WOMAN'S WORLD

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 64, 8 December 1917, Page 5

WOMAN'S WORLD

4 (Continued from Page 1) SOLDIERS' LETTERS FROM THE FRONT, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS OF PARCELS. The Mayoress (Mrs. J. P. Luke) received a very large soldiers' mail yesterday, all being letters and cards of acknowledgment of parcels which- had been forwarded by the Citizens' Service League to soldiers on active service. Ono writer said that the parcels could not have arrived at a better time, as he and others wero engaged on active service (October 7), and away from villages and towns where they might have been able to get various little comforts. This letter was written-by the O.C. of one of the units on behalf of the .men.

Another writer (from No. 4 Field Ambulance),, on September 23, describes a picnic which he and several of his comrades were enjoying. Tho menu was as follows: —Stewed blackberries, sweetened with coconut ice (as sugar was unobtainable), bread and margarine with ham and tongue paste, the latter being one of the gifts included in his parcel, watercress' sandwiches, a tin of sardines, also apricot jam which had been in one of tho parcels,- and' which' had been-, sweetened with coconut ice, the writer evidently being addicted to sweet things, and to which condensed milk had been added in the place of cream. Last, but not least, three packets of biscuits and a few.lollies, completed the fare. "Who would not be a soldier?" finished thv writer.

Very interesting was a letter whicl) had been received by a Wadcstown lady from a soldier to whom she had sent parcels. The writer says: "Your soldier's parcel was handed to me yexterday, and I can assure you the contents were very acceptable.. It is not that we are on short rations -by any means, but a parcel of sweet things is certainly' a luxury, and as surgar is to be sold by card, there is a shortage in this part of the-world which is being felt and is likely to Ij, greater still.

_ "A parcel from the ladies of Wellington has yet another object, for it is a link between us and New Zealand, and again shows us that the citizens of Wellington and of New Zealand have us 'in their thoughts, though separated by thousands of miles. I might also mention the good worii dono by the Y.M.C.A. for the soldieri, here. Often coming from the trenches at 2 a.m. they have cocoa and a parketi of biscuits for us provided gratis by the ladies of different towns U; New Zealand, and I can assure you theY.M.C.A. is better known and respecLed through its good wor kin this war than in the years preceding those thiec years of unrest in Europe. We are all hoping the end will be soon, and that we may bo spared to return to our homes in New Zealand ag:iin. But the idea here is that many tides will rise and fall in Wellington Harbour before thti first shipload of troops arrivee back from France."

Yet 'another soldier, writing to tho same lady, says: "Words cannot express our thanks for the splendid way the people of Wellington arc looking alter us hero, It cheers us up tre° niendously to know that we are not forgotten." - ■

Letters of acknowledgment from soldiers in India and Mesopotamia who received parcels, sent by Mrs. Gibbons and her Surprise Bag flay Committee have been received, and extracts will appear in Monday's issue. It must be very comforting to people in this country who work for such an object as this, and also to those who havo soldier relatives and friends at the front (and who has not these days?) to know that these gifts reach those for whom they were intended.