Dear Miss Griffis;-
I was delighted to get your letter of Aug 1 which came to hand this morning. I am very very sorry to hear of your illness but trust that you are quite well by this time. It is most miserable to be ill during the hot weather. Hope you were able to catch some fish at Wpg. Beach.
Do you know I was getting quite concerned at not hearing from you and was afraid that I had said something in one of my letters that offended and that you were “mad” at me. I was about to send off a letter of apology for anything I might have said or done that was not according to Hoyle. Please forgive my confession that even the news that you had been ill was less disturbing than my former fears. I do hope that you have fully recovered. I am pleased to know that you enjoyed receiving the rose from Ypres.
We have been experiencing a lot of hot dry weather lately and the flies are a holy fright. I do not know which is the worse, the mud in Winter or the pest of flies in Summer. There are also quite a few mosquitoes over here. The country is very pretty now and harvesting is in full swing. Practically all the grain is cut by hand and I feel very sorry for the poor old chaps I see getting in the grain. One almost never sees a man of military age in the fields; only the gleanings of the sword are left. The women also do a lot of the harvesting. We had a bit of a thunderstorm this afternoon but it has turned out warm after it and the ground will soon be dry again. We shall have a couple of months more before the real muddy weather begins. It will be 11 months to-morrow since the battalion landed in France.
No, I did not get my postponed leave as all leave has been cancelled for some weeks. It is very unlikely to be re opened until the bad weather sets in for so long as campaigning weather continues everybody must stay on the job. I should like a week in England just for a change for I have been on the job without a break for almost six months.
My sister did not get the transfer to the hospital she expected but still expects to be moved up to one of the clearing stations. I rode over to No 1 C.C.S. a couple of weeks ago but did not find her. However I was not much disappointed for I knew she would write me upon coming up and I had not heard from her. My mare is lame now and has been put off duty by the veterinary officer so if I do any riding I must borrow a horse.
Let me hear from you again soon. I send my best wishes for a complete and speedy recovery.
Sincerely yours
Harold W McGill
Dear Miss Griffis 