_Letters by Coningsby Dawson_
_British-American Author of Many Notable Books_
Coningsby Dawson, the brilliant young novelist, was 31 years of
age at the outbreak of the war. He was graduated with honors from
Oxford in 1905 and came to the United States to take a theological
course at Union Seminary. After a year at the Seminary, he reached
the conclusion that his life work lay in literature. His family
left England and established their home in Taunton, Massachusetts.
Here, young Dawson began the career which is to place him in the
front rank of modern novelists. At the outbreak of the Great War,
he laid his pen aside and took up his sword for his native country.
Enlisting with the gallant Canadians, he went to the front where
he soon became a lieutenant. His letters home have been collected
by his father and published in book form under the title "Carry
On--Letters in War Time" by _John Lane Company_: Copyright 1917.
These intimate letters written from dug-outs on the Somme battle
fronts in the intervals of incessant artillery fire reveal the
heart of the young man who embodies the elements of greatness.
They breathe the very spirit of heroism. Several of the most
inspirational of these letters are here reproduced.
[6] I--WITH 6,000 TROOPS AND A CONVOY
Ottawa, July 16th, 1916.
DEAREST ALL:
So much has happened since last I saw you that it's difficult to know
where to start. On Thursday, after lunch, I got the news that we were
to entrain from Petewawa next Friday morning. I at once put in for
leave to go to Ottawa the next day until the following Thursday at
Reveille. We came here with a lot of the other officers who are going
over and have been having a very full time.
I am sailing from a port unknown on board the _Olympic_ with 6,000
troops--there is to be a big convoy. I feel more than ever I did--and
I'm sure it's a feeling that you share since visiting the camp--that I
am setting out on a Crusade from which it would have been impossible
to withhold myself with honor. I go quite gladly and contentedly, and
pray that in God's good time we may all sit again in the little shack
at Kootenay and listen to the rustling of the orchard outside. It will
be of those summer days that I shall be thinking all the time.
Yours, with very much love,
CON.