France July 23/16 Dear Father, I rec' your letter the other day and was very pleased to hear from you. I wrote to Mother yesterday but was too late for the out going mail so will post both today. It is Sunday today and we are just in from church parade. It was communion today and I stayed for it. We held church service out in the open and it is certainly a beautiful day. I am afraid our visit is going to be cut short very soon as there is some talk of us going up the line very soon, but we have been out here for eight days and that is not too bad. So you are having rainy weather. It is to be hoped that it won't rain too much to spoil the harvest. How is the hay crop this season? They grow most rye grass around here perfect and a little clover. One thing they have good cattle in France as they have good feed for them. The average farmer has about two horses. I saw a Massey Harris binder in one of the towns around here and it seems to be a new thing around here as all the hay is cut by hand. It is too bad about Jack Higham getting killed. We didn't hear till a few days ago and Jack Lovett told us that Jeremy Deeks saw his grave in Ypres. He was in the Trench Mortars.  Well Father this is about all the news I have to tell. I told Mother nearly all the news. From your loving son Jim