When at last our train started, amid rousing cheers
for the ladies and a fluttering of white handkerchiefs from
the little group on the station platform, we seemed to leave
the last of civilisation behind.
"Before midnight we were under shell-fire in the Infantry
Barracks of Ypres."
He writes to his mother:
"My word we _were_ tired at the end of the journey. We are
stationed in the military barracks of the city, and have had
a chance of looking round the town. The buildings,
especially the cathedral, are very much damaged. The only
discomforts are the lack of food and the absence of money to
buy it. Both G. and I landed here without a penny, but
managed to borrow enough to buy a loaf. We know now what it
is to be hungry; we have 1/4 lb. of bread a day only, and no
milk in the tea, so you can see that what you want you must
buy, and it's terribly expensive here, 6_d_. for a loaf,
etc. But we shall be paid in a day or so. The only things
which are really necessary, and which we cannot get here,
are candles and Oxo cubes. Although I don't want to be a
burden to you, I should like you to send 1 lb. of candles
and some cubes. The candles are used for boiling water or
tea, etc., in the trenches, and it is the only way we can
get anything hot.
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