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Kiss George and Eileen for their dady

H. Company                         

30th Battalion

Victoria B.C.

My dear Janet

I received your welcome letter all right & I am glad to hear that you are all well & I am glad that Arthur Edwards is going to split some wood for you, it is likely that he will help you more than any of your neighbours, at any rate it will shame them if there is any shame in them, I am glad he gave you the Apples & Potatoes, they will help out. I went out this afternoon to see Miss Shaddick, but there did not seem to be anyone in the house so I came away, I will call again next Sunday, it is a great big house standing in its own grounds, a very pretty place to live in all right, perhaps I did not call at the right time, as I suppose in a big house like that the servants can only have visitors at certain hours. I am going to have my photo taken this week some time, if I can get a chance to get down town, I am going to get one cabinet & a dozen postcards which will cost $175, I saw samples of them to day & they look all right. We are going on a route march some time this week under war conditions to Nanaimo, about 80 miles away. I dont know how long the march will take, but I should think about a week, we will sleep in the open in our great coats & will march with a full kit on our backs, this is going to be an endurance test for us & we are preparing for it by marching out every afternoon for from 5 to 8 miles at full pace with our great coats on & when we get back to barracks we have to strip off & get a shower bath & a rub down, it is certainly doing me good, I feel as hard as nails & fit in every way. I will try to get my photo taken before we go; the whole of H. Company got their photos taken this morning in a group, I will send you one when they are ready. There was a party of 12 men from the Vernon B.C. Horse arrived here early in the week, McClusky that drove the motor car was one of them & he tells me that the rest of them are coming in a couple of weeks, is Bob Stevenson coming, I wonder, but I guess he will, when they all clear out. Vernon will certainly be a dead town, the boys will certainly find this a lot different from Vernon, they will miss the comforts & will certainly get lots of hard work. I got it rubbed into me pretty thick this week; I mounted the quarter guard at 4-30 P.M on Thursday for 24 hours, that is, till Friday afternoon I did not have my clothes or boots off, this after doing a full days drill & that same night I had to take charge of the town picket; that is I had to take 12 men down town at 8. O.C & parade the streets & drive soldiers home out of pubs till 12 O.C. midnight when we marched back to barracks & I was up again at 6 OC Saturday morning & drilled all day & attended a lecture at 8. O.C. by the Adjutant, where I fell asleep & he gave me a calling down, but when I explained what I had been doing, he gave the Sergeant Major a calling down & told him to excuse me one days drill.

Young Switzer called to see me to-day & invited me down to Waltons for supper some night this week, I would like to go all right, but I am afraid I wont be able to manage it.

I got the paper all right, it went the rounds of all the Vernon boys, as I was the only one that got one, they appreciated it very much.

I think I have exhausted all my news now, but if there is any thing turns up I will sure write. I wrote to Harlow last Sunday but I have had no answer from him yet, did he send you the Apples yet?

Give my love, dear, to the children & accept my fondest love for yourself. You say you love me more than ever you did, well, dear, it is the same with me, if that were possible, for you know I always loved you, although sometimes you thought I didn’t, but that was only my way, I was never very demonstrative & when you thought that I was cold, I wasn’t, I was only miserable because I could not get work & it was so hard to see you & the children going without things that you ought to have had, so, dear one, dont forget that I always have & always will love you for your own dear self & the childrens sake.

Your loving Husband

Jack.