November 17, 1917

Dear Mother,
With great pleasure I have received your letter of October 18th in which I read that it was so cold that you could not leave the house for two days.
In that case it must have been really tough.
Mother, probably you will think "Our Jules doesn't write so often anymore".
Well, I'll tell you why.
I have been in heavy battle, but with the help of God, I escaped without injuries.
Your high boots arrived just at the right time.
After just two days we moved farther on.
I have had the boots made a bit higher.
I paid ten dollars to have it done.
Now they are very good shoes.
You may not believe this, Mother, but in some places the mud came over the top of the boots. It's really tough here.