Shornclff June 14, 1915 Hello Tad I take up the quill and at the same time the burden of writing a letter but expect to write quite a few letters here, as a letter is a nice thing to receive and cannot be expected without writing. Well, it's blowing considerably today and the dust is flying. We are right up on a hill [of] sand and when it's dry the dust sure goes. It's a lot more like soldiering here than it was in Winnipeg. You collect your rations each meal, eat them out of your mess tin and then have the pleasure of washing your mess tin. We do not get the same time to sit around, can go where we like from five o'clock but have to be in the tent by nine. Lights out quarter to ten. Nine in a tent is fairly crowded but a good bunch in our tent. Sit around the candle and argue on England and Englishmen as compared to Canada and Canadians. The subject is pretty well played out but it will take some more argument to get me to live here in place of Manitoba. Gos is liable to move out of our tent as he got on some outfit in the Batt. that are going in for bomb throwing, don't know what it will be but is alright, I guess. Machine guns are coming to be more important all the time, each battalion to have sixteen instead of the four they have at present. They are certainly some weapons; they had two on the rear of the boat when we came over. Talk about throwing lead, about four bullets hit at the same time-five hundred a minute. Suppose the drug business is still booming; have been in one or two drugstores here. They stick with drugs more than the ones there though they handle Kodak supplies and do a business developing films.. Say, if you get time to answer this rambling epistle, be sure and give baseball details. Can't seem to write a letter as I have told all the few new items about three times and it seems useless repeating them. There are very few civilians here and the ones who are in civilian and working for the government; all wear badges as a reason for living here.