Every day we receive jam, bacon or ham, bread, tinned meat (commonly
known as bully-beef), biscuits, and cheese. We do not get a lot, but
enough to keep us in trim and free from want. We also get plenty of
dry tea and sugar. It is quite amusing at first to see the lads making
their tea, a thing they are doing all day long. On this game the boys
generally get together in groups of sixes, draw their rations in bulk,
and mess together. You ought to see their cooking utensils. They use
water-cans, pails, in fact, anything that holds a decent amount of
water: _Sergt. Clark, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry_.
“Merry and Bright”
I see you are all excited about getting us plenty of socks, but Heaven
only knows when we shall get a chance to wear them. I haven’t been out
of my boots for a fortnight. It would be much more to the point if you
were to send us men to give the Germans “socks.” “Merry and bright”
is still our motto. Don’t get downhearted, no matter what you hear at
home. Some of these days things will come all right. Keep your eyes
wide open, and you will have a big surprise sooner than you think.
We’re all right, and the Germans will find that out sooner than you at
home: _Private J. Willis_.
Next, Please!
I have never seen our lads so cheery as they are under great trials.
You couldn’t help being proud of them if you saw them lying in the
trenches cracking jokes or smoking while they take pot-shots at the
Germans.... We have very little spare time now, but what we have we
pass by smoking concerts, sing-songs, and story-telling. Sometimes we
have football for a change, with a German helmet for a ball, and to
pass the time in the trenches have invented the game of guessing where
the next German shell will drop. Sometimes we have bets on it, and
the man who guesses correctly the greatest number of times takes the
stakes: _Sapper Bradle_.
That “Interest”
We are at present living in a school, and it seems funny to see so
many soldiers’ beds on the floor. Our bedding (don’t laugh) is one
waterproof sheet and our coat for a blanket; and still we are all as
happy as sand-boys. We have been here some time now enjoying a rest,
and at the same time getting fitted out again for the front. As you
can imagine by reading the papers, nearly everything we had--horses,
carts, wagons, cookers, and Maxims--were all blown in the air by German
shells, but I am thankful to say we have got over all that, and shan’t
forget to pay out Johnnie German with interest the first time we have
the luck to meet him again, which we all hope won’t be long, as the
sooner they are crushed the sooner we will get home again: _A Private
of Keith, N.B._