Letter from Capt. Robinson

In the Field, Aug. 1, 15
W. MAGLADERY, ESQ.

Dear Will:
Thank you for your kind letter (June 13) which was delayed because the word Canadian was omitted on the address, and the postal people rather stupidly overlooked the Dominion stamps which are decidedly Canadian.
I cannot suggest anything that would add comfort to my men under the circumstances. They are well hooked up for tobacco.
Thanks for the snaps. They are very interesting. I cannot help being glad that Tom is coming to the war. He is the right stamp and it will be nice for me to have some officers from my own home town serving in the Division, but I know it is a very hard thing for his family. Speaking of poor Morgan, I think I understood better than anyone else, the soldier qualities he possessed, and they were of the highest order. I have not as yet been able to get to see his grave but I intend to at the first opportunity. At present I am over 25 miles from the spot be we are seldom longer than twenty days in one area and often much less.
I met McLean, Thomas and Bilow, all of whom are with the 48th. They have been in the trenches and are looking well. McLean is not the fat boy he was.
There is talk of the two Canadian Divisions being made into an Army Corps. Gen. Alderson as G. O. C. and Brig. Gen. Turner in command of the 1st Divn., Brig. Gen. Curry to command the 2nd Divn. We expect the 2nd Divn. To come over here about the 1st of Sept., Seely's Brigade and the balance of the Canadian Cavalry to form a Cavalry Brigade.
The war has the appearance of a long drawn out struggle. The Germans are more thorough in their methods than other nations, are better organized both military and civil, are more efficiently equipped and seem to have, with Austria and Turkey, no end of men, most all of whom have had military training, - but they lack the navy, the superior fighting qualities of the men and the resources of her opponents, which will eventually subdue them. The question of how long it will take could best be answered by Lloyd George or Lord Kitchener.
I am glad to hear that the crops in Temiskaming are good. The French are great farmers. They are everlastingly ploughing and hoeing. The farms are all small. To-day we see a ploughed field that two days ago was a field of wheat. Every farm house has a dog power for churning. A belt or cog-wheel is attached to any make of churn or separator desired and the dog supplies the power.
The weather here is delightful and the summer season long. It seems to me an age since the early spring, and yet it is only half through the season. Things on our Divisional front are quiet, except for the regular daily ration of explosives served to us by the German gunners, and the daily visits of their aeroplanes whose reception is attended to by our anti-aerocraft gunners.
Yours truly
R.S. Robinson