DIY History | Transcribe | World War I Diaries and Letters | Robert Morriss Browning correspondence to Mabel C. Williams, January-July 1919 | 1919-04-12 Robert M. Browning to Dr. Mabel C. Williams Page 1

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Robert Morriss Browning correspondence to Mabel C. Williams, January-July 1919

1919-04-12 Robert M. Browning to Dr. Mabel C. Williams Page 1

I.S.ofA., Camp Benning
Columbus, Georgia
April 12, 1919
Dear Miss Williams
Please, I hope you don't think I'm impossibly stupid and unable to take a hint.  If I'd known you minded I'd have been more strict in my account and kept the letter balance better.  But there have been a few misunderstandings in my correspondence during the last year due to a habit I've formed of thinking how I'll answer a letter and some of the things I must tell, as I read it.  Then if the answer is not written at once there is a blur of impressions and after a period of waiting for a reply it develops that my correspondent, having an incomplete mastery of telepathy, failed to receive my message.  So I've developed a tendency to write after a decent interval, perhaps occasionally sending two for one, but at least keeping my credit good.  If my letters come too often for convenienct replies, however, I can shut down for awhile till you catch up.  Then it will be up to you to regulate them.
I've had the most restful day since I came to camp today.  This morning we had an exam on bayonet fighting from 7 to 9 and one on the rifle, - nomenclature, functioning and ballistic qualities, from 7 to 11 and since then I've been doing bunk fatigue with the sides of my tent up and a little breeze blowing over me that keeps me quite comfortable.
Our course in bayonet fighting is quite finished now.  We turned in our fencing gloves, masks, and plastrons yesterday.  In the final tournament Thursday I was matched in my third fight against a husky captain I'd

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I.S.ofA., Camp Benning Columbus, Georgia April 12, 1919 Dear Miss Williams Please, I hope you don't think I'm impossibly stupid and unable to take a hint. If I'd known you minded I'd have been more strict in my account and kept the letter balance better. But there have been a few misunderstandings in my correspondence during the last year due to a habit I've formed of thinking how I'll answer a letter and some of the things I must tell, as I read it. Then if the answer is not written at once there is a blur of impressions and after a period of waiting for a reply it develops that my correspondent, having an incomplete mastery of telepathy, failed to receive my message. So I've developed a tendency to write after a decent interval, perhaps occasionally sending two for one, but at least keeping my credit good. If my letters come too often for convenienct replies, however, I can shut down for awhile till you catch up. Then it will be up to you to regulate them. I've had the most restful day since I came to camp today. This morning we had an exam on bayonet fighting from 7 to 9 and one on the rifle, - nomenclature, functioning and ballistic qualities, from 7 to 11 and since then I've been doing bunk fatigue with the sides of my tent up and a little breeze blowing over me that keeps me quite comfortable. Our course in bayonet fighting is quite finished now. We turned in our fencing gloves, masks, and plastrons yesterday. In the final tournament Thursday I was matched in my third fight against a husky captain I'd