The Telegraph Book of Readers' Letters from the Great War Read Free

from the wife that he had been given a high appointment on the general staff of one of the army corps.
    Thanks to his good offices I afterwards obtained a pass for myself and my chauffeur, as well as permission to buy petrol. My troubles were not yet at an end, but it will suffice to say that, escorted by four soldiers in a motor car, I at length reached the frontier at Gronaü. Here I thankfully bade goodbye to German territory.
    I was received most kindly by the Dutch officials, who provided me with a pass to Rotterdam, where I spent the night. The next day I got another pass from the British Legation at The Hague, and in the afternoon I motored as far as Bergen-op-Zoom, where the car was obliged to be put in an open truck. Sitting in the car, my chauffeur and I accomplished the journey to Flushing in six hours. The steamer was waiting already, and I was thankful to have a good night’s rest. Next day the ship left at eleven o’clock, and I reached Folkestone at seven o’clock, where I was met by my husband.
    Yours, &c.,
    Mary Stewart Mackenzie.
47 Berkeley Square, W.

    13 August 1914
CIVILIAN NATIONAL RESERVE
    SIR – A movement is on foot by which men who can find no other way of serving their country shall form themselves into local bodies which shall drill and learn to shoot, organising themselves and forming a reserve without worrying the authorities in any way.
    In this small town we have raised 200 such men, who are hard at work drilling and at the butts. We have had 250 applications from other centres for details as to our method of organisation.
    I should be happy to send these to anyone who desires it. No one can tell the course of this war, nor predict how far in a few months’ time the existence of some hundreds of thousands of additional who have had some elementary military training may affect the situation.
    Yours faithfully,
    Arthur Conan Doyle
    Windlesham, Crowborough, Sussex

    14 August 1914
CALL TO YACHTSMEN
    Volunteers Wanted
    SIR – My steam yacht is being fitted out for the purpose of serving in every possible way the work for the transport of wounded refugees. I am running her myself with a captain, an engineer and a pilot. All other members of the crew are volunteers. I am wanting gentlemen with £300 each who will volunteer to complete the crew. The call is urgent, and surely there are many yachtsmen who are prevented from serving their country in other ways, but who can give their services and a little of their incomes for such a cause.
    We cannot, and must not, wait until the last minute. The motto for every man and woman in England today is, ‘Be prepared!’ I therefore ask those men who have not gone to the front to assist me as far as in their power lies, and to do that promptly, without delay, bearing in mind that every hour counts now.
    All contributions will he gratefully received by Miss Borthwick, 83 Pall Mall, S.W.
    Yours truly,
    Jessica Borthwick
83 Pall Mall, S.W.
    CARE OF THE WOUNDED
    Evils of Overlapping Lord Rothschild’s Appeal
    SIR – The vast, and, indeed, astounding number of offers of help which continue to be made day by day to the British Red Cross Society show – if any such demonstration were needed – the kind-heartedness of the whole British people, and their intense eagerness to be of some assistance to our gallant soldiers and sailors; but kind-heartedness and anxiety to help are of little avail, unless they are organised and applied – not as sentiment dictates, but as the actual need demands.
    We are threatened with the same confusion that so crippled the Red Cross effort in the South African War, with the same evils of overlapping, of unco-ordinated and disunited work. Private houses are being turned into hospitals and convalescent homes, without reference to any organising body and without regard to any rational scheme. Nurses are engaged who may never be required in the particular place allotted to them, while,