Item 04: G. O. Hawkins letters to his family, 2 January 1915-November 1917 - Page 43
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[Page 43]
Tel-el-Kebir
7 May 1916
Dear Beatrice
Here I am now at this historical spot in the desert which became known to the world 34 years ago when the British 'fought for the rescue and the Arab stood for his life' When British square for the first and only time on record was broken
When the British began to learn things and the Arab began to pounder.
It is a desert wilderness with a railway like a great artery of progress passing through.
Thanks to the blessed Nile there is a canal of life giving water flowing like a stream of silver through the sun bleached gold of the desert.
The air is pure and sweet and the sky as clear as a bell. It is soft and blue and becomes as burnished as brass. Roses bud in the dawn and orange fires glow in the eve. Nights are of velvet and stars of steel. The crescent moon is a gem in the sky.
All these things are definite and ultra beauty.
But the sun dawns all and at noon the very world seems his. Above you is a shock of blinding light and at your feet is a curse of sand.