FRANCE, March 30th, 1915.
Hullo Vallie! I'm in France at the war at last. How are you? We are
having such a funny time all sleeping on straw on the floor--think of
that when you get into your little cribbie-cot to-night.
I am sitting writing this on a sack on the ground with my back against
Jack's. You remember Jack the cook? In front of me are all the horses
in rows and rows tied to pegs driven into the ground. They are tied by
the head--the way Modestine used to be--to one peg and by the hind foot
to another peg to prevent them turning round and kicking each other.
They don't like having their hind foots tied and pull at them and swear
with their ears and top lips. You remember how your Modestine used to
swear with her ears. They try to kick too, just as she used to do.
There are soldiers all about here, all busy shoving the Germans back
and _shoving_ the Germans back and SHOVING the Germans back, and
sooner or later we shall shove the whole lot of them right back into
Germany over the Rhine--which is a big river--bigger than the river at
Maidenhead--RIGHT back into Germany and off their feet, and then we
shall sit on their heads severely until they have had enough, and then
the war will be over, and we shall just have to tidy up and come home
and I shall come home to you my Darling and the Blessed Mummy and the
nice flat at St. John's Wood, and oh, I do hope it will be soon because
I want to see you and Mummy most awfully.
Good bye my precious, please give my love to Gram and tell her I wish I
could have some English Turkey. And please Vallie send everybody you
can out here to help shove, because the sooner the Germans are shoved
over and the more of us there are to sit on their heads, the sooner I
shall see you all again.
Your DOODY.