Walter Blythe's last letter to Rilla Blythe

Walter wrote a final letter to Rilla, before he died.



Letter
   "We're going over the top tomorrow, Rilla-my-Rilla," wrote Walter. "I

wrote mother and Di yesterday, but somehow I feel as if I must write you

tonight. I hadn't intended to do any writing tonight–but I've got to. Do

you remember old Mrs. Tom Crawford over-harbour, who was always

saying that it was 'laid on her' to do such and such a thing? Well, that is

just how I feel. It's 'laid on me' to write you tonight–you, sister and chum

of mine. There are some things I want to say before–well, before

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">tomorrow.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">"You and Ingleside seem strangely near me tonight. It's the first time

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">I've felt this since I came. Always home has seemed so far away–so hopelessly

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">far away from this hideous welter of filth and blood. But tonight it

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">is quite close to me–it seems to me I can almost see you–hear you speak.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">And I can see the moonlight shining white and still on the old hills of

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">home. It has seemed to me ever since I came here that it was impossible

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">that there could be calm gentle nights and unshattered moonlight anywhere

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">in the world. But tonight somehow, all the beautiful things I have

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">always loved seem to have become possible again–and this is good, and

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">makes me feel a deep, certain, exquisite happiness. It must be autumn at

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">home now–the harbour is a-dream and the old Glen hills blue with haze,

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">and Rainbow Valley a haunt of delight with wild asters blowing all over

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">it–our old 'farewell-summers.'

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">"Rilla, you know I've always had premonitions. You remember the

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">Pied Piper–but no, of course you wouldn't–you were too young. One

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">evening long ago when Nan and Di and Jem and the Merediths and I

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">were together in Rainbow Valley I had a queer vision or presentiment–

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">whatever you like to call it. Rilla, I saw the Piper coming down the

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">Valley with a shadowy host behind him. The others thought I was only

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">pretending–but I saw him for just one moment. And Rilla, last night I

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">saw him again. I was doing sentry-go and I saw him marching across

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">No-man's-land from our trenches to the German trenches–the same tall

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">shadowy form, piping weirdly–and behind him followed boys in khaki.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">Rilla, I tell you I saw him–it was no fancy–no illusion. I heard his music,

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">and then–he was ''gone. But I had ''seen him–and I knew what it meant–I

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">knew that I was among those who followed him.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">"Rilla, the Piper will pipe me 'west' tomorrow. I feel sure of this. And

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">Rilla, I'm not afraid. When you hear the news, remember that. I've won

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">my own freedom here–freedom from all fear. I shall never be afraid of

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">anything again–not of death–nor of life, if after all, I am to go on living.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">And life, I think, would be the harder of the two to face–for it could never

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">be beautiful for me again. There would always be such horrible things

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">to remember–things that would make life ugly and painful always for

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">me. I could never forget them. But whether it's life or death, I'm not

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">afraid, Rilla-my-Rilla, and I am not sorry that I came. I'm ''satisfied. ''I'll

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">never write the poems I once dreamed of writing–but I've helped to

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">make Canada safe for the poets of the future–for the workers of the future–

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">ay, and the dreamers, too–for if no man dreams, there will be nothing

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">for the workers to fulfil–the future, not of Canada only but of the

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">world–when the 'red rain' of Langemarck and Verdun shall have

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">brought forth a golden harvest–not in a year or two, as some foolishly

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">think, but a generation later, when the seed sown now shall have had

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">time to germinate and grow. Yes, I'm glad I came, Rilla. It isn't only the

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">fate of the little sea-born island I love that is in the balance–nor of

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">Canada nor of England. It's the fate of mankind. That is what we're fighting

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">for. And we shall win–never for a moment doubt that, Rilla. For it

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">isn't only the living who are fighting–the dead are fighting too. Such an

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">army cannot be defeated.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">"Is there laughter in your face yet, Rilla? I hope so. The world will

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">need laughter and courage more than ever in the years that will come

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">next. I don't want to preach–this isn't any time for it. But I just want to

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">say something that may help you over the worst when you hear that I've

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">gone 'west.' I've a premonition about you, Rilla, as well as about myself. I

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">think Ken will go back to you–and that there are long years of happiness

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">for you by-and-by. And you will tell your children of the Idea we fought

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">and died for–teach them it must be lived for as well as died for, else the

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">price paid for it will have been given for nought. This will be part of your

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">work, Rilla. And if you–all you girls back in the homeland–do it, then we

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">who don't come back will know that you have not 'broken faith' with us.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">"I meant to write to Una tonight, too, but I won't have time now. Read

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">this letter to her and tell her it's really meant for you both–you two dear,

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">fine loyal girls. Tomorrow, when we go over the top–I'll think of you

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">both–of your laughter, Rilla-my-Rilla, and the steadfastness in Una's blue

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">eyes–somehow I see those eyes very plainly tonight, too. Yes, you'll both

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">keep faith–I'm sure of that–you and Una. And so–goodnight. We go over

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 22.5pt;"><span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">the top at dawn."