f the shells bursting in front of
our position. We hear all sorts of reports as to what is happening. I
fancy it is fairly even balanced fighting of a very hard sort. An old
lady belonging to the farmer class had her home invaded by the Germans
some time ago. They took everything in the house--food, clothes,
etc.--and presented her with two francs on leaving, saying they always
paid for things! The country is exactly the same as the ground on the
opposite side of the Trent without the hedges. I have seen no chateaux
or anything of that sort about here. It is evidently a peasant's
country. Our men are very funny bargaining with the farmer's wife; now
and then we have to come to their assistance over the money question.
Rather a curious feature in these parts is that most of the farms
have a large wheel for churning attached to the house. A dog is popped
into this wheel, and he then has to run for his life, and so does the
churning! I suppose such an invention would not be allowed in England
on the ground of cruelty nowadays! I am glad to hear that the _Emden_
and _Konigsberg_ have both been settled. I am only sorry about the
ships off Chili. Poor Admiral Cradock! Do you remember him at Dover,
when Lord Brassey gave an entertainment to the Fleet?

Well, I think that is all my news. I can hardly keep awake as it is. A
pretty cold night, but one just has to put up with it. I only wish
that something would happen to end the war with honour to ourselves.

Still it is a mercy to spend a night like this in the house instead of
in the trenches. There is no fresh meat in the country, only tinned
beef for us!...

IN BILLETS.
_November 13th, 1914._

Well, I have not been able to write to you before this, as I try to do
every day. Yesterday, for instance, I was up at 5 o'clock, and after
an hour's parade, shivering in the dark, I then went off to another,
and got back about 1 o'clock. I was instructing my men in the
difference between English and French distances--_i.e._, what 600
yards looked like in this country for rifle ranges, and where an enemy
was likely to hide, etc. In the middle of this the Brigade Major
dashed up in despair, as some order of his had gone astray. I was
wanted to take ten officers at once and to jump into a motor lorry,
and go with a party of 30 others to the trenches. I popped my ten
officers in, and went off