DUFFERIN COUNTY  -   WORLD WAR I

Newspaper items of interest during World War One

News of 1917

If you have information you would like to share, please contact janet.jones@ontarioobits.com.  I would love to offer photos and more information - please send me a message if you have some history you'd love to share...

Orangeville Banner dated 04-Jan-1917 Page 1, Column 3
    Violet and Lillie Larter, the twin daughters of Charles Larter, Galt, have left to go overseas with the Army Medical Corps.
    George MacDonald, who has three sons at the front, has been appointed secretary of the Soldiers’ Aid Commission at Brantford.

Orangeville Banner dated 04-Jan-1917 Page 1, Column 4
    For doing wilful damage to the 215th Battalion detention room at Brantford Privates D. Miller, Roy Potter and H. Rudolph were fined $10 and costs.

Orangeville Banner dated 04-Jan-1917 Page 1, Column 5
    Ernest Dickson, eldest son of Pte. George Dickson, 164th Battalion, lost part of the second finger of his left hand in a very simple way. He and his sister were having a bit of a sport and the two ran out of a door which slammed shut on his finger.  It came through with enough force to squeeze off his finger at the second joint.

Orangeville Banner dated 04-Jan-1917 Page 6, Column 4
IN THE HOSPITAL
A Canadian Soldier Narrates a Few of His Experiences.
    Mr. and Mrs. W. S. Martin, of Caledon, have received the following letter from their son Leslie:
                1st Easwin General Hospital
                    B. Ward 4, Cambridge
    Dear Mother. -- Received your letter and also Dorothy's. I was glad of the money as I have had none since September 13.  Well I will try and give you a little idea of what I have been through.  On Saturday afternoon, October 7th, we started for the trenches, which we reached by nightfall.  We then dug ourselves in a piece further and waited there until 4.45, when we got word to get out of our trench.  Oh, it was a weary night of waiting.  Well we crept along until quite close, when our artillery started up a bombardment.  I never felt a bit worse than I would have done in I had been creeping down the orchard for an apple only I felt very thirsty.  Well we got the trench (Fritz's) when what was left of them came running out.  We had a little fighting.  When in the trench I cut a step in the side so as I could see over the top and watch for Fritz. At 2 p.m. they made their counter attack and we had to fall back.  I got into a shell hole, when to my horror I found I was being sniped at. In getting out I caught something in my hand which did not feel very nice.  I dropped my rifle and looked at my hand and saw it was blown open.  I could see bones and broken sinews, so I started to get through the barbed wire and run zig-zag, as I though they would not be able to snipe at me so well.  This was about three o'clock.  I walked until four o'clock not knowing where I was.  My poor hand was swollen and my arm, up to my elbow was the size of my thigh.  My pants were about two inches in blood and I was getting faint with the loss of blood, so I sat down and thought out which way to go. I listened for our guns firing and struck off towards the sound.  At last I got a comrade to bandage my hand, and everybody I saw I held up for a drink.  Drink, drink, was all I wanted.  I walked until 5.30 and at last ran into the first aid dressing station.  The doctor undid my hand and put something on it and asked if I could walk as the Red Cross had been fired on much they could not come up.  So I started off again. I came across two Red Cross Ambulances.  The horses had been blown to pieces and everything was a wreck. A few shells fell so close to me that they plastered me with mud and dirt.  I walked until six o'clock amongst dead and at last got an ambulance which took me to the town of ------ where I got my hand dressed again and inoculated against lockjaw and blood poisoning. I was still crying out for a drink.  I was put on a stretcher and taken to the clearing station two hours ride more.  I was longing for bed.  I waited there until 10 o'clock, when I got some more drink and something to eat - the first bite since 24 hours back.  Well I had my hand dressed again and then boarded the train for Bolougne, where we arrived at 11 o'clock next morning.  I was taken to the 1st Australian Hospital, K Ward, where the sister gave me a blanket bath, and at last I got to bed.  I stayed there three days and then left for Blighty.  We arrived at Dover after two hours voyage, and from there to Manchester.  I arrived at Manchester at 11.45 night time, was carried up three flights of stairs and reached my bed after a long day, only to lie awake so that the Sister gave me something to send me to sleep. I was there six weeks and was well looked after. At last I came to Cambridge on a Saturday (Nov. 18).  On Tuesday I underwent an operation.  I had my hand opened and scraped out. Well it was not getting any better and by Sunday I had an abscess in the palm and gangrene at the back.  They rushed me to the theatre at 5.15 p.m. and opened the whole of the back and front as well as the side of my hand. I had a terrible looking hand, and oh, so painful, but I am glad to say it is getting along fine so far, although I am very weak.  Now my poor hand is getting very tired so will quit.  I am looking after fine by Mrs. Scruby and Aunt Kate and am having a stout to pull me through.  Good Bye,
                    Your loving son,
                        Leslie.

