Letters from France | Page 7

intervals. Really, I only understood a little of it.
To-day it is drizzling, and I must go and lecture my platoon on the use
of gas helmets. I have just received May's letter (Tuesday, January 18th,
to-day, I think). Please let me know when you receive mine so that I
can know how long they take to go. Some of the people are very
difficult to understand, as they talk half Flemish and half French, at
least many of the farmers do. We are about 24 miles from where Arthur
was in the firing line, and the big train, where I went with a fatigue
party, is the headquarters of my friend, the general, whom I was with in
1912. I can't tell you more than that. It will be an interesting little
puzzle for you to solve. I will despatch this letter now. It is rumoured
that we shall see Joffre in a few days or so, but it is probably not so.
It seems very funny out here. We have no need to put our blinds down
at night, no trouble about lights on cars, while in London and
Cambridge one lives in inky blackness. The socks are very welcome.
Much love, from your loving Son, ALEC.
P.S.--My letters are getting short, because they are sent off at short
intervals.

11TH SUFFOLKS, B.E.F., Wednesday, 19th.
My darling Mother,--
I have just received a very welcome letter from you. I append a list of
things I want and would be very grateful for at times:--
1. Powdered milk. 2. Tea cubes. 3. One tablet coal tar soap (Wright's).
4. Mixed soups. 5. A warm pair of bedroom slippers.
I did not enclose a note in my last letter, as I have only French money. I

will do so as soon as possible!
As a week has gone, I can tell you we crossed Folkestone to Boulogne
and passed through Calais on the way here. I don't think I can tell you
any more. Perhaps you can understand my reference in the last letter, if
you cannot no one else can.
Could you not get Finlay's to send cigarettes out of bond to me. Try, at
least, with a small quantity, and I will let you know if I receive them--it
is so much cheaper. I must have cigarettes, and Seddon says his brother
always received his all right.
The weather has been beautifully fine, if slightly cold, the last week or
so. I do hope Father is getting better now, I was awfully sorry to hear
he has been ill. Now that we live in more luxurious circumstances,
Graves, Major Morton's servant, does our cooking. Foster came to
dinner in order to play bridge afterwards, and we had a pleasant meal,
consisting of soup, roast beef, and apple fritters, and had a rubber or
two afterwards. To-day we have done a few parades and practised for
the inspection. I told you about it in my last letter and it is coming off
to-morrow (Thursday). We paid out this morning; we each have to pay
our own platoons in francs and to sign lots of documents, and to get the
men to sign is rather a job. We marched out to-day and the whole
division was drawn up along the road two deep, and we had to wait two
or three hours in a piercing wind, with squalls of rain and sleet, to be
inspected. Then we were inspected by General Joffre and Sir Douglas
Haigh, who went slowly past in a car, followed by 13 other cars. You
must remember that the division would stretch for 12 or 15 miles along
the road. We returned a little time ago to our billets and have just had
tea. Some of the French papers have a German official communique in
them saying that the 34th Division has been badly cut up. Well, the
34th Division is ours, and we have not even seen a German yet, nor
even come within miles of one, so they must have been very clever.
P.S.--I am starving for cigarettes, please get some sent out of bond. I
am sorry to ask for so many things and to cause you trouble, but I hope
you don't mind. Please give my especial love to the Aunts and Aunt
Polly and Francis if you get any opportunity, also Uncle Ted. There

was rather an amusing paragraph in the Cambridge evening paper of
January 14th about our departure. I think it is the "Cambridge Daily
News." You might like to write for it. Watch the first letters of each
sentence in my next letter on page 3. Yesterday I was unfortunately
slightly unwell and stayed in bed in the morning and got up in the
afternoon, and in the evening