Tuesday 1st December, 1914: ‘So December already! And still no talk of peace’, writes LW in his private diary. Last night they heard violent cannonade and whizzing bullets. Also, a ship came down the Vistula which every day has a different crew on guard, ‘for example, tomorrow, *us*! What will happen to me?! With these comrades and superiors!’. LW then reports that in the afternoon he went to look for the munitions worker Vlcek, but didn’t find him. LW then records that he has been appointed by the artillery staff department, and anticipates going there tomorrow after his guard duty. He notes that he has done very little (philosophical) work. The entry closes: ‘May the Spirit protect me, whatever happens!’ (GT2, S.35). David Pinsent writes a letter to LW, in which he starts by saying how glad he was to have received a letter from him, which had been sent via Switzerland. Since the war began, Pinsent notes, he has received three of LW’s letters, and since September 1st has himself sent two, via a cousin of his who lives in Italy. He hopes LW will have received them, since he knows they have been forwarded from Italy. This letter, he is going to send via Switzerland. Pinsent reports that he was in Cambridge about a month ago, for two nights, and that he saw Russell and G.H.Hardy, who both asked after LW. Pinsent told them what he knew of LW, and that he had joined the army as a volunteer. Pinsent reports that he himself had tried to join the British army, but had been deemed not up to the medical standard for a Private, being too thin, and was unable to get commissioned as an officer. So he has decided to go on as a civilian, ‘as usual’, reading Law. Pinsent closes his letter by saying that he is thinking of LW often, and hoping all is well with him. ‘When this war is over we will meet each other again. Let’s hope it will be soon!’. After signing off ‘G’Dave’, he tells LW how glad he is that he (LW) has done mathematical work recently, relates that he wishes LW was here so they could talk about G’Log again, and remarks that ‘I think it was splendid of you to volunteer for the Army – though it is horribly tragic that it should be necessary’ (Pinsent, pp.98-99). In his notebook entry for this day, LW notes that a proposition says, so to speak, ‘This picture cannot (or can) present a situation in this way’ (NB, p.34).
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 07:32:58 +0000
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