DIY History | Transcribe | World War I Diaries and Letters | Robert Morriss Browning correspondence to Karl S. Hoffman, 1919 | 1919-04-06 Bob Browning to Karl Hoffman Page 2

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Robert Morriss Browning correspondence to Karl S. Hoffman, 1919

1919-04-06 Bob Browning to Karl Hoffman Page 2

a half day at a time without stirring up a rebellion amongst various muscles. It has been worse than the first week of football scrimmage in the fall, as we but on duels and team combats in the trenches with wooden rifles. This work will finish up the bayonet work, winding up with a tournament to determine the champion of the class, each man fighting at least two duels, and as many more as it takes to select the winner. 
Next week we'll put on this hat and start out to be grenadiers, and we'll be ready if no one loses any fingers.
The course [illegible] until July 15, by which time we will be melted away to mere shadows of ourselves if the weather we have now is a criterion. It's like Iowa in June here now. Roses, wistarias, and all the early flowers are in bloom. Cotton planters are finishing their spring work, and the [wirage?] on the range is blooming noticeably. 
So you haven't any immediate plans concerning matrimony. Well, cheer up, you are not the only one. I am just beginning to appreciate the blessings of a bachelor's life and am not only not planning matrimony but am even beginning to prepare defenses against it. These southern girls seem pretty strong on men, and play to the grandstand all the time, apparently. Some of 'em look mighty sweet but they have expensive tastes.
And then, as Stevenson says, "When a man marries, he gives hostages to fortune." A bachelor is his own man. I want to go to the Northwest and to the islands and I can do it as long as I have no entangling alliances.
Write soon.
Bob
Infantry School of Arms,
Camp Benning, 
Columbus, Georgia

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a half day at a time without stirring up a rebellion amongst various muscles. It has been worse than the first week of football scrimmage in the fall, as we but on duels and team combats in the trenches with wooden rifles. This work will finish up the bayonet work, winding up with a tournament to determine the champion of the class, each man fighting at least two duels, and as many more as it takes to select the winner. Next week we'll put on this hat and start out to be grenadiers, and we'll be ready if no one loses any fingers. The course [illegible] until July 15, by which time we will be melted away to mere shadows of ourselves if the weather we have now is a criterion. It's like Iowa in June here now. Roses, wistarias, and all the early flowers are in bloom. Cotton planters are finishing their spring work, and the [wirage?] on the range is blooming noticeably. So you haven't any immediate plans concerning matrimony. Well, cheer up, you are not the only one. I am just beginning to appreciate the blessings of a bachelor's life and am not only not planning matrimony but am even beginning to prepare defenses against it. These southern girls seem pretty strong on men, and play to the grandstand all the time, apparently. Some of 'em look mighty sweet but they have expensive tastes. And then, as Stevenson says, "When a man marries, he gives hostages to fortune." A bachelor is his own man. I want to go to the Northwest and to the islands and I can do it as long as I have no entangling alliances. Write soon. Bob Infantry School of Arms, Camp Benning, Columbus, Georgia