We have been out of the trenches for four days and are going in again to-morrow, so that it appears as if Christmas Day may find us there.
'Peace on earth, Goodwill among men' seems far away. But no doubt the strife of to-day will make the peace of to-morrow more lasting when it comes, as come it will.
TUESDAY NIGHT, DEC. 21, 1915.
I must send you a Christmas message of love to-night, as this may reach you on Christmas Day, or even later.
We came into trenches to-day, and shall likely be in for Christmas. Everyone is very cheerful. Friends at home have been specially kind in sending parcels out. The men seem to have loads of good things to eat, and are really very well provided for in that respect. Of course the mud and water that is everywhere does not form the most pleasant surroundings for enjoying these good things, but against all that there is the deep satisfaction in knowing that they are in the place where they can best do their duty, and that makes up for a great deal of discomfort.
SAME DATE.
We are all very cheerful, and Christmas Day will find us in the same frame of mind, I hope. Perhaps by next Christmas-time there will be lasting Peace and Goodwill. But that time is not yet.
SAME DATE.
We took over trenches again this evening—a day sooner than we expected. It has rained most of the day. The Colonel and Boyd and our Medical Officer and I, all rode over here from our rest billets this afternoon. It rained and the roads are very muddy. Headquarters are occupying the same cottage as we had last time—the one that had its chimney carried away one day by a shell. But it will be safer this time! I suppose we shall be in for Christmas Day, but we are quite cheerful about it, and hope that the next Christmas will be spent under different circumstances, where Peace and Goodwill will be more in evidence than they are to-day. Peace will be more lasting when it comes, because of all the strife that has gone before it. I must send you Christmas messages by this letter, for the day will have come and perhaps gone when it reaches you. They are just the same old messages, but they go very deep down indeed.... And after Christmas and New Year's Day are over, and a few more weeks are past, I shall hope to come home again and actually see you.
CHRISTMAS EVE, 1915.