Orangeville Banner dated 04-Jan-1917 Page 6, Column 6
CAMILLA
    At the manse on Tuesday night, Ptes. Lou Burroughs and Ed. Freeman were presented with an appreciative address and a fountain pen and a mirror apiece.  A similar presentation was to have been made to Pte. Adams, of the 164th, but he was unable to be present and his fountain pen and mirror will be forwarded to him at Hamilton.

Orangeville Banner dated 04-Jan-1917 Page 7, Column 3
    Pte. Arthur Winterton spent the holiday at his home here.
    Ptes. Percy Graham and Bert Parr, of the 164th Battalion have returned to Hamilton after visiting Misses Reba Winterton and Hazel Clarke.

Orangeville Banner dated 04-Jan-1917 Page 7, Column 4
Colours, 164th Halton and Dufferin Battalion, C.E.F.
    The Colors for the 164th Halton and Dufferin Battalion C. E. F., which have been subscribed for by the ladies of the two counties, will be completed about the New Year.
    In all probability the ceremony of consecration and presentation will take place at Hamilton about the second week in January, the presentation being made by ladies selected to represent the two counties.
    The Colors, which are of silk, very handsomely embroidered, are the first to be made in accordance with the latest specifications and regulations for the Canadian Overseas Forces, and have been approved of by militia headquarters, Ottawa, under orders recently issued governing presentations of the kind.
    The King's Color, which is the Union Jack, bears in its center on a scarlet background the number of the Battalion, in Roman Numerals surrounded by a garter with the words "Halton & Dufferin Overseas Battalion, all heavily embroidered in Gold.
    The Regimental Color is of blue representing the color of the facings of the Battalion bearing in its center the Battalion Badge surmounted by a wreath of roses, thistles, shamrocks and maple leaves embroidered in colors.
    As the presentation will probably be the last ceremonial parade of the Battalion before proceeding overseas it is expected that many of the friends of the officers, N.C.O.'s and men, as well as others, will journey to the city to witness the ceremony.
    If enough tickets can be guaranteed in all probability a special train will be run through the two counties to Hamilton for the occasion.

Orangeville Banner dated 04-Jan-1917 Page 8, Column 7
    Pte. Charles Dowling, son of Mr. B. Dowling, of Brantford, formerly of Bolton, had served in the G.G.B.G. before he enlisted in Toronto with the C.M.R. of the second contingent.  He has been taken seriously ill after being over a year in the trenches.

Orangeville Banner dated 11-Jan-1917 Page  1, Column 3
    A Military Cross has been awarded to Capt. Paul Poisson, who enlisted at Chatham with the Army Medical Corps.
    Lieut. F. J. Noonan, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Noonan of Mount Forest, has been appointed Commander of a British Armored "tank."

Orangeville Banner dated 11-Jan-1917 Page 1, Column 4
    Union School Section No. 12, Mono and Amaranth has contributed $25.65 to the Red Cross, being proceeds of the recent concert.
    Ptes. John and Melville Ingram, at one time of Orillia, have been killed in action.  The young men were born in Flos township and for several years have lived in the west, where they enlisted.
    Lieut. Arthur Trueman Lowes has won the military Cross for "leading men over the open to reinforce." The Lieut. is a native of Brampton and a son of Mr. D. T. Lowes, of Calgary, and a nephew of Mrs. R. Pringle, Brampton.

Orangeville Banner dated 11-Jan-1917 Page 2, Column 7
    Mr. F. H. W. Hickling, of Flesherton, had an interesting souvenir sent him from England in the form of a scrap of aliminum which belonged to one of the German Zeppelins brought down last summer.

