ce wandered about as he listed. My interpreter, a French-Canadian,
was amazed.

_A member of the London Scottish writes:_

IN THE TRENCHES, Nov. 11.

This is our third day in the trenches. We have not had an attack yet,
though there has been hard fighting on our immediate right and left.
We are fairly safe here behind barbed wire entanglements, and this
would be an easy job if one could get used to the row and the watching
through the night, which is rather nerve-racking. This trench is in a
bonnie fir wood, just like bonnie Scotland, but the shell fire has
damaged nearly all the trees. Today, being windy, they are falling in
all directions. We have not had a hot meal since we came here. We are
not allowed to build fires, and it is impossible to get anything hot.
We have lost our blankets again in the meantime. I am just going to
have my lunch of "bully" and bread and plain water.

Nov. 18.

We have had a pretty rough time lately. Last night was the first for
ten days that I have had a roof over my head. The weather has been
atrocious--pouring rain and driving, cutting snow--but it did not get
through my overcoat, which is richly caked with mud. We have had a
fortnight's fighting and have marched back now from the firing line
for a short rest to refit. It meant two days' marching through roads
and fields ankle deep in clinging, porridgy mud, but we were all glad
enough to put up with any hardship so long as we got away from the
strain of flying shells and bullets. In the trenches we lost some more
of our men, but not many. I just wish you could see our battalion now;
what a change from the crowd that used to march through London. Every
man, almost, has a beard, and you could not imagine the dirty,
bedraggled crowd we are. The strain of watching through the night in
the trenches is pretty awful. The nights were pitch black, and the
rain came pouring down, making the trenches an awful mess. One chap
gave a loud cry in his sleep. Thinking it came from the wood in front,
I blazed away. We sent a burial party out in front of us one morning.
There must have been hundreds of Germans lying there, with thousands
further on. All we could do was just to cover them with earth. It was
a horrible sight, and it is impossible for you folks at home to
realize anything of the awfulness of this war. This awful pace surely
cannot last long. But despite all the discomfort, I would not have
liked to miss the chance of doing my part h