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Date: October 22nd 1916
To
Catherine
From
George Leslie
Letter

France
Sun. Oct 22/16

Dear Cath:
I don't know what I'm going to write about but for a starter I'll say that we made the trip across the channel O,K. I've got a new writing pad containing 100 pages and I believe I could fill the whole thing but I don't believe it would pass the censor. Funny isn't it the way you have to rack your brains for news when there is no restriction on what you put down but when you're only allowed to write so much it's different.

I haven't had any mail since we landed but expect here will be a nice bunch of letters waiting for me up the line.

I got a pleasant surprise a couple of days after our arrival. I was just about asleep one night when I heard someone outside ask for me. One of the fellows said I was asleep but the "someone" said "well, wake him up." Of course it was Stub Brown - ha hasn't changed a bit since he left Ridgetown. He was drafted into the 4th bn and got to France a week or so ahead of us. We had a grand old spiel about the old times. I was glad he found us for I wouldn't have known he was here, and he went up the line the next day so chances are we wouldn't have seen each other at all. We also ran across Jimmie Harwood who used to work for Fred Brien.

We had some fun kidding some "Bosher" prisoners we met on the road the other day and they didn't seem to like us any better for it. Some of them could speak English quite well. One of them said it "took a lot of boats to bring the Canadians over here but one would take them all back." I wonder if the poor simps really think so.

Well, so long. Here's hoping the censor doesn't cut very much out of this epistle for it's pretty short as it is.

As ever,
Leslie.

799147
15th Can. Highlanders B.E.F.
1st Division
A.P.O. London

P.S. That's supposed to be a lament for our kilts which have been put on the shelf for the winter. We sure did hate to see them go but I guess the trews will be better for a few weeks. We'll get the kilt again in the spring.