LETTERS FROM MEN AT THE FRONT.
(IN FRANCE)
Lieut Earl Croft Writes.

Lieut Earl Croft, who is now with the 19th Battalion, Canadians, France, in a letter says in part:

I came to France on December 23rd, 1917. An occasional letter over here comes very welcome as we are practically shut out from the land of the living. Our huts stand where there was once a large town, but now there is nothing but shell holes and old trenches. You can see some stumps of trees and the wall of a house now and then. I go up to the trenches every other night with a party of men. Recently old Fritz gave us a hard shelling. Fortunately we were near a trench with lots of dugouts and so managed to soon get good cover, and had no casualties. A shell fell just about twenty yards behind me and yours truly was not long in getting into a hole.

For a wash dish we use a square oil can with one side cut out. Our lamps are tin cans with one side cut out, then by placing a candle inside, we have a reflector and lamp too. Our stove is of the same invention. For an elbow we use a square oil can with a hole in the bottom and a hole in the side, and fill up the remaining space with mud, Some class, eh!