Somewhere in France
October 24th 1915

My dear Miss Russell, -

Your letter of September 23rd was received a few days ago and yesterday the tin of Players cigarettes arrived. Thank you so very much. My own supply and the others in the same section as my self were practically all out so they came at a good time. One of the others received a cake from Ireland by the same mail so we had a regular spread. We had been working hard all day so appreciated it all. A smoke after eating puts us all in a good humour.

The hours we are working just now are rather long. Seven in the morning till about four or four-thirty at night. As it is dark at night 5 p m every night [night crossed out] our time to ourselves in daylight is very short. You must excuse this letter as we only have a candle between four of us and the evenings are pretty cold. If you were to stroll around about 6:30 p.m. you would probably find me in between the blankets.
____________________________________

MS-1901, File 15: Shires to Russell 24/10/1915 p.1