Orangeville Banner dated 11-Jan-1917 Page 3, Column 2
CONNOR
    A number of his friends and acquaintances in this community gathered at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Ward on Wednesday evening, December 27th, to present Pte. Clinton Lee with a slight token of remembrance, as an evidence of the esteem in which he is held.
    The following address was read by Leonard Purdon, while Dunning Irwin and Joseph Ward presented Pte. Lee with a handsome wrist watch, a fountain pen, military mirror and a cigarette case.  The address read:
    Dear Friend. -- A number of your neighbors and friends have assembled here tonight to present you with some tangible evidence of their pride and gratification at the fact that you have donned khaki and responded to your country's call in her hour of trial and need.  By joining the 164th you have united yourself with that splendid company of Canada's gallant sons who have offered their lives for King and Country and have either gone or are preparing to go to do their part in the great struggle that our Empire is waging for the preservation of individual liberty and the maintenance of those ideals that are cherished by the British people the world over.  It is unnecessary to say that we deeply regret your departure from our midst.  You have always proved yourself a young man worthy of our confidence and esteem and you will be greatly missed in the church, social and general life of our community.  The work you have entered upon will call for sacrifice and self-denial.  You are leaving behind you a comfortable home and the associations of your life-time ... but you will be encouraged and strengthened by the knowledge that you are going forth in a noble cause with God, truth and justice on your side.  We feel proud of the fact that our community will be so worthily represented at the battle front and are confident that you will acquit yourself with bravery and distinction wherever the call of duty may lead you and that you will do your part, to maintain the splendid record that our Canadian boys have made at the front. We assure you that our hearts will go with you and that you will be constantly in our thoughts.
    In conclusion we ask you to accept this wrist watch, fountain pen, military mirror and cigarette case, as a small token of our esteem and affection.  We hope that in the days to come they will serve to call up happy memories of your old friends and associations in this neighborhood.  With them we tender our sincere hopes and prayers for your safety and success and for the speedy coming of the day when assured victory shall rest on the banners of the allied armies and all our gallant soldier boys shall come home again to resume their former places and occupations in the life of our country.
            Joseph Ward.
            Leonard Purdon.
            Dunning Irwin.
    Pte. Lee acknowledged the gift by thanking his friends in the most hearty manner and assuring them that he would always hold the people around Connor in the kindliest remembrance.  Before the gathering dispersed all united very heartily in singing, "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow."

