Mehlem Jan 28th 1919

Dear Sister:

My last letter to any of you was to Isabel on Jan 17th so as I have your letter of Dec 29th will answer it, and also Mothers letter of Jan 6th which I received about three days ago. On the 18th I visited a Dentist in Bonn and had a tooth filled and the same day happened to be a day of sports being our 2nd Division and an American 42nd Division so I stopped for some of them. They had football baseball etc. Also plenty of music by about six bands as well as a Pipe Band. On the afternoon of the 19th I went on guard for the following 24hrs and that took up my time. On the 21st went in to Bonn again and saw the Americans and Canadians play baseball and they won without a great deal of trouble. They had some big league players. On the night of the 23rd I with about 30 others of the battery attended a concert in Bonn by the 2nd Division Concert party. They were very good. All soldiers, two of whom took ladies parts very well. They have just spent three weeks playing crowded houses in London Eng. On the 25th heard a YMCA lecture on work in Canada, and on the 26th went to church and the preacher happened to be a man who used to be in the largest Methodist Church in Edmonton the first couple of years I was out there. He gave a address on Canada at night and it was very good. Yesterday the 27th I got a pass to Coblenz about 30 miles and went by train. It is all Americans and very nice place although not very large. Enclose a postcard of the Kaisers monument there also the Fort across the river. It is supposed to be about the strongest in the world. I heard a violinist & Singer who were Americans and very good. They have a grand concert hall and it is all run by the YMCA, American of course.

Inside of a week we will be on our way back to Belgium we hope, as most of the Canadians have already gone. However that is only a start and it will be some time yet before we will be on our way home. Expect to have a month in England and probably some time in France as well. However it will be a move in the right direction anyway.

Note some have already reached home and from now on there will be a steady stream. Not very many have gone from France yet, but mostly from England, and the convalescents.

Sorry to hear Uncle George & Aunt Betsy had falls, but I trust they are both well again.

Do not know how it is you cannot spot me in the picture. To settle things will say I am the third person in the back row standing up, numbered from the left. This will settle all disputes.

So Major Walker is home too. He will not come back again now I hardly think.

I have not met Fred Cook so far. His battalion has passed us on the road a couple of times but I did not get a chance to look him up. May run across him when we return to Belgium.

Many thanks for the hkcf. I got a few in Paris so am now well supplied and the next I will buy I trust will be white ones. Mother asks if I want to stay here. Not if I can help it. While a person in civilian life who could talk the language would be alright, I do not want to be in the Army longer than is necessary. It is monotonous and a person is always tied down, and it will be a relief when you know you can go where you like and stay as long as you like. It would have been much better here in summer but still it is a very good place to spend the winter.

I started this letter on the 28th but the last two pages have been written on the 30th. I was on guard last night but was dismissed and have today and tomorrow free. Expect to take a trip into Cologne this afternoon.

The paymaster has been checking up our paybooks lately. Mine is about right with the exception of about $5.00 and they are going to look it up. It is quite a proposition figuring it out now with Cents, shillings, Francs & Marks to calculate. The value changes every little while as well. The pay on discharge is very good and I will draw for 4 months or about $280 and a clothing allowance of $35 as well. However it will all be needed. Have been reading about the farming propositions and I might consider it if I found the land offered worth while. It is quite a complicated proposition to figure out.

We have only a little snow on the ground at present and it is not at all cold. About March they start sowing certain things.

I had a letter from Smyth a little while ago and be expected to be on his way very shortly. I am undecided where to get discharged and get home first. This battery is going to PEI and if I do not stay with it I may be a month or so later. It would then be better to buy my ticket from PEI to Ontario. If I ask to be sent to Guelph it might hold me back. Would like to have a ticket through to Alberta so I could look into affairs out there, but in that case I might not be able to get to Guelph and that would never do. May get some particulars next week of how things are going to be run as we will soon be sorted out and possibly changed from one battery to another.

There is a possibility I may be able to get my stored kit on the way back and either sell it or keep it. There would be good sale here for it, but not so good in France.

Well it is dinner time and I have given all the news I have at hand so will close

Love to all
Rob