DIY History | Transcribe | World War I Diaries and Letters | Robert Morriss Browning correspondence to Mabel C. Williams, August-September 1917 | 1917-09-24 Robert M. Browning to Miss Mabel C. Williams Page 3

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Robert Morriss Browning correspondence to Mabel C. Williams, August-September 1917

1917-09-24 Robert M. Browning to Miss Mabel C. Williams Page 3

and find my stern military expression to be just a fake.
Your kindness in passing on news to Dr. Seashore and the others is truly appreciated. I feel too diffident to write to him myself. Gee, I guess that is a faux pas. I looked into the dictionary after I wrote "diffident" and find that the V. P. edition says that diffident means "modest reserve."
That afternoon work sounds a bit bad for joy riding. Will it chase the lab sections into the morning hours? Who will monkey with the apparatus in my place? I'm glad to know that so many of the bunch are to be "at home" this year. I owe Miss Knight a letter but have kept putting it off. Somehow it's hard for me to get the viewpoint of the "conscienceless objectors" and I hate to write what I think to one who pities me for wanting to fight in a cause like this.
It's too bad that people can't swap jobs occasionally, isn't it? Here you were worrying through the registration of the uninteresting freshmen girls when I would have been willing to buy sody water, or even drinks, tea, for the privilege of looking across the table for and talking to most any one of 'em for a little while.
You spoke of the cider before, and I'm not sure that you didn't offer me some. I thank you, and wish I were near enough to accept, as I like cider.
There's a funny coincidence called up in one line of your letter. You say you miss your brother "for some reason" and my people say they miss theirs. It's quite remarkable. One of the officers in our crowd here told me the other day that he thought my dad must have been awfully fond of children to raise me. -- The man that said that didn't like the way I played a had of whist.

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and find my stern military expression to be just a fake. Your kindness in passing on news to Dr. Seashore and the others is truly appreciated. I feel too diffident to write to him myself. Gee, I guess that is a faux pas. I looked into the dictionary after I wrote "diffident" and find that the V. P. edition says that diffident means "modest reserve." That afternoon work sounds a bit bad for joy riding. Will it chase the lab sections into the morning hours? Who will monkey with the apparatus in my place? I'm glad to know that so many of the bunch are to be "at home" this year. I owe Miss Knight a letter but have kept putting it off. Somehow it's hard for me to get the viewpoint of the "conscienceless objectors" and I hate to write what I think to one who pities me for wanting to fight in a cause like this. It's too bad that people can't swap jobs occasionally, isn't it? Here you were worrying through the registration of the uninteresting freshmen girls when I would have been willing to buy sody water, or even drinks, tea, for the privilege of looking across the table for and talking to most any one of 'em for a little while. You spoke of the cider before, and I'm not sure that you didn't offer me some. I thank you, and wish I were near enough to accept, as I like cider. There's a funny coincidence called up in one line of your letter. You say you miss your brother "for some reason" and my people say they miss theirs. It's quite remarkable. One of the officers in our crowd here told me the other day that he thought my dad must have been awfully fond of children to raise me. -- The man that said that didn't like the way I played a had of whist.