Walper House Hotel
Berlin
(Tuesday) 4 November 1913
My dearest Sweetheart
You will see by the above address I am once more in Berlin. I have a claim to settle & as the man was out of town when I was here last week it was essential for me to come again & fix matters & incidentally try & get another order from him.
Last Thursday evening after finishing my letters I went up to Mr & Mrs Sugdens for dinner. We had a splendid evening as there were a lot of people there. We had music & singing & a few games such as Simon says thumbs up. I did enjoy myself & it reminded me very much of my youthful days when I went to parties. Two of Rays sisters were there both nurses & the remainder were fellows. We also had two or three dances so altogether it was a splendid evening.
Friday I worked hard all day without result & at night after dinner went up to see Mr & Mrs Dalton. I don’t care for Mrs Dalton at all & would never go out of my way to meet her. Dalton I can stand as he is fairly decent. When I arrived Dalton opened the door & for a minute or two I thought it was Walter Arnold. He is absolutely the dead image of Walter except he is just a little taller & I hardly grasped for some time it wasn’t Walter. We just talked & had a little music. They know Bobby Barnes & his wife rather well. I cleared off in good time & got to bed.
Saturday I thought I would go to Niagara & asked to be called early. They called me alright but I was so tired I went to sleep again. The consequence was I missed the train as I didn’t hurry & thought there was another half an hour afterwards. Unfortunately that train didn’t stop at Niagara so I went back to the hotel & put things fairly straight. After an early lunch I caught the afternoon train 1-15 & had three hours journey. Really it was well worth it. I saw the rapids where Capt. Webb was killed & one of the men there explained everything to me – all about the various places. He saw Blondin walk the tight-rope across when King Edward was there & he also saw Webb drowned. He was quite an interesting fellow to talk to. Of course I had my photograph taken & they will be sent home in due course. Then I took the tram to the first fall & admired that & walked to the horseshoe falls. Really it was a wonderful afternoon. It decided things for me & that is, that I really must contrive to bring you out. I had to think how it was going to be done but I solved the difficulty & I do not think it would cost much more than £60. It would take too long to describe my methods but suffice to say if it is at all practicable I will bring you on my next trip.
I caught my train back to Toronto with two minutes to spare & dined on the train. It cost me roughly 8/- for dinner. Pretty stiff isn’t it. I arrived back 9.30 & went straight to bed as I was so tired.
Sunday morning I read the paper & wrote a few postcards & at one o’clock went up to Bentley’s new house for dinner. It is just as big as the other but not as nicely situated & is 7 dollars a month less. That is a consideration. We did not have dinner till late & then we talked all afternoon. At night we all went to church & then had supper & a very lively conversation. Jack is a sport & I thought he was such a good young man. I laughed till my sides ached when he described how one time they got seven literals in the council out of eight contests. His wife was cross that night.
Monday I was busy again & think I shall get an order from a man but the others are hopeless. I met Jack & his wife & went to choose a piano & after deciding on one Mrs Bentley honored me with her company at lunch, Really I like Mrs Bentley more than any other married lady I know & I am sure you would like her too.
At night I prepared my patterns for this trip & went to bed by 9.30 & got to sleep about 2.30. I think there must be something wrong at home as my thoughts were there the whole time & I co9uld not shift them. When I thought of you there was no uneasiness but there was when I thought of Clarence Rd.
I was up early this morning & had breakfast on the train & now I am waiting till 10.00 when my appointment is due.
While I remember I had a funny letter from Orr last mail. If I have time I will give you an extract of it but in any case will keep it handy for when I get home. It is more marital advice. Now I must hike as I don’t want to be late.
Thursday 6/11/13. I had no luck with the above mentioned fellow except a small sample order. He cannot possibly order a yard as business is so quiet. After lunch I thought I would get back to Toronto by a different route. I had a long tram ride – about an hour & got a train from Galt. Engaged a seat in the parlor car & promptly went to sleep. I arrived here at 4.45 & found a few letters for which I was truly thankful. Wrote my letter to the firm which was a pretty strong one & fed. Then I went up to say goodbye to Ray & his wife. I had a most pleasant evening. There were only the three of us as Jeff, the little boy, went to bed early. It was quite a treat to talk of old times & I learnt a few funny things which I never knew before. I might tell your mother one or two of them. I’m sure she would laugh as they are actual experiences. I’m not sure about telling you – anyway not just yet.
