Old View

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My dear ones,

I am sending you a few scraps of paper by this post. The pages out of the Sketch deal with our work in the field, so may interest you. The Independant I send hoping it will find you amused as it leaves me at present. The romance of the Cavan courtship pleased me a lot; so did the Carsonites and their rifles. But there's always something ridiculous like that in the papers here.

The only news I have for you is that the fourth regiment in our Brigade has now been marched over from Templemore and settled down under canvas beside us in Kilworth camp; that's the 8th Munsters. So now we have the whole 47th Brigade quartered in or around Fermoy: Connaughts, Leinsters, Royal Irish and Munsters. I suppose that means that there'll be some hard Brigade field- days two or three times a week now. However the signalling class goes serenely on, and is as near its conclusion now as it was five weeks ago.

Most of our officers are away just now; Billy Cullen is on a week's leave, Studholme on sick leave, Philips in hospital (mumps!), one away on a transport course, another at Dollymount on a machine gun ditto, another at Chelsea on a General Officers Training Course, and myself away signalling.

The new G.O. has arrived, but I haven't seen him yet. Beyond that he's a "very big man" and has been promoted temporary Lt.-Col. from plain captain and is named Buckley, I've heard nothing about him.

There is a lad here, back wounded from Neuve Chapelle, who was four years at Charterhouse with me. He lives here, apparently; which his name it is Brooke, of Hodgsonites. He says there is one officer beside himself left alive in the 1st Battalion of the Connaughts. Stiff, isn't it. The Leinsters have been getting rather cut up just lately, too.

Good-bye; write soon.