France
13-10-18
Dear Mother,
Thanks for the tin of goods which arrived today. I see it was posted about June 21 so it has been a while on the road, but the contents, honey, sugar, pineapple & lollies, were all in good order & very acceptable, as we are in a rather out of the way spot just now & can get very little in the way of extras. Your letters 56 & 57 have also arrived, & one from Nellie Columb. Am sorry to hear of so many deaths in the district, especially Miss Peters & Miss Sopp. You didn’t say which of the Sopps it was. I knew them both fairly well & I think the elder one had an illness once before. How is Lottie getting on now. I heard she was thinking of getting a position further north but I have heard nothing since. All the old Methodist gang seem to be well scattered now.
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Was a bit surprised to hear that you had bought Prince for 10 pounds. I can see myself having a bit of a fly round when I come back. You say that Maisie told me about Billy bolting but so far have not got the letter. Some months back I posted you a “New Zealander”, but evidently it had not got through when you wrote, if it has gone west let me know & I’ll try again. You seem to have hard luck with the girls’ letters from Pthill, as you say you have not heard from them & I know they have written several times & Elsie sent one of her photos about 6 or 8 months ago. I suppose it can’t be helped & we’ll have to keep on “never-minding”. I think you would be wise to keep those Maori souvenirs for a while until you see what is going to happen. It’s better to be sure than sorry, & there is no great
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hurry for them. Of course I have already told you about our photographic experiences & I suppose by now you will just about have received the prints. I think the tennis one is the best of Elsie, & the group at home is particularly good of Connie. Needless to say I spoilt all the pictures I got into. Might do better next time if I have enough luck. Had a letter from Mabel this week, & she seems to be keeping quite alright again now. Wants to know when I am getting leave. I don’t know if I ever told you that I posted a parcel about Aug 28th containing coins towards the collection. The pay book was blown up that time in Armentieres & those damaged films that I sent later were in it. I don’t know how it got out of my pocket but it was
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lying among the debris & no sign of the tunic any where. I had saved up a good credit but as the book was reported lost they made me start off scratch again but sometime ago I sent the remnant to the Pay office London & they transferred the credit balance into my new book. There was about 15 pounds in it so it was worth a bit of an argument. My second paybook is full up now & as soon as I get things balanced up will send it home too. I posted the pcl in a bit of a hurry as we were shifting & that is why I didn’t write at the time. I see by the paper that the division has been in the thick of it again, in fact they never seem to be out of it. So far have heard nothing about casualties. Everybody is talking peace just now but I hope they don’t cut our terms down just to bring peace a few weeks closer.
Good bye
Love to all
Len
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P.S. I suppose you got a shock on a small scale when you got my last letter with a Blighty stamp on it. The fact of the matter is they used to let us put several letters in a green envelope & address it to the Base Censor, who opened it & sent the letters on. This has been cut out now & every letter needs a green envelope to itself so I have been working my head & when I have
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a few letters I stick them all in one Green env. & address them to Elsie & she sends them on, & returns the envelope for further use, as they are very scarce. Just noticed your letter was written on Aug 5th, the day we spent at B’ham, so you see it is no use worrying, because half the time I am doing tres bon but can’t let you know it.
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12 months yesterday since Passchendaele.
