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a trifle smashed up, but the rest was in fine shape. The peanut brittle was "simply immense" while that plum chutney disappeared at one meal, a. goodly quantity being assimilated by me, and the rest decorating the interiors of Jock Bevoy, Finn Reid, Sammy Hay and Jack Keech, That G.W,ooffee is certainly fine dope. We finished it up la,st night. Am mighty sorry you couldn't send along all that cake of A.unt Annie's for it was certainly mighty nice, Tandy and fresh too. Thank her very very much for me, will you Mother,
Bill, Hank and Piute were down to see me a couplce of days ago, just before we pulled out of the line. The tv/o Macs expect to go over on Blighty leave in a couple of weeks. Will if they pull through the dirty work that is in front of them, safely, why fourteen days leave in Blighty will seem like Paradise to them. Hank looks a little thinner, but hasn't that emaciated look you speak of. French photography- the cheap kind- never seems to flatter a man- that's sure, Piute and Goldie had a fine time on their leave, eight days in Marseilles and four in Paris,
I suppose the idea of being under canvas in November doesn't appeal to you one little bit. Under certain conditions it isn't too bad though. You see there are just six of usin the tent,the floor is covered with pea straw, and we have plenty of blankets.
Of oourse it is rather chilly in the mornings, but a fellow can always duck his head under the blankets as a last resort.
The place in which we are living at present is a Trappiste Monastery- if you know what sect they are, I'm sure I don't. The Monks- 2o in number- are all old men, bearded and with shaven polls. Outside of the Superior only one of them is allowed to speak each day so they aren't chatter-boxes by any means. On the gate is a sign in French forbidding women to enter. To my,way of thinking the whole bunch of them should be chloroformed, and the world would be — better off. And by the way, this place is about a mile away from the farm on which we camped before leaving Belgium for the Somme.
Also our dressing station was in the same old mill that we used last year. The old asylum just out of Ypres is battered beyond all recognition.
Yes, Goldie is a I/O all right. At least he was a couple of months ago, so suppose he still retains that exalted rank. The commission he is trying for is in the R.F.C, He seems quite keen on it too. Well, he's a dare-devil kid, and just the type to make a good flying man.
It rather amuses me to hear of an aeroplane ambulance, for it clearly shows that the person suggesting it hasn't the faintest idea of what a modern battlefield is like, V*hy the closest aerodrones are farther back of the line than the Casualty Clearing Stations from which the hospital trains leave. Take this particular front for instanoe. For a distance of from six to eight miles back of the front line the ground is so torn up by shells, that it would be highly dangerous for a plane to attempt a landing there, let alone
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