Orangeville Banner dated 11-Jan-1917 Page 3, Column 4
PATRIOTIC WORK
What Daughters of the Empire Are Doing to Help Win War.
Review of the Activities of This Organization
    During the past two years the work of the women of Orangeville and vicinity under the supervision of Lord Dufferin Chapter, Daughters of the Empire, have become so extensive and yet it is so little known in a public way that a short synopsis of what has been accomplished may not be without interest.  Organized on October 1, 1907, for the purpose of spreading a more patriotic sentiment among the women of our community, the Chapter felt that it would be a very desirable undertaking to attempt the establishing of a hospital in the Town of Orangeville, so against much opposition, and at the same time, with generous support from other quarters, the necessary money was raised and the idea of 1907 became a reality in 1912, when on the first day of October of that year, Lord Dufferin Hospital opened its doors to the sick and afflicted.
    From its commencement the hospital proved its usefulness until two years later it became absolutely necessary to enlarge the capacity of the hospital by the erection of a pavilion which during the summer months will accommodate some eight to ten extra patients.
    Since its inception the hospital has accommodated 485 patients, and 93 operations have been performed mostly of a serious nature.  The demands upon the institution are now so great that further increased accommodation becomes now an absolute necessity.
    By reason of the war the efforts of the Daughters of the Empire to raise money for hospital purposes have been somewhat limited as they felt that every effort must be put forth to raise money for that which is directly connected with the welfare of our noble and heroic sons, fathers and brothers.
    They have, therefore, sent out an appeal for a special building fund contribution, and are pleased, indeed, to acknowledge with very great thanks the contributions sent them by Mrs. Herman Clare, Preston; Mr. Hugh Carson, Ottawa; Mrs. W. Aitken, Detroit; Mr. and Mrs. Sydney Murch, Chicago; Mr. Malcolm Gray, Rochester; Mrs. Plumer Dewar, Hamilton; Mrs. W. Lugsdin, Amherst, N.S.; Mr. W. Porteous, Saskatoon; Mr. H. S. Webber, Hartford, Conn.; Mr. Harold Webber, Hartford, Conn.; Mr. and Mrs. Jack Smith, Wadena, Sask.; Mr. Jas. Curry, Toronto, and Mr. J. M. Dods, Orangeville and Alton for that particular purpose which now amounts to $569.00.
    The Daughters of the Empire, feeling that their energies must constantly be exerted for patriotic and philanthropic purposes, are doing very extensive Red Cross work as well, as the supplying of field comforts and necessary outfits to the soldiers in the field.  Every week this organization conducts a regular manufacturing industry in the rooms over the Bank of Hamilton for the use of which much thanks is due to the generosity of this financial institution.
    At the commencement of the war in August, 1914, a proposition was made to establish and equip a hospital ship by the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire, and towards this worthy undertaking, Lord Dufferin Chapter raised and contributed the sum of $369.19.
    Having an especial interest in our Provincial Hospital at Orpington, a well filled bale of surgical supplies was forwarded through Mrs. Carson to her husband, Capt. T. A. Carson, for the wounded Canadian soldiers.
    Under the auspices of the Chapter there have been sent away 6 pairs of wristlets, 30 Balaclava caps, 4 sleeping caps, 21 mufflers, 70 night shirts, 109 pajamas, 296 towels, 76 pillow cases, 234 handkerchiefs, 11 sheets, 100 surgeon's gowns, 17 hospital shirts, 45 grey military shirts, 15 housewives, 1480 surgical pads, 216 pillow pads and bandages, 7 khaki shirts, 49 Hesplers case shirts, 3 dozen anti-vermin shirts, 3 knee caps, 2 bed sox and 2 bed slippers, 1076 gauze mouth wipes, 680 cotton mouth wipes, 96 face cloths, 175 wash cloths, 1000 tape, 812 compresses, in addition to the $25.00 worth of clothing sent to the Patriotic League and $25.00 sent to the Red Cross.
    While the above work was going on the very important duty of providing socks for the soldiers was not forgotten, and since August 1914, over seven hundred pairs have been disposed of as follows: 1914, October, 50 pairs to the Red Cross, May 1915, 38 pairs to the Red Cross, September, 97 pairs to Capt. Firth, November 33 pairs socks, included in Christmas gifts to our boys at the front.  December 9th, 28 pairs were given to the 95th Bugle Band, who had lent their services for recruiting purposes in Orangeville.  January 1916, 63 pairs socks sent to Mrs. MacGilvary to be sent to Major MacGilvray at Saloniki, March, 100 pairs to Mrs. VanKoughnet, sent to the trenches, May, 132 pairs sent to the Seccours National, July 123 pairs (72 pairs from Lord Dufferin Chapter and 51 pairs from the ladies of the Presbyterian Church, Orangeville) sent to 97 Bay Street, Toronto, for the soldiers in the trenches.
    November 15, 43 pairs, included with Christmas gifts to the soldiers in France and Flanders, 3 pairs given to returned soldiers, 48 pairs were given to individual soldiers and there are at present on hand 117 pairs.
    Notwithstanding all this work the Daughters of the Empire are supporting five Canadian war prisoners in Germany by their contributions, and are at present engaged in making up a large number of shirts and socks to be presented to the 164th Battalion on their departure for overseas to which Battalion the Chapter has already given $57.05 to assist in purchasing instruments for the Bugle Band.
    In carrying out the above work assistance was given by a number o societies in the surrounding vicinity to which the thanks of the Chapter is most gratefully extended.  There may be much more yet to be accomplished before this terrible war is brought to a satisfactory conclusion, and while the work above put partially sets out what has from the first been most cheerfully undertaken the Chapter appeals with confidence to everyone interested in this patriotic undertaking to assist in every way possible to secure the funds necessary to purchase the material made use of in carrying on this splendid work.

