that gave promise of great things. I had a
shock to-day on reading in the paper that my old friend H.
Edkins,[13] who took a Junior Scholarship at Dulwich in the same
year as I did, is reported among the missing. He was an able and
gifted fellow. Do you remember how well he sang at the school
concert in December, 1914? With all my heart I hope he's all
right. I wish you would get for me Professor Moulton's book, "The
Analytic Study of Literature."

[Footnote 13: Lieutenant Harrison Edkins, 1st Surrey Rifles.
Born, July 5th, 1896. Killed, September 15th, 1916. At
Dulwich he was captain of fives; Editor of _The Alleynian_,
1915. In December, 1914, he won the Charles Oldham Classical
Scholarship at Corpus Christi College, Oxford.]

WITH THE 2nd CAVALRY BRIGADE

_October 3rd, 1916._

Here I am a Requisitioning Officer again, this time for another
Cavalry Brigade. I was sorry not to get back to my old comrades.
Still, it is a change to work with new regiments. This Cavalry
Brigade is a famous body of troops. To it belongs the honour of
having been the first lot of Britishers in action in the war.
While I like my duties, I am beginning to feel restive, and am
longing to get back to the real battle zone. What think you of
our new war machines? [Tanks were first employed on September 15,
1916.--_Editor._] I have had many opportunities of studying them
on the move. One would scarcely believe it possible they could
go over ground such as I have seen them comfortably traverse. No
obstacle seems insurmountable to them. They are quaint-looking
things, but, in spite of the Press correspondents, they are no
more like to, or suggestive of, primeval monsters than a cow
resembles a chaff-cutter.

Ireland is an enigma and no mistake. The man who settles the
Irish problem will go down to history. The difficulty would
appear to be to effect any _rapprochement_ of the English and
Irish national points of view, these having been determined by
the different environments of the two races. In national life as
in nature the law of natural selection operates.

I rejoice to say that I've got two horses again, one a big brown
horse, very strong and a hard worker, the other a powerful bay
mare. Neithe