My dear mother,

Here I am back in camp again and as promised in my last letter I am writing again.

I got in here at 11:40 a.m. and after dinner, shaved, cleaned up and went out on parade. We were issued with rifles—Lee Enfields—and will be going on the ranges tomorrow. The Lee Enfield is shorter than the Ross and consequently lighter. The bayonet is a lot longer though so the fighting length of the two rifles is practically the same. The Ross is the best target rifle of the two but the Enfield is better adopted for trench warfare.

Fred received a letter from you today and I had one from Laura. Yours was sent to Saint John and then to the Army Post Office in London. Gee, it was good to get Canadian mail.

I expect we will go to France soon if our shooting is anyways decent. I will be sure and let you know how we make out. Fred is writing you also so you should get both letters in the same mail.

The war news lately has been bad but so far I can’t help it. I hope that some day I may make a start to do my bit. I have left home away behind and I surely want to do something to make it worthwhile. England is feeling the effects of the war, so God only knows what it must be like in Germany.

I am going to make a few prophecies as a result of my travels and observations. Canada will have conscription. England will put liquor where it rightfully belongs. Germany will beat itself. The Allies won’t, they can’t. Germany will be beaten from the inside and the Allies will never get near Berlin. Keep a tab on them and see if they don’t pan out fairly well.

Your loving son,

James

P.S. A brigade is army vocabulary. It is four battalions under a brigadier-general.