Orangeville Banner dated 11-Jan-1917 Page 6, Column 4
KILLED IN ACTION
    Pte. S. T. Brooks, a former Orangeville man who was reported missing some time ago appears to have been killed in action last September. Orangeville friends have been making enquiries and a short time ago their efforts were rewarded by the receipt of the following letter from the Canadian Record Office: "In reply to your enquiry of the 21st ult. regarding the marginally names soldier (Pte. S. T. Brooks, No. 57590, 20th Battalion) I regret exceedingly to inform you that according to my records he was reported from the base "killed in action" on the 15th September 1916.
    Yours faithfully,
        J. C. SEYBOLT.   

Orangeville Banner dated 11-Jan-1917 Page 6, Column 5
A SOLDIER'S DEATH
    Delbert Donnelly, who went West on a harvesters' excursion in August 1915 and afterwards enlisted in the 181st Battalion, died in the General Hospital, in Brandon, Man., on Sunday, after a short illness from pneumonia. The young man was an adopted son of Mr. and Mrs. George Warden of this town. His parents who were informed by telegram of his illness and death, received a message from the commanding officer of the 181st on Tuesday stating that the remains had been sent east for burial. The body is expected to arrive in Orangeville on Friday. The deceased was a fine manly young fellow and his death will be keenly regretted by his friends hereabouts. Mr. and Mrs. Warden have the sympathy of their neighbors in their sorrow.

Orangeville Banner dated 11-Jan-1917 Page 7, Column 2
    Ernest Irvine, son of Mr. John Irvine, of East Garafraxa, has donned the King's uniform.  Mr. Irvine has been in the west for four years and on his return recently signed up with a Toronto battery.

Orangeville Banner dated 11-Jan-1917 Page 7, Column 3
AWARDED D.S.O.
    Colonel Arthur Evans Snell, a brother of Mrs. (Dr.) W. H. Bowles, of Orangeville, was one of the Canadians who were awarded the Distinguished Service Order at the New Year.  Col. Snell is a son of the late J. S. Snell and Mrs. Snell, of Bolton, and was attached to the Military School at London in the capacity of surgeon.  Going to the front with the first contingent he had charge of a dressing station behind the trenches when the Canadians got their first cutting up by the enemy.   Col. Snell, with one assistant passed over three hundred men through his hands in a few hours and since then he has been in constant service and has nearly sacrificed his own life by his unremitting labors on behalf of the wounded.  Much of his work has been done within the shell zone and on several occasions he was nearly caught by bursting shells.  Col. Snell, who is 40 years of age, graduated in medicine at Toronto University in 1899.  He joined the permanent Army Medical Corps in 1910 with the rank of Captain and was given his majority in September last.  Col. Snell is an old Dufferin lacrosse player and his friends here congratulate him upon the great honor which has been done him.

Orangeville Banner dated 18-Jan-1917 Page 2, Column 3
A SOLDIER HONORED
    On Tuesday night of last week a number of the relatives and friends of Pte. Clarence Washington presented him with a military wrist watch, a signet ring and the following address:
Pte. Clarence Washington.
    Dear Clarence. -- We are glad that you have seen that it is your duty to serve your King and Country.  We ask you to accept this wrist watch and signet ring as a token of our remembrance.  We hope that these may bring happy memories of the days gone by and that God will give you health and strength to help you do your duty.
                    From your loved ones.
    The presentation took place at the home of the young soldier's uncle, Mr. Geo. Nicholson, John Street.  A delightful social time was afterwards spent by all present.  Pte. Washington, who is a son of Mr. and Mrs. A. Washington, Farmington, ahs been living in the West and enlisted in the 218th Battalion.

Orangeville Banner dated 18-Jan-1917 Page 3, Column 3
MARSVILLE
    Arnold Black, who has enlisted with the Guelph Battery, was home for a few days visiting his parents, Mr. and Mrs. D. Black, 11th line.  On Friday evening a large number of his friends of the surrounding community met at his home and presented him with a wrist watch.  After the presentation the remainder of the evening was pleasantly enjoyed by all present.

