A SOLDIER’S LETTER.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5539, 20 September 1916, Page 5

A SOLDIER’S LETTER.

PRIVATE RAY BO AGE Y.

In letters to bis parents, Private Ray Bo a gey, who with Jack Hughes, volunteered lor the Cyclists Corps, after a short stay m camp, relates that while in Cairo be visited the Aotea Convalescent Home at Heliopolis, where Nurse Nora Hughes, ot Pahiatua. is stationed, and there the party were very hospitably entertained by the Sisters. Miss Hughes and Miss Booth spent the day with them, acting as guides. The Aotea Home was the abode of a. former Prince, and there were 67 patients at the time the party’s visit. A visit was paid to the Citadel, the Coronation Mosque, and the bazaars and gardens ot the city, and a view was also obtained of the Pyramids. Altogether they had a v prv enjoyable and interesting day. y , eaiher was very hot. He met JW Ashby, Paul Murphy, Harold Martin and Whibley, and learned that Fred Early, "Boy” Oxley and Jim Tulloch were with the Mounted Bn-, gade. They were all very well. On the voyage to France, a vigilant watch had to he kept for submarines, the company to which the writer belonged (so he was informed by an officer) having the responsibility of providing the guard, and he had his share of it night and day. Every man carried a lifebelt. There were plenty of Tommies on board, who proved very entertaining. . The writer says: "On arrival in Marseilles we travelled Jby train in a northerly direction for 57 hours, the journev being very pleasant and interesting.' The land on either side was all under close cultivation with wheat oats and liay. No ground is waited There is a complete absence of men on the farms. When you see the thousands of acres of crops to lie harvested, you wonder who is to do it all. All men are either in uni-1 foam or engaged in other military duties, distinguished by badges on their arms. "The old, quaint- farm houses are very pretty, nearly every one of them having a beautiful flower garden. Poppies, lilac and cornflower grow wild among the wheat and hay. We also passed many ancient castles ami houses and ruins ot castles. On the march to our billet, we gotoff the track, owing to the maze ot roads, and tramped about < or 8 miles b afore we reached our destination. As our packs weighed about SO Iks, and we had been subsisting on bulk beet and hard biscuits for some days previous, the march was a very hard one. and many of the men fell out. However,l held out, and finished with the first batch. We are biMeted in an old French farm house in a beautiful old village. W e sleep in one part of the stable, the cows in the other. The French people are very

kind to us and always greet us in their characteristic fashion. Tile women are very clean and neatly dressed. which is very marked after dirty Egypt. We have been warned to bo ready to move at a moment s notice to riie bring line or somewhere else. Aircraft are no longer a novelty to us, as they fly over this village daily. We witnessed a great aerial tight, and aaw the shells bursting quite plainly. File booming of the guns is_ continual night and day. . . . We can hear nothing about the New Zealand troops, and do not know where Eric (brother) is stationed. We are '-till in the dark as to wliat great (?) work the cyclists aie to perform. ... . Anyhow here it doesn't seem to matter a bit what company you are in It doesn’t worry us in the least. We are anxiously looking forward to another mail from New Zealand. We get !,ondon papers here, and they keep ns informed about the war.”