Here are some photos
Harlen at the old camp
& at the Amerburg Pisler
I spoilt the one of you
Evaluating his shadow
In mistake for an officer.
He sure was amusing
Eric

Pte. E. Hearle 10916
C Co
4th Batt
1st Bgd
Bastad Camp
Salisburg Plains
Dec 9-14

Dear Mother,

I am now enjoying life pretty well; as we one really mighty comfortable, several changes having been made. I think that I mentioned in my last letter that we were to move out of the soup & change camp. Well yesterday morning at 6:30 if you had been round have you would have felt quite a bustle through the old Camp although the room would still be shining. Everyone was busy packing up kit & rolling blankets read to move. Then when everything is tidy down come the tent, a man at each med guy none & one at the poel & in a few minutes that is rolled up in a neat bundle. The sun when it rises sees some change all right, for where there stood orderly rows of tents which housed some 5000 men now there is a mass of untidy bundles; much of which the transport wagons one being loaded with. Every now & then Columns of men wad pas in the much carrying kit bags boxes, rifles & even swinging tin pots containing red hot coals. We moved over about a mile to a stretch of ground which was carpeted thickly with matted grass. No tents had been pitched here for years & no sheep had brazed here for some time so the ground was in okay condition. The fist thing we did when we got there was to light our oil stove & get the kettle boiling so we had hot [?] ready almost as so as the tent was up. By dinner time the bands were down & everything tidy in the tents, and the last piece of [??????] to a rout by of tents in orderly rows and streets.

A wagon brought round our [?] of tea and we made an excellent dinner of welsh rarebit & bread & yam in the afternoon we worked in fatigue parties transferring the quarter masters stoves & the transport tents and by night fall all the houses were comfortably picketed in the shelter of a fine wood and we were comfortably settled in our new quarters. They have some improved some in system since we started. We lost nothing by the move as we managed to swipe a brand new tent & lose our old one, & we got rid of the two old drunks who spoilt our tent. There are only 6 per tent now which is an ideal number & gives some freedom (we had 17 once).

The weather now tented no fine for although it was very cloudy it did not rain all day & but spent off till night when it poured and poured the water proof qualities of our tent are same is a relief to quit sleeping under Niagra Falls.

This morning when we rolled out of our blankets the moon was all most left in mist, and we couldn't see for when the single order "Column of route more" caused the battalion to time out in form like a great sunder. We split up after a while & when we reached our position holding some trenches [?] the railway; the sun was shining brightly out of a clear blue sky & there were only a few wisps of mist in the [?]. Way off some 1200 yards away the enemy appeared in a hallow slung out in open order, a row of tiny blank dots. They woooshed in [?] numbers & [?] our men were piking them off. They disappeared behind the rise, and when they appeared again at 200 yards our men could then with [??] fines and finally charged from the hill as the evening changed up [? A few spare [?] the enemy the whistle blew we formed up for home. Tomorrow we have divisional manouvers.

Eric