our
back yard.

The new town was larger than our old one, but very uninteresting and
very dirty in the winter months. The people were distinctly rougher in
dress, appearance and manners than those in France farther from the
Belgian frontier, differences possibly due to the effects of mixture
with Flemish blood. The surrounding country was rolling and much
prettier than that around Merville and it was a great relief to be
able to rest the eyes with the diversities of a rolling landscape
instead of constantly looking out upon a deadly monotonous level
country.

The headquarters of the Canadian corps was in the town and the
Canadians occupied the front line at, and north of, Ploegsteert wood,
opposite the Messines-Wytschaete ridge.

For days and weeks officers and men kept calling to get the news from
home in Canada, particularly about recruiting, and they would listen
as long as I would talk. Favorite questions were: "What does the
corner of King and Yonge streets look like?" and "How is Tommy
Church?"

Among those who called was General Mercer to whom I had brought a box
of candy from one of his office staff in Toronto and he stayed for
half an hour while I told him all the home news. We dined with him
that night and had a very pleasant evening with his staff, Lt.-Col.
Hayter, Lt.-Col. McBrien, Captain Gooderham, Lt. Cartwright; the
General was very optimistic as to the final result of the war, though
he felt that it would last at least three years longer.

Our laboratory was now located in a school which was being utilized as
part of No. 2 British casualty clearing station and the first visit I
made to this hospital was to see an old school friend, Captain Cole,
the medical officer of the Princess Patricia's who was there with a
bullet through his lungs. The very first day after his arrival from
the base after an attack of pneumonia he was caught by a sniper. He
made an uninterrupted recovery and eventually returned to active
service.

The British Army in France was steadily growing larger and troops were
beginning to be shifted about to give place to new divisions coming
into the line to train. A new division is never put directly into the
firing line and given a section of front; that would be too risky. The
new division is billeted in the area back of the lines and is
gradually brought up towards the front. The infantry is put into the
reserve and front line trenches by platoons and companies and mixed
with