
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an Airgraph - of course, I shall cable you. And if there is no time for me to get your reply, Ben-Azi will open it when it comes. And if it does not come, he will cable you himself, & he will go on cabling you until he has your reply, & has actually had your confirmation that you have received all news & instructions. I shall leave him list for this very purpose, & such change as there may be, he will buy silk stockings etc & send them on to US (size 9 1/2). I am terribly sorry that you have had all this suspense, my darling - it is because of these unreliable mails. I thought that I had arranged things so that the first word you heard would be that I had tried & failed, & then the details would arrive later. Poor darling - & me too. Can you imagine my own state? The military mails arrive four times a day & so for weeks I was on edge four times a day, which in effect, means all day. And now I am awaiting the next opportunity - also four times a day! But I am quite certain that I prefer to have a glimmer of hope such as this, than just to chafe & fret with nothing to look forward to in the way of hope, but the end of the war. And now, ducky wucky, I must give you a lecture & a talking to about money. You sent me on the bank sheet for November, which started off with +#164 & finished with +#L79 - in other words L85 in one short month. You were afraid of the impending income tax & saw us overdrawn again. And in Nov, there were #30 for

Last edit about 1 year ago by shashathree
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me on the 5th & again on the 11th, from which you deducted that I had had a whale of a leave with Frank. Now, sweetheart, you must take everything into account. First of all, the dates of my #30 on Martins bank sheet mean nothing at all, except to date on which my cheque at Barclays arrives in Bradford, having come by sea mail. So that the +#16 is a false figure & should be less. As things were, the first #30 was drawn by me on Aug 15th, the second one on Sept 27th - & then the next one after that on Jan 19th. So instead of #60 in 6 days, it is really #60 in 5 months - & actually larger than that, as on Aug 15th, I was #12 overdrawn. Allowance again, not to exceed #15 per month, & in actual fact, it will probably be #10. And darling, on the bank sheet, you failed to consider that Army Pay had not come in, & this together with B.C.&W pay being #17 down, & the #7 Tanya owed on the P.R. bill, & #2,3,4 for life insurance (which is money saved) makes a difference of #77. Or only #7 down, in spite of #60 of mine, having landed in one month. which makes a deal of difference? I have worked out how much we should have in the bank on March 31st, and about when the letter reaches you. My Jan #30 should have landed by then, & will certainly last me until after then - & Army pay +BC&W pay at #-9-9-8 a month - less [underlined] #25 a month for you, less 2 #8-1-8 & & one #2-3-4 insurance: & add the #7 from Tanya - & I shall

Last edit about 1 year ago by shashathree
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probably still have #10 in the bank here - & the result is +#230. Now, because tax had been coming off Army pay it is now coming off B.C.&W pay, & so I do not see how it can be more than another #130 (though, I admit, I am quite lost about it). And, our financial position should then be as follows: In the Bank #100. Defence Bonds #240. R.C.& W. shares #65. Ocean Accident & Guarantee insurance #218. paid since Dec 35 Canada Life insurance #90 paid since 1932 Total # 713. So that looks better, doesn't it, darling? Let me give you these rules of advice, for when you look at the bank check. 1. Don't forget to take into account what has still to come in & what has still to be paid. 2. Don't be misled by my #30, & their dates, & remember when I draw #30 I have then got that much to my credit in the bank, & it will probably last 3 months. If ever I do have an expensive leave or such like, I shall certainly tell you. 3. Remember that insurance is money saved, & so in a way, is income tax deducted at source. And now I must go to bed. Goodnight, my sweetest lovely darling. XXX Monday Feb 9th And your birthday, angel sweetheart, I have written an AG today & I sent you an E.F.M. cable last week. We have many anniversaries, happy & sad ones, & from so far away & when letters take so long, it is difficult to take proper notice of them all. But your birthday is

Last edit about 1 year ago by shashathree
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undoubtedly a happy one - & yet, if you stop to think about it, I can imagine you feeling unhappy, & thinking - 30 when I went away, & now 32, & still no sign of me coming home. But it is a bit like the bank sheet, & you have to look properly at the beginning & end, & instead of being 3 years, it is 16 months. But I hope anyway, that you do not think of yourself in terms of years of age, or ever [really underlined] think, as you said in your letter, that you will be an old maid before I come home. Don't ever think any of those things, my beautiful darling. It is a tragedy which I shall never get over or forgive, that we have been kept apart during these last months & still can see no real end of it. But, we have had our lovely, glorious years - passionately happy & passionate years - & we have completely defied the people who say that passion dies after a few months. How many people, darling, who after having been lovers for seven years (it really is as long as that ) can still be faithful as we are & look forward to each other even more passionately than we did seven years ago. Because that is the way I think of you, my darling sweetheart. Because you are so adorably sweet & lovely & beautiful & perfect - all your face & your lips & mouth & your eyes - & all your body & your darling arms & breasts & legs, & your sweet soft puss which I love & adore so much. And because you love me in the same way & we love & long to love each other in the same way. Oh, sweetest heart, what a wife you are - & what a lover & mistress you are. These are all the things where youth is important, my darling, & in them, I feel eternally youthful, & I'm [sure underlined] you do too. I have been thinking about all the very particularly

Last edit about 1 year ago by shashathree
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