Pte. Durand's Letter

Mrs. Durand, Whitewood Ave., has received the following letter from her son Herbert, now with the first contingent:

Somewhere in France,
May 30, 1915

DEAR MOTHER:
I have not received a letter from you since we left England, but I expect one soon.
We have been in the trenches 8 days and I am still living. We expect to be relieved to-morrow, but we shall only be out a week. This life is sure hell. I don't know the minute I may get shot. Sometimes the bullets are so thick that it is just like a big rain storm, and while I am writing this the shrapnel is exploding over our heads every minute, and pieces of steel and iron are falling all around us.
We made an attack the other night. . . . . .
When we are not on the look-out we live in a dug-out in the ground all covered in so that the shrapnel cannot get at us. But they are liable to order us to make a bayonet charge at any moment, and we may be expecting the same from the Germans.
The trenches we are now in are ones the Germans had once, and everywhere one looks are graves, and many of the dead were not buried. We find a lot of things belonging to the Germans. I am writing with a German pencil now.
Where we are is a farming country, and it is terrible to see all the brick houses blown up. We are only a mile from the Town of -----, and I suppose we shall have to take it from the Germans some of these days.
I cannot write a long letter because they are all censored by our officer, and they will not send one that is too long, but I shall write again as soon as I get out. Remember me to all, and write soon.
Your loving son,
HERB.