Received a letter from Dad and two from Mater today.  Also one from Gren which made me almost faint with surprise.

Am so glad that trade is so good.  Am sure that the new optical dept. will be a great success.  It would be lots of fun to see what signs old Jebb will put in his window.
Do you remember the fuss he made when Graham was at “Diamond Hall.”

By the way I am receiving “beaucoup” dollar bills from you people now.  Quite a fine idea, everybody tells me.

Do you know that I’m very very ashamed of myself for letter writing for the past few weeks.  Do you know everybody is in the same position.  That is, all are confessing there inability to write letters home or elsewhere for that matter.

However I’m going to make amends and become a frequent letter writer.  Now I assure you that this promise is not like one of poor Dad’s resolves to get to the store by eight o’clock or to post the books.  Now that’s surely a slam at the head of the family eh!

So Verva Jackson told you that I was a captain.  I wonder who wrote her that letter.  I’ll have to ask her.  I’d like to know who knows her in this crowd.

Well I’m not a Captain yet by any means yet.  I have been acting captain for over four months now however.  Whether I’ll get the rank or not yet remains to be seen.  Candidly speaking I don’t think I will.  The reasons are simply these.  There are others senior to me, to whom promotions are coming before me.  However I’m getting quite high on the list now.  If I had the luck to be sent out here six months before I would be a captain today but then you see I wasn’t, so to follow the argument there you are.  Might say that I’m still holding down my job however, and it is certainly a very good experience for me.

Do you know that I have been nine months in this country now.  That is quite a long stretch too.  As yet I have never missed a single trip in the line except when I was on leave nor have I been sick for a single day.  That’s pretty lucky too you know.  I want to see a year in France at the least however.  People need to talk in terms of months of the time they spent in France.  Now they talk in terms of years.  Thus I want to have at least a year to my credit.

Had a letter from Leslie the other day.  Said that he had a suit of civies and was also going before a board.  Well I surely hope that he is marked “Canada”.  I have absolutely set my heart upon his getting home.  I know it would do you all good to see him again.  Two years is a long time to be away you know.  I guess I’ll be away a little longer than that all right.  However I certainly hope that August sees him home O.K.  It ought to you know if he has any luck at all.

Would like to see Les in civies again.  Am going to get a suit myself the next time I go on leave.

OH.  I’ll be glad to hear when I have paid Les all the money I owe him.  Five hundred dollars isn’t bad you know.  Its all in a start.  I must be somewhere near it now.  Then I have the odd hundred over here.  And that helps some too.  Lord only knows when I’ll ever get leave again.  It is coming so slowly now that it just about might as well stop altogether.  However I may get it about Xmas, and that’s a pretty fair time to get it too.

Well how did the “Tizzie Wizzie’s” party come out.  I really would like to have been there.  How is that fat Wallace girl.  I forget what her name is now but I went to school with her anyway.  We were in about the same class I think.  She couldn’t learn and I didn’t try very hard I suppose.  Poor old Pick Lillie.  I see by the Packet he has sold his house.  Surely he hasn’t moved from Orillia.  I’ll never forgive him.  I sent him an Xmas card which he didn’t answer.

Am so glad that you have received my aireoplane.  That little souvenir was made not so very far from the front line and near to the spot where Leslie was wounded.  I think if it were polished a bit it would be O.K.  I was rather nervous about it as I sent it from the line in a box I received from home and also the cloth came off a parcel from Molly Downey I think.  But it was packed in official stationery you remember.  I took the paper out of my waste paper basket and sorted all important “dope” out of it.  Still it was hardly the right thing but what could I do.  OH well as long as it has really arrived why worry.

We are having kind of a windy and rainy period over here ourselves just now.  However one learns how to get wet and merely laugh and say – “Send her down Davy, send her down.”
I suppose you will be or rather are delighted to see that the Alies still have a powerful kick left.  Certainly “channel Heinie up” down south this time.  Well he can take a whole lot of it too.

The Yanks are coming over here to make good our losses – not only that, but will increase our strength.  Whereas the Boche is losing men and lessening his reserves all the time.  That’s what we want him to do.  The Yanks will be alright too.  I’ll never forget the first American officer I had up the line with me for instructional purposes.  He was an awfully nice fellow.  Didn’t boast a bit.  I’ll never forget as I was taking him overland one night how curious he was.  He couldn’t tell our Machine Guns from the Boche.  OH well they’ll soon learn and I often think that its better not to know anyway.  This war hasn’t affected my nerves yet – not a bit but I know that I’ll never feel as safe as I did at Paschendaele again.  Simply because I know more.  However lets get off the subject of war.  I think it has changed us all a little.  We can say with the French – “C’est la guerre.”

At present we are enjoying life at the war.  I have a good billet.  Nice bed.  Soft & springy.  Big French windows.  Madame always gave me strawberries and cream.  Now it is cherries.  Both are beautiful however.

Am so sorry to hear that M. Deans has given up hope about Harold.  Poor Hal.  I often think of the many castles in Spain which we constructed.  Lots and lots of them.  He was a good fellow sure enough.

Well dear people I’ll have to say goodnight.  I picked up a remark in Mother’s letter to the effect that Dad had new teeth.  Is that so.  Now that’s fine.  I’ll have to have a picture of Dad showing a sunny smile.  Then I’ll be able to judge the improvements on their merits.
Well good bye – Have received the socks – Annie McIntyres syrup which by the way had run out of a hole in the bottom of the can.  Don’t tell him that however.  Say I appreciated it very much.  So I do.  Luckily the socks weren’t touched.

Thanks for the birthday wishes.