9th Sept 1915

My own darling -

I have just received your letter dated 19th Aug. & I am glad to know that you are all well, I wrote to you yesterday, but I did not have much news to tell, nor have I now, but I thought I might as well let you know that I got your letter & paper all right & that I am still keeping well. You will probably have seen by the papers that the enemy have sunk the Hesperian, bound for Canada, she was carrying a large mail & I am very much afraid she may have had one or two of my letters to you on her, of course it cant be helped dear, it is the fortune of war, but I am sorry as I know how anxious you are if you dont hear from me; George Bowman, who is in this platoon had a letter from his brothers wife, & she said she had been speaking to you & that you & the children were looking fine & she has asked George to let her know how I am getting on, you have no idea how glad I was, when he told me that you were looking so well, it just put a new heart in me right away, it makes me awful glad to hear from others about you & to know that you are all right. I see you are still hoping that I will be able to get home for a while, but dear, it is impossible, the only leave that is granted here is for 6 days to the old country & my turn will not be for two or three months yet, so you can see it is no use hoping, dear, although you know how much I would like to go home to see you all, even if it was only for a few days, but when I do get my leave, I am going to Glasgow, where I hope to see all your people & friends, you can send me their address some time, but it will be a long time yet before I get away. Please thank Mrs Mann, dear, for sending me the popular, I hope she will send it regular, I am sure it is very kind of her & you can tell her that I appreciate her kindness very much. so you have had a bad thunderstorm, I see, they are certainly nasty, we have had quite a few here, too, & there is always an awful lot of rain with them, you can nearly imagine that thunder is artillery fire, the only difference is that artillery is louder & more constant & of course, a million times more dangerous. It is too bad that Vernon had a premature rejoicing over the Dardanelles, however, I hope it wont be long now, till the Allies get through & when Vernon knows that it is true I suppose they will go wild with joy. I see you have three boarders now, dear, I do wish you did not have to bother with them, they must be a nuisance to you & I dont think you will make much out of them, I think if you want to keep any at all, you would be just as well off with roomers only & you would have a whole lot less trouble, I am afraid though that you are taking too much out of yourself & I dont want you to do that, I may be very selfish, dear, but I am looking forward to coming home & finding you well & strong & without any worries, & I will want you all to myself then, dear, I wont be able to get enough of you, it will be just you & I dear & George & Eileen, & I think we will just live for each other & let everything else go to pot, dont you think that right, old sweetheart, at any rate that is what I am looking forward to & that is what my heart is aching for. I am sorry that I was not able to send anything nice for the childrens birthday, but it is such a long time since I have been near to a town that it was impossible to get anything & I wont be able to get any post cards now till we get into billets, which will be in a few days now. Things are pretty quiet with us just at present & I am hoping that they may continue so, & the weather seems to be clearing up again, & believe me, dear, I am not sorry, it is so miserable when it is wet. I will have to close now, dear, as they will be collecting the mail in a few minutes & I dont want to miss it, as I will be on guard for 24 hours, from this evening & I wont have a chance to hand this in till I come off, if I dont give it in now; Give George & Eileen a big love & kisses from their old dad, & with all kinds of love & kisses to you, dear old sweetheart, I remain your loving Husband

Jack –

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