Roffey Camp,
Mar. 3rd, 1916

Dear Mother:
Received your letter yesterday and want to drop you a few lines tonight in time for Saturday's boat. First I will try to answer your letters before I start on any news. Am glad to hear that Earle has got a move and hope it will be more satisfactory than the last one.
Yes, I have been very fortunate in getting letters. The only trouble is to get time to answer them all. In fact of good many of them I can't get answered. Got a letter from Dora yesterday and also a couple from old college chums. You ask about Dan Wedlock. He isn't in the battery. He went to Shornecliffe too with the surplus and I hear that he was going back to Canada. Don't know if it is true or not. Did not get the "Witnesses" you said you sent. Got the bundle of World Wides. About those postcards, I am awfully sorry you didn't get them but somehow never got around to it. However am going to get them off this week.

Now for the letter written on Sunday evening, Feb. 6th. You speak of feeling as though I was right beside you. I remember the day very well. Went to the English church service to in the YMCA hut in to morning. There is no Presbyterian church and I prefer the English service. Have only heard a couple of decent sermons since I came over. Well, Sunday afternoon Lawson and I went up to our room and Lawson had a little touch of homesickness all the afternoon. Roy came in after supper and we all went down to Mr. Debney's after church. We had an hour and a half sing song, then had supper and just before we left - Mr. Debney had family worship. That was the first time that I had been
present at family worship and it was then that I had my first touch of real homesickness. We had late passes and got in at about 11 and as you suggest at the time you were writing, 11:15 by our time I would be praying for those at home. It seems a strange coincidence yet I have often had the same experience since we came over here, and, though 3000 miles apart, I have felt as though you were right beside me. And it seems perfectly natural to me that it should be so for though in body we are far apart I cannot see why we shouldn't be near in spirit

You ask where we are going and why we are going. Well we are still in Horsham and expect to be here for nearly three weeks yet at the least and probably longer. Then we expect to go to Lydd for three or four weeks firing practice then have about two or three weeks at resting school before going to the front. There is no doubt now that we are going to France. I think I suggested in one of my letters that there was a possibility of our going to Egypt but that is out of the question now. That is as far as we know. 1 suppose the 105th is pretty well filled up now. There must be quite a bunch in Charlottetown now
but from reports they are not the splendid bunch of men that the battery boys were. Our battery, now that the bad weeds are gone to Shornecliffe, is as near model as anything can be. They are certainly a splendid bunch of fellows and are doing splendid work. We are considered superior to anything in Camp. By the way Capt. Prowse has been promoted to Major and he certainly deserves it. Is the best officer I have seen yet and is a great favourite with the men.

You ask about our grub and say that there are complaints about it. As a rule those who complained never had half as good at home. For my part I cannot complain. The breakfast and dinner are good, especially dinner. Supper sometimes is not up to the mark but we are well paid and can afford to buy a lunch for ourselves at bedtime. We would do that anyway no matter how good supper we got. As for letters published in the papers don't pay any attention to them as fellows get a little grouch about something and write home with instructions that their letters be published. I know of more than one case where this has happened. And when I think of it I don't want any of my letters published. I don't believe in sticking personal letters in the paper. You speak of the officers of the 105th being a weak lot. They certainly are. I do know some of the fellows who have got commissions who are hardly 18 yet and who got there by pure pull. In fact anyone who had a little pull could get a commission no matter who it was.

About sending those socks I hardly know what would be the best thing to do. Will speak to Mr. Hooper tomorrow morning in class and let you know what he says. The two disadvantages that I see are the dividing of them so that the ones who really need and deserve them would get them. Of course I would leave that to the officers. And in sending them to a private individual there would be postage while in going to the Red Cross headquarters it would, I think, go free. And again we have just been issued with three good pairs of socks which along with the ones we have now gives a pretty good supply. If you have sent them before you get this it will be all right but if not I think you better wait till I see what the officers say.

Now for what little news I have. I intended to write Sunday but our battery went on guard duty Saturday night and in order that we would not lose any drill they put a telephonist on guard for Sunday. This is the first time I have done guard since we came over on the boat.
We are taking up special four-weeks instructions course in telephony. Started this today and we are getting on famously.Out of the hundred signallers in the brigade about 50 are taking the course. Out of that 50 they have picked an advanced class of 20, 16 of them belong to our battery and the remaining four to the 97th. Not too bad a showing for the 98th. I am lucky enough to be one of the lucky 20. We had a little test day before yesterday on the work we have gone over. Had five good hard questions but got on fine. Had all correct or as we say RD which is the everyday word for "done correctly". It is a very common word with signallers and you will understand any "RD's" that creep into my letters We also had a bunch of tests today on buzzers and I made an RD at 16 words a minute which is twice the rate at which we have to qualify. Also an RD in semaphore at 10 words, our qualifying rate and in flags - Morse at 8. I had one mistake due to someone passing between me and the sender. Then to finish off we had to make three separate drawings, one a complete drawing of the Lister Phone and the other sections of the Mark III telephone. I got an RD out of this also. He said my drawings were good so I did not make out too bad.

We had it quite wintry here for about a week - had about eight inches of snow and one night mercury dropped almost to zero. It was quite a treat for us Canadians haven't seen of flake of snow since we left town. However it is all gone now and the winter, I suppose, is over.

Well Mother, don't think I have any more news tonight.I think this is quite long enough anyhow. Must quit and drop Clemmie a few lines, then have a whole bunch of notes to copy. Sent you some snaps in my last letter. Hope you get them all right.

Lots and lots of love to all from your loving soldier son, Harold.