Orangeville Banner dated 18-Jan-1917 Page 4, Column 7
ANSWERS COUNTRY'S CALL
A Garafraxa Boy Killed in Action
    R. J. Gillespie, of West Garafraxa, a few days ago received a telegram from Ottawa stating that Pte. Wm. Gillespie had been killed in action.  He had been missing since 28th June last.  Pte. Wm. Gillespie is one of four valiant sons of this family who have enlisted for their country's preservation.  He was about 27 years of age, and a noble, strapping, fine example of Canadian manhood.  After learning the tinsmithing business in Belwood, he went to Moose Jaw, where he carried on a business of his own till hostilities broke out, enlisting early in 1915, with a Battalion of the second contingent.  He reached England in September and went to France early in January of last year.  He did his duty as a man, and paid the supreme sacrifice as a hero  Three other brothers, also enlisted at Moose Jaw -- Reuben, who has been missing since about September; Fred, who went to France in June; and Earl, who is in England, having signed up in June.  A memorial service in honor of the dead soldier will be held in the Presbyterian Church, Belwood, on the 28th inst., this edifice being chosen as more commodious than Carmel Methodist Church of which he was a member.

Orangeville Banner dated 18-Jan-1917 Page 6, Column 4
WALDEMAR
    Mr. Hiram Evans has signed up with the 164th Battalion and will be in khaki in less than a fortnight. Hiram is the right kind of stuff to make a soldier and we wish him every luck.

Orangeville Banner dated 18-Jan-1917 Page 7, Column 1
LIEUT. MASON DECORATED.
    Dr. Mason, M.L.A., and family are receiving the congratulations of their many friends owing to the fact that Lieut. John Barkley Mason's name is included in the list of soldier's awarded the Military Cross for distinguished conduct on the field.  Barkley, who has been in the thick of the fighting for several months, now has won the distinction for his home town.  The earnest wish of his many friends is that he may return unscathed. -- Fenelon Falls Gazette.
    The young man is a nephew of Mr. Stuart Mason of Mono Mills, and also of Mr. Rich. Allen, of this town.  Mr. Allen, we understand, has four nephews in khaki.

Orangeville Banner dated 18-Jan-1917 Page 7, Column 3
MILITARY NOTES
  S. F. and W. L. Hunter, of Hornings Mills, have enlisted with the Army Service Corps. 
    Sergt. N. A. Thompson, of the Shelburne Company of the 164th, has qualified as a Lieutenant.
    Pte. George Dodsworth, of Everett, has been awarded a distinguished conduct medal.
    Capt. Ernest Linger, quartermaster of the 164th Battalion, was elected a school trustee at the recent municipal elections in Hamilton.
    Albert Rinn, a former Honeywood man, who was discharged from the 157th Battalion as medically unfit, is now training with the artillery in Toronto.
    The 157th Simcoe Battalion, which went overseas some months ago, has been broken up in England and the men transferred to the 116th and 125th Battalions.
    Thos. D. Farnell, of the 116th Battalion, had been in the trenches about two weeks when his sister-in-law, Mrs. Wm. Farnell, of Amaranth last heard from him about Christmas time.
    Lloyd East, a son of Thos. East, of Innisfree, Alta., formerly of Amaranth, lost a thumb in action in France and is being invalided home.  We understand that the young man's father is also at the front.
    The 234th Peel Battalion held a recruiting meeting at Alton last night.  The Battalion will hold meetings at Mono Mills Thursday night, January 18th; Caledon, Friday night, January 19th; Palgrave, Tuesday night, January 23rd and Caledon East, Wednesday night, January 24th.
    The members of Mr. A. W. Watson's family in Shelburne received some interesting Christmas mementos from Pte. Roy Watson, who is in the trenches in France.  One of them was a German drinking cup, nicked up on the battlefield.  Pte. Watson also sent a young lady friend in Shelburne a letter which she had written him and which was pierced by a bullet before it was delivered, the soldier, who had the letter in his pocket for Pte. Watson and one for another soldier having been shot while carrying them.  The bullet went through both letters.

