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Well, my dear, for a change the rain has ceased and we are having good stiff fronts which in a way are more bearable than the everlasting damp and mud The last hour in trenches was a horrible nightmare. We went in just after a very heavy rainstorm had done its deadly work and suffered ourselves from considerable deposit of moisture. The soil here seems to lack any cohesive quality while its adhesive properties are abnormally developed. Consequently it was a great struggle to keep our little homes and ditches from crumbling, to keep the water running off and to keep ourselves from becoming absolutely encased in a sarcophagi of vile smelling clay. However, we are constantly borne up in our labour by the absolute certainty, topographically deduced and confirmed by military intelligence whose transmittance into civilian keeping is forbidden by our code, that Fritz opposite is two or three "damnsights" more uncomfortable than we are. If this good frosty weather keeps up for awhile we shall soon have things ship-shape for the rains of next month.