Flanders Nov 8 1915. My Dear Mother, I was very lucky last week. Got two letters from home, one from Father 21st & one Oct 25th. Also yours of 21st & Em's 24th. Well all I can say is keep it up as it suits me fine. The socks you mentioned have not arrived yet. I hope they will come, but such things as socks, underclothing & etc have a habit of sticking to someone else's fingers, and if they do not come, all I can do is to hope that some poor beggar got them that needed them worse than I did. I will write and thank Aunt Louisa anyway, for it was real good of her to think of me. Her address, I think, 37 Locomotive St. Is that right? I never wrote there but the number sounds familiar. I am glad you got photos O.K., also that you like them. Aunt Jean got hers alright too. I was thinking I would like Aunt Lizzie to have one. Also Aunt Sarah and Aunt Maggie. So perhaps I had better get three more printed and send them to you & you could give them out for Xmas if they arrived in time. How would that do? I don't want my face stuck all over but if they would like one, and if you would like to give it, I will see to the rest. Let me know as soon as you can will you? I am glad business is looking up for Father. Every little helps these days. I notice in a statement from my lawyer in Wpg. that collections are very poor. I rented my office and for September I received $3.33 rent. Some rent eh? Guess the poor fellow finds it hard to make ends meet. Well, I should worry. I hope he leaves a little of my equipment in the office if he should go broke. I left about $1800.00 worth of stuff in the office, so if he is dishonest he can make quite a nice little haul. However I haven't time to worry about trifles, until we get this job finished. Sometimes it gets rather monotonous over here, and we all wish it was over but no one complains, at least we try not to. We are here till the finish, only we hope it will be soon. Today they shelled us for about an hour, everybody hiked for cellars, but they couldn't hit a barn door. The closest they have ever come to our house is away out in the back yard; and at the far end at that. But they sure make some noise and the fireworks are good. Toronto Ex will look tame after this. They will have to put on some pretty good stuff to interest me next year. In the fireworks line, I mean. I have just had a session with the old priest. He was very angry with one of the batmen today and was going to put us all out tonight. The man told me about it, so forewarned is forearmed. Before he had a chance to get at me, I gave him a cigar, invited him into the room, gave him a seat in front of the fire, and pulled out the French book Father sent over. So we had a smoke together and I told him my Father had sent me the book from Canada, and that I would like a lesson in pronunciation. We had a real good time and we parted the best of friends, and he has forgotten about his troubles. It seems that Wales had taken a small piece of wood for kindling, which belonged to the old man. He was very wroth, and kicked poor fellow out of house and told him not to come back any more. The blooming stick wasn't worth five cents, but they are as mean as sin in lots of ways. But the old chap does like a cigar. You all must have had a busy time of it Red Cross Day. Emily especially must have been done out. However it was all a grand success, and I am glad as the money will do lots of good over here. I got some 'OXO' cubes other day. They make a pleasant change from tea. The coffee is fierce over here. It is nearly all chicory, and when I first landed, I drank so much that it got on my nerves, and used to keep me awake at nights. Something new for me eh, so you see it was poor stuff. I had a little chat with Major Beattie the other day. He was the Chaplain to 1st Brigade, and was with Fred Campbell. I asked him or rather he asked me how I did about drinking over here. I told him I drank white wine when there was nothing else. He said "that is just what I do". He has had to resort to wines and etc about a dozen times. He says he would not drink the water either. Here is a little example of how good the water is. One of the boys up at the trenches used a little of it to bathe his feet. There was nothing wrong with his feet, only they had been wet for several days, so before going out he was changing his socks and bathing his feet. Result ? blood poisoning in [his] legs. All thru this country, just beneath the surface, there are corpses, and if you dig a hole any place, you run across corpses, some of them in advanced stages. They find great difficulty in digging trenches for that reason. So don't blame me if I take what I can get, because I don't like any of it any more than the rest of you, but we must drink something. Had another very busy day today and am fairly tired. The weather has been some better the last day or two, but trenches are bad even yet. The mud in most places (in trenches) is at least a foot deep, and in lots of places they wade about up to their hips. When they come out they look as though they had been rolling in it. But when they get out they laugh about it and say that it makes a nice soft bed anyway. They are fine fellows alright. Lots of love for all family and kind regards to Miss Smith. Don't forget your own dear self. Wilbert