Transcript of a WWI letter originally published in Cobourg World, W.A. Smith, 17 December 1915, Colborne, Cramahe Township

Description

Comments (0)

Media Type

Text

Newspaper

Item Type

Correspondence

Description

Copied from The Canadian Letters & Images Project

Cobourg World Letter: 1915 December 17th
Date: December 17th 1915
From: W.A. Smith

"The Canadian mail has just been distributed and letters and papers to hand, and I certainly appreciate them. We have just arrived back in our billet after having a bath. We all needed one. A hundred go in the baths at once, and then all issued clean underwear, new socks and new grey shirts. We all leave our dirty clothes there. Everything is run on a perfect system here. We get five minutes to undress, fifteen minutes in the bath, and ten minutes to dress, in this manner a great many men can bath the same day. This morning the officers of the 4th and 5th C.M.R. had a football match, the 5th winning by two to one. The 4th officers paraded onto the field first, in all kinds of burlesque outfits, and created quite a laugh; then the 5th paraded on; they also caused some amusement. It was a break in the hard daily routine and we all enjoyed the diversion. This last week we have been having rather easy, but we surely needed it after our strenuous time in the trenches. We go back in again shortly. It seems a funny coincidence, but Hallowe'en night I was on piquet all alone from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. and I was thinking about the old boys in Colborne, wondering if they were doing the same old stunts on that night at home. There is joy all around the hayloft where we are to-night. Nearly everyone has a letter or parcel from home, and papers. All have a candle reading them. I also received the Colborne Express and appreciate it. I wish I could write you a descriptive account of our work here and the places we visit, but we are on our honor and cannot abuse the privilege of writing.
Yours,
W.A. SMITH."

See external links on the right of this record for original source.

Notes

Copied from The Canadian Letters & Images Project

"Cobourg World
This collection contains nearly 300 letters from World War One published in The Cobourg World, a local newspaper published in Cobourg, Ontario. Newspapers across Canada regularly printed letters home from overseas, either letters written directly to the newspaper by the soldiers, or first written to the family and then contributed to the paper by the family. Collections such as those from The Cobourg World provide a fascinating look at the relationship of community and war as played out in the pages of the local newspaper. All letters in the collection have been previously published in the newspaper and were also later collected by local historian Percy Climo in a work entitled "Let Us Remember". The dates for which the letters are listed represent the dates on which they were published, as the original dates of the letters are not always indicated. Where the original date of writing is known it will be part of the letter text. Introductions to the letters and editorial comments as they appeared in the newspaper have been left as published. All transcriptions have been taken from copies on microfilm and as such there are no scans for this collection."

Date of Original