Letters from France | Page 8

we had a brigade alarm and were out
from 7 till 12. I had only had six biscuits and some milk, so I did not
feel very strong.
To-day being Saturday we have done little, and we bicycled into the
same huge town to make some purchases. Don't send me cigarettes
unless I write again for them, as I find I can get them cheaper from the
Officers' Canteen out here. I must close now as we move to-morrow a
few miles nearer the firing line and billet again, but we shall still be
rather safer than we were in England. Well, write again as soon as
possible.
Much love to all, from your loving Son, ALEC.

11TH SUFFOLKS, B.E.F., January 23rd, 1916.
My darling Mother,--
I have just received a parcel from you; I might almost say the parcel. I
never remembered ever having received a parcel which caused me
greater pleasure. I opened one end of it and took out each article in turn
and each article was simply delightful. It was really like an unexpected
Christmas, or a visit to the perfect grotto. There is only one thing,
mother, that you really must not do, it is simply spoiling one as it is
impossible to realise that one is supposed to be on active service, when
we are billeted in extremely comfortable billets, and given all the
luxuries one could possibly desire. I thought that once we left England
we should have to say good-bye to comfort, but not a bit of it. I can say
with perfect truth that nowhere in England were we half so comfortable,
or did have half so easy a time as here. We sleep in absolute comfort
and warmth, we are fed far better than in any hotel outside London, and

we are given just enough exercise to keep us fit. Most people told us
before we came out here that the billets were not at all comfortable, and
we expected to be in any old cowshed. Our last billets were extremely
comfortable and our new ones are equally so. Rotten billets are usually
only given to troops who leave their billets untidy when they leave.
Before we leave we are always very careful to leave ours clean and so
we get good ones. Early this morning we moved our billets again and
are now some 16 miles from the firing line. Continuing from where I
left off in my last letter. Quite unexpectedly we had to move on
Saturday night. Unfortunately practice night alarms have been very
frequent lately, and so we were prepared to move quickly. Every other
night last week, almost, we had practices. We were warned that we
were to be ready to move on Saturday night any time after midnight,
and, as a matter of fact, had two or three hours to get our things ready.
We went to bed and got the word to move early this morning. We
marched for about three hours and arrived here in comfort in the
morning, and found we only had one very dirty and tumbledown farm
for the company. Within about three hours we had cleared every barn
of old straw, clothes, boots, tins, &c., put new straw in, and are now
quite comfortable, the officers have a sort of sitting room again, with
one bed in it, two on the bed, two on the mattress, and one on the floor,
and I expect we shall be very comfortable. As we did not seem to have
any food for the officers the farm people asked us if we would like
some chickens. And we had soup, the typical French pot-au-feu, which
they keep on the fire and put all scraps into it and which makes
delicious soup, chickens, fruit salad, and cafe noire, which all French
people know how to make. To-morrow we will spend in making the
place like a palace. Don't send me any more cigarettes. The ones I have
just received will come in very handy as I am short, but in future I can
get them out here cheaper.
Much love to all, and especially to you, Mother dear.
From your loving Son, ALEC.

11TH SUFFOLKS, B.E.F., January 24th.

My darling Mother,--
To-day we were expecting to get up late, parade this morning 9-30, but,
unfortunately, we were wakened at 7-0 o'clock and told to parade at 8-0
for inspection by our Corps Commander, and spent the whole morning
standing still while we were inspected. It is extremely tiring to stand
still for half an hour or more, more tiring than marching for hours. The
rest of the day we spent cleaning up everything. Now we are sleeping
in three different rooms. In here two sleep, and we all eat in another
room, six