From: Witley Camp
3 Jan. 1917

Dear Mother -

Your letter of Dec. 12 didn't reach me till New Year's Day so, altho you wrote it just a week after the one previous, it didn't reach me till after an interval of eleven days, four or five days overdue. Such things are bound to happen sometimes and some of my letters may be delayed as well, for instance, when we go to France, they might be held back for a few days so that your mail may be irregular. This time, there was a reason for it. We got practically no letters at all Christmas week. They were evidently held over and the right of way given to Xmas parcels of which very many came in that week.

I got a letter from Harley on Dec. 27. He had received my letter and also one from Gladys. He is very busy at present in a Battalion Orderly Office. Owing to some trouble with his heart, he will be unable to go to France for some time. His address now is - 1st C.C.F. Batt., Highcroft, St. Helens, Hastings, Sussex. I also, on that day, received a card from Nina Tennant. I had sent her a card just for fun a month before that, and she was very prompt in answering - promises a letter. But, I have not had a letter from Ollie who you said might write nor from Rev. W.W. Purvis, nor Wilbert. Nina's card was written on Dec. 14, four days after Aunt Bertha wrote, but I got it 4 days before Aunt Bertha's letter, as I did not get it till Dec. 31. It was a very nice letter indeed. Our letters crossed, I guess, as I wrote her a letter on Dec. 11. I also got a letter from Gladys on Dec. 31, written on the 10th. I was beginning to wonder what had happened to her as there were three letters of mine I thought she should have received since writing last. She got all three all right and her letter was delayed, you see. On Dec. 29, I received a parcel which I, at first, thought was from Aunt Lettie as Cecil said she sent one but it was from Queen's University - from Arts '17 At Home to '17 Overseas. I suppose all 17 members received similar parcels. It contained two parcels, one for me and the other for Erwin - we are the only two from '17 in the Battery. So, I took the two parcels into him and we opened them together. Contents were identical - a little package of figs, a couple of cakes of Baker's chocolate and a box of cigarettes, also a little card telling who it was from and mine contained a letter from one of the girls of '17. You see, whole parcel was addressed to me. Erwin was only in the year for the first two terms and isn't so well known I guess. The letter was a very short one and contained merely some news of the college and the year. I guess the girls were each given a certain fellow of the year who is overseas to write to. They did that in Arts '18 too. It is quite an idea, is it not? We decided that there were two letters to write - one to the Sec. of the Year, thanking them for parcel and the other to the girl (Violet Cook - I never met her but believe she took Math with me for a couple of years). Those two letters have just been written tonight - we have been rather busy lately. I wrote the letter to the Sec. and we both signed it - a joint letter and a hard one to write as it will likely be read to a '17 year meeting but Erwin did not want to write - thought he couldn't, so was satisfied with what I sent. I also sent an answer of a couple of pages to the girl. It was rather funny us getting a package of cigarettes (they were a good kind, I guess - 20 in package) as neither of us smoke. Erwin said he was going to give his to someone and I passed mine around the hut and gave rest to Bdr. Van Blaricom.

Yesterday, I had a letter from Miss Josephine Stagg - a very interesting letter, 13 pages of writing paper - she enclosed a couple of snaps & a programme of the B.C.I. commencement. By the way, she won the medal for Highest Marks last year in passing from Form II to Form III, also year before. She says there is another pair of sox on the way - the idea! Its funny but she writes as tho she had known me for a long time but then I am a long distance away and, like some other girls, (Gladys for instance), she thinks a person in khaki, if he is anyways decent at all, is just about OK, while others not in khaki are just the opposite. I can't for the life of me see why it should make such a difference to them.

I guess Gladys has not told me as much as you think as she has never said a word about Wilbert, or of having heard from him, but I wondered whether she had not been getting letters from something she said in one of hers, which I thought she could only have heard thru him. I believe she is doing very well indeed at Normal.

Things are going along pretty smoothly here. Weather lately has been very warm. I suppose it is cold with lots of snow at home. On the 7th, most of the battery goes to Lark Hill on Salisbury Plain to get some firing practice on the artillery ranges there. We will probably be away a week or ten days. Then, if we have done well at Lark Hill, the end of month will probably see us on way to France. There, to get more training for a while, I suppose.

Well, it is now 9 o'clock and the YMCA is closing up, so very best of love to all,
Yours affectionately,
Gordon