r with
the A.S.C., and the night before with Major Warder, of the Scots, and
the Signalling Officer of the Brigade had dinner with us. You will be
surprised at the menu:--Soup, lobster, roast beef and fried potatoes,
chocolate blancmange, welsh rarebit, coffee. Quite good for France.
Fuller, my servant, cooks for us, and he is turning out a genius as a
cook; he cooks toppingly. We have rather to try and make ourselves
pleasant to other people, when we are an independent unit, they can do
so much for us. A captain of the A.S.C. took me into the town I have
often mentioned before--20 miles from here. I wanted to buy a
gramophone, a lot of people have them in the dug-out. I am thinking of
getting one. Will you ask May to get me two catalogues, one of Decca
gramophones and one of Master's Voice. If I go on like this I expect
you will all be coming out here for a holiday. We fired off our guns
the other night and the Colonel in command of the R.E.'s came to see
us fire. I asked him to dinner, but he could not come.

I cannot write a long letter, but will write again soon. To-morrow we
go towards the trenches and will be in them in a day or so. Much love
to all,

From your loving Son,
ALEC.

11TH SUFFOLKS,
A/101 TRENCH MORTAR BATTERY,
B.E.F.

This letter is in two parts--this is No. 1.

My darling Mother,--

I have another letter half written to you, but the tablet it was
written on is left at my billet, and, as I rather forgot where I left
off, I hope I will not leave a gap. To-day is Monday, 22nd. As you
know, or will know when I finish the other letter, Friday and Saturday
we moved, and rather marched up, billeting Friday night and on
Saturday night--I won't go into details. On the march we saw an
aeroplane being shelled--a very pretty sight--white puffs of smoke
bursting all round it; one bit of shrapnel fell quite near us and made
one of the brigade sergeants quite excited. I am writing this in
comfort in bed in my dug-out, though my eyes keep trying to close; I
am a bit tired, but I shall get a good night's sleep, I hope. It is
now nearly eleven. On Sunday morning I came up early to prospect round
the trenches, and to take over from the battery we were rel