Wednesday I finished up & managed to get a fairly decent order. Woods came up on Tuesday evening & I was rather surprised to see him. We had a refresher & lunched together. In the afternoon I packed as much as I could & made arrangements for getting away today. I met Jack Bentley at 6-0 o’clock & went up with him & dined there. Now he has a piano we did have a time. He said he hadn’t sung so much for years & he was tired out before we finished. He sang The Old Superb & fairly did let it up. Talking of the Old Superb how is Rothwell behaving. Does he annoy you in any way or is he behaving himself, & realised how things are.
I stayed there till quite late & did not get back here till nearly one o’clock & then I had to send a cable off. This morning I thought possibly I might get the nine o’clock train to Montreal but I was so awfully tired I stayed in bed & made all arrangements for leaving by tonight’s train. I have not been sleeping at all well lately. Why I don’t know unless it is I have been too tired. Of course business has annoyed me a little but not sufficient to cause loss of sleep. However as soon as I can I am going to have a good long rest. I leave here tonight & arrive Montreal early tomorrow morning & shall have the day there. On Saturday I leave for St Johns, Halifax, Quebec & Three Rivers. Then back to Montreal. When I have finished another week in Montreal I shall cable home for instructions & the reply will be to go home I think. However after my experience in Australia I am making no promises but you must be prepared to receive a wireless any day after Dec 1st. Please don’t know anything about my homecoming as I don’t want anyone to come down to Liverpool except you & I want you all to myself.
I will cable you the name of the boat I am coming by & if you write Mr Hughes of Hughes Alexander Liverpool he will tell you about what day I am due. If you point out who it is you want to know about he will do all he possibly can for you & let you have the latest information.
If you think it better to let them know at home please do so but I do not want anyone to come to Liverpool except you.
Keep on writing until you get my cable. You have no idea how much I am looking forward to my homeward journey & how badly I want to love you again. It has been my one guiding star to get back as soon as possible consistent with doing my business properly. So far I have done it more thoroughly than I did in any town on my last trip & I live in hopes I shall have to come again. I do hate being beaten on a job like this & I am convinced in my own mind it did not do us any good Sassen coming out.
It is not a pleasant thing to say but you cant get away from facts & I have heard many things which are not pleasant. Another thing, every order that Brown booked, with one exception, there has been trouble with. How the dickens can one expect to get orders in face of these sort of things. Somebody is going to have a pretty warm time when I get back to Princess St. Really it is just as easy to do these things properly & not let things go wrong. I have done more cussing than I ever did in all my life before. Naturally you will keep these things quiet & not say anything but both Woods & Howard are more than annoyed with Brown. He took no end of cuttings home & promised faithfully to let them have samples in a few weeks.
Not a single cloth has been made or sampled against them & every place nearly I have been to they have asked for the counter offers. Is it likely we can make a reputation if those sort of things happen. For all I am so fond of Billy I shall say a few pointed things when I get back.
The whole thing makes me so wild & disgusted, but I can not be blamed for not getting orders when this is the state of affairs. I have done as much as I did in the whole of Africa & both Woods & Howard are astonished I have managed to pull off what I have, but I am most disgusted with the whole trip.
However it is no use bothering you with all these details, as it looks as if I’m making excuses & I do have that sort of thing.
Thanks for your letter dearest. I have packed it away & so cannot reply to it in detail. I wish that you hadn’t such a busy life. It makes me feel cross to see you running all over the place – first one place for five minutes then somewhere else for five minutes. However it cannot go on much longer.
I hope the change to London will do Mother good. It must be a relief to you to know she is in good hands & there is no cause to worry. Have you told Miss Ashton yet how your private affairs stand. If not I think dearie it would be better to tell her as it is hardly fair to her. Don’t you think so?
I have nothing to do this afternoon so will most likely call for Mrs Bentley & get her to take me a walk somewhere, as all my packing is done.
With much love my dearest girlie
Yours for all time
Harry
I shall soon be able to give you all the kisses you want but not all that I want to give you. Reckon an average of fifteen a day which is very small that makes almost a thousand. My word we shall be busy making up for lost time.
P.s. Please give my love to Mother & Tom & tell her. No I’ll send a p.c. & tell her myself.