B.E.F. France

June 6th/18

Dear Brother & All.-

I received yours and mothers letter some time ago and as usual was very glad to hear from you, so now I will write a few lines to let you know that I am O.K. and with the prospects of being able to tell you in the end of this letter that I have received some mail from home to-day, it has been over two weeks since I received my last mail from Canada, but as there is a big rumor of Can. mail coming in to-night I hope to be able to tell you that I received at least two parcels & about six letters, (I am not a h-o-g but I like lots.)

Well Allan you said in your letter that you wished I was there with you to go fishing as there was lots of fish in the creek this year, I, myself would like very much to be there to help you catch some of those fish, (of course saying nothing about helping to eat them) but that is part of the sport anyway, isn’t it? You would have laughed if you had saw an old Froggy that I saw fishing a few days ago when Shorty and I took a walk along a little creek, I asked him as best I could if he was getting any fish, and he turned and looked at me so cross that I thought it nearly time to move on but as he did not attempt to beat me up or anything like that I thought I would just stand my ground and hear what he had to say and in words just as cross as his looks, he said this,- no-o--, all “na-poo”, “Apres Fa Guerre” plenty, I supposed that he meant, that if it had not been for the war that there would always have been lots of fish, and as these people are often in misery through the war being carried on so near their homes I suppose the old lad was feeling kid of sore against it, and naturally thought he was getting a little revenge back by telling me this, but I think I made it quite clear to the old lad, that I did not have anything to do with the starting of the war and that he better get after Old Kaiser Bill about it.

I was glad to hear that you have got another fox-terrier-pup, is he anything like Paddy & have you taught him to kick yet?

That picture of Willie Tyler (Shorty because he is short) & myself was taken in a little French town near hear, by a Froggy, and it only took one day for him to do them, so you see some of these people have got a little business about them. Yes, Allan I have still got the wrist watch that I bought in Victoria and it is keeping good time, it has stopped twice since I came to France, the first time was last July when Alf was here and he helped me to fix it, then it stopped again just a little while before Xmas and I kept pulling it to pieces and putting it to-geather again when ever I had time for about a month but could not find out anything wrong with it except it was very dirty so I give it a good bath in coaloil and it has run good ever since.

That must sure be some teacher that you have got now, maybe the poor fellow has been over to France and has got shell-shock.

I had a letter from a cousin of Jimmy Kingsleys a few days ago, she had been staying with Jimmy at the hospital for several days previous to writing her letter as Jimmy had taken a bad turn but she says he is getting on fine again and is able to be outside in a chair, she says he will be going to Canada as soon as his knee is well enough to move.

I have just been inquiring about the mail and they say it will not be in for about an hour yet so I will finish this letter a little later on.

Well Allan I only received one letter to-night so I guess this is only a start of the Can. mail, but at any rate I was very glad to get this letter of mothers that was wrote on May 3rd but was very sorry to hear that father has had such a bad accident I hope to hear in a couple of days that he is coming around alright again and I also hope that Alf was able to get back home again on leave and I dare say he would, owing to Father having the accident.

Well here it is around nearly to Ethels birth-day again, I am not in a position to send her anything for her birth-day and as I hardly think that the war will be over by the 26th I will not wish her many returns of the day, but I hope the war is over by this time next year, and that we are all home again and then we will make up for lost time.

We are having pretty hot weather here now and every thing is getting dry as a bone as it will be two weeks to-morrow since we have had any rain.

Well Allan as I have got a little work to do before I go to bed I will have to close for this time, hoping to hear soon that Father is getting on alright and that the rest of you are all keeping well as this leaves me fit-as-a-fiddle but tanned as black as Toby’s grand-mother.

From- Your Loving Brother

Edgar