R---- will be chief with two
assistants. There will be forty men nurses--convalescent soldiers--and I
do not know how many more women nurses. I am very glad it has been so
decided, for it is a great pity this place has not been of more use. Our
last lot of men are getting on very well now; but we have had a hard
week, for some of them were very ill. The doctor was very much afraid
one man would lose his arm, but he has managed to save it.

I have grown to be a sort of official shotsnapper for the Ambulance and
village. It is really very interesting and my camera is very good.

Did I send you the snaps of the Bayin baby? She is only nine months old
and runs around like a rabbit--is as pretty as a picture. I am so sleepy
I can hardly see, so good-night.

July 4, 1915.

I was glad to get your letter this week; three weeks on the way is a
long time to wait.

I have such mixed feelings when I hear that the troops have left St.
John. My heart aches for those left behind, but I am so glad to know
they are on the way, for they are needed badly and they will get a royal
welcome, for Canadians have proved their worth. When they were in
barracks and had nothing to do but drill they were not always angels,
but when there was real work to be done their equal was not to be found.
The French papers were full of the stories of their bravery. There were
some officers who said that while others were splendid fighters the
Canadians were marvelous.

It must have been terribly hard for Mrs. ---- to let S---- go. I wish
you would ask her for his address. I will try and get in touch with him
and if he should be ill or wounded tell her I will go to him if I have
to walk to get there. Get D----'s address also, so I can look after him.
When I hear of them all being over here a wave of homesickness comes
over me and I feel that I must go and join them.

There is much to be done on this side now, for the fighting in Alsace
has been terrible. The last lot of soldiers that came were Chasseurs d'
Alpine, and out of one thousand two hundred who went off only five
hundred came back, and the greater number of them wounded.

Fifteen young men from this village have been missing since the terrible
battle of three weeks ago, the deaths of a half a dozen have been
confirmed but of the others nothing is known.

I am afraid there is no chance of the war finishing before the winter is
over