MAKING UP THE SOLDIER'S PARCEL.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 586, 27 December 1915, Page 4

MAKING UP THE SOLDIER'S PARCEL.

WHAT WOULD HE LIKE?

Now, what would be really like? The question is asked in thousands of homes every week when the family is making up a parcel for the family soldier. "What shall we send him? What does he want?" The soldier is asked over and over again to say what he would like to find in his parcel; but he is not very apt at explaining his needs. Either he is bashful, or he does not quite know what he wants most, and he is not at all helpful. Left to do the thing unaided, his family wrestles with the problem, and sometimes makes some great mistakes. With these eyes have I seen a soldier receive a big box of plums which he could have bought just outside his camp for half the cost of the postage, states a writer in an English exchange. I remember, too, another man who received 50 cigarettes and a rabbit pie in a parcel. Unfortunately, the cigarettes amalgamated with the pie before the parcel arrived, and it is hard to/ discover any real use for the mixture. But, apart from such accidents as these, things are very often sent to soldiers which are not useful. The money spent on them would have bought other matters of far greater value to Tommy in the camp or the trenches.

So far as clothing is concerned, the best possible things to send are handkerchiefs and thick socks. The Army does not furnish the soldier with handkerchiefs, and the Army socks—doled out in most frugal fashion —are perishable. Don't send thin socks. They are worse than useless for hard marching in heavy boots; but, with a good supply of thick, knitted socks, your soldier can take care of those important feet of his. Mufflerg are not useful, for the Army does not encourage the wearing of them, but Balaclava helmets are fine things to draw over the head on these chilly nights. They are" a great improvement on the "cap comforter" which is issued as a part of the man's kit. All these things, should, of course, be sent with discretion. It is not really kind to send socks to a man who already has ten pairs, and who is gasping for cigarettes.

Things to smoke are invariably welcome, and here is a place where no one can go wrong. There may be nonsmokers in the Army, but they are uncommonly hard to find, and cigarettes are generally more welcome than tobacco. Why it is it would be hard to say; but life in the Army seems to encourage cigarette smoking, though the authorities do their best to break us of the habit. Don't send expensive brands —put the money into quantity, rather than into, superfine quality. You never know the straits to which your soldier may be reduced. He may be—and very often is—penniless on Wednesday morning, and he would much rather receive 50 ordinary cigarettes than 25 of the luxurious brand he used to like so much before he began to wear a khaki suit. Generally speaking, sweets —and especially chocolate — : are much more welcome than food. Some firms manufacture special brands of chocolate for the use of soldiers, with a reduced percentage of sugar. The man who has a bit of marching to do does not. want anything which is going to make him violently thirsty.