BROWN BROTHERS WRITE FROM FRONT

Mr. and Mrs. James W. Brown, Macleary street, have received letters from two of their sons, Lance Corporal James M. Brown and Pte. Percy Wm. Brown who are in active service at the front. Jim writes as follows:

"Here I am again. I saw Percy a couple of days ago. He is in the transport section of the 16th Battalion and I have been drafter to the same battalion. Percy is looking fine and has quite a lot of experience to relate. I have been in the trenches under shell fire and have seen and smelt the gases the Germans use. All the Nanaimo fellows with us are alive and kicking. I also saw Archie and Henry. They are being drafter to the 15th battalion. I cannot tell you much as the censor is so strict. Remember me to all inquiring friends. Your loving son,

JIM.

Percy writes as follows:

I am very pleased to say I am still sound, also very lucky. I have not written for a few days on account of being so busy and losing everything I had when shelled out. We are having grand weather over here. I have seen Jim but not Archie yet. Jim is looking well. He had a regular beard when I met him but I got him to shave it off. I also saw Jim Prouse Weeks, a boy from Malpass' store and one from the I.X.L. stables called Frenchy. They all looked well and seemed anxious to fight.

Ciss mentioned something about no fun over here. Well, we are having just all the fun we want with "L'Allemandes." The night the fun started I got a sniff of poison gas. It makes your eyes water like onions. The next day I felt dopey and thought I had caught a chill, about the third day I had pains around my heart, it felt as if it was going to jump out of my insides. I was not feeling well for about a week, but it wasn't serious enough to go to the hospital. I didn't think it was this gas at the time but a boy who came out of the hospital told me it affected him the same way only quite a bit worse as he was closer to the deadly fumes. I was quite a distance away but a light breeze was bringing it in my direction. Thank goodness I am quite well again. I only had a slight touch of it so you can imagine what some of the troops suffer.
We are having lots of fresh milk at the front now. We have got the Germans' goat. We really have got two goats here with the transport, one is the Pipers' band mascot and the other is the captured goat. Compree?

Your loving son, PERCY.