Orangeville Banner dated 18-Jan-1917 Page 7, Column 5
FUNERAL OF PTE. DONNELLY
    A large number of friends of the family attended the funeral of the late Pte. Delbert Donnelly, which was held from the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Geo. Warden, Mill Street, to the Forest Lawn Cemetery on Saturday afternoon. Rev. W. M. Morris conducted an impressive service at the home and also officiated at the grave. Ptes. Lee, Aiken, Bull, May, Gibbs and Hewson, six soldiers of the 164th Battalion acted as pallbearers. The remains of the young man were accompanied home by a soldier comrade, Pte. Alan Smith. Donnelly was highly thought of as the following letter from the chaplain of his battalion, the 181st shows:
Mrs. Geo. Warden,
    Dear Madam. - Your dear boy Delbert passed away today. The officers and men of this battalion deeply regret his loss to us and more especially to yourself. I can assure you that everything that could be done was done to save his life. He gave his life in a noble cause. While he was not permitted under the providence of God to go with his comrades to the front he did the next best thing by preparing himself to take his part in this great struggle. we most sincerely extend to your our deepest sympathy and pray that you may be sustained and strengthened by God's grace in this great trial. Believe me. Yours sincerely,
                    WM. ROBERTSON.

Orangeville Banner dated 25-Jan-1917 Page 1, Column 4
    Dr. Fred Burnham, of Winnipeg and Peterboro, who was twice decorated by King Nicholas for services in Montenegro, will take command of a Serbian military hospital.
    Dr. Keillor, who purchased the practice of Dr. J. A. Smith a short time ago, has left Shelburne and does not intend to return. He writes that he intends to leave for the front very shortly.

Orangeville Banner dated 25-Jan-1917 Page 2, Column 2
THE 164th COLORS
Over Two Thousand People Witnessed Presentation Friday Afternoon
Impressive Ceremony in Hamilton Armories.   
    The formal presentation of colors to the 164th Halton and Dufferin Battalion took place in the Armories in Hamilton last Friday afternoon.  Over two thousand people witnessed the ceremony.  Delegations of visitors were present from Orangeville, Shelburne, Grand Valley and other points in Dufferin County.  Halton County, which is much nearer Hamilton, was largely represented.  The colors which are the gift of the ladies of the two counties were presented by Mrs. C. H. E. Smith, of Acton, representing the ladies of Halton, and Mrs. R. L. Mortimer, of Shelburne, representing the ladies of Dufferin.  The following report of the presentation is taken from the Hamilton Times:
    Upwards of two thousand people gathered in the armories yesterday afternoon for the presentation of the colors to the 164th Battalion.  Long before the hour set for the actual presentation the balconies were well filled with the many friends from Halton and Dufferin Counties, who had come to the city to witness the ceremony.  Shortly after 2.30 the unit, which was formed in a hollow square, with the bands on the north side of the hall, was called at attention by Lieut.-Col. Domville.  The bugle band then marched to the front piling drums, after which Sergt.-Major Fowles and Sergt.-Major Hawthorne marched out with the colors, which were cased, and placed them on the drums.
    From the north side Bishop Clark, the chaplain, Capt. Woodcock, and the following members of the presentation party advanced to a position near the colors.  Mrs. C. H. E. Smith, Mrs. R. L. Mortimer, Judge Elliott, C. R. McKeown, M.P.P., Brig.-Gen. Sir J. M. Gibson, Col. Mewburn, A.A.G., Brigadier W. Hendrie, Lieut-Col. Carter, D.D.M.S., Major Piggott and Capt. Balfour.  The colors were then uncased and consecrated by His Lordship Bishop Clark and the chaplain.  Following this they were presented by Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Mortimer, the Lieutenants receiving them on bended knee.  Lieut. Knight received the King's color and Lieut. Daniel the regimental color.  The other members of the color party were Sergt.-Major McPherson, Sergt. Flaxman and Corp. Guyatt.
    Addresses were made by Judge Elliott and Mr. McKeown, who spoke words of confidence and encouragement to the unit.  They were proud of the men who had gathered from all parts of the Counties of Halton and Dufferin, knowing that many of them at great sacrifice were in the ranks today.  They felt that the 164th Battalion had officers and men who were worthy of the highest respect and whose devotion to duty would bring to their colors nothing but glory  With them went the best that loving hearts and willing hands could give, and wishes for a speedy and safe return when justice and liberty had triumphed.
    In replying to the kind wishes of the speakers and the presentation from the ladies of the two counties, Col. Domville said they could but be grateful and determined to acquit themselves creditably when the time came for their departure overseas and to take an active part in this great war. This he intimated would be in the near future, as it was now known that the unit was to leave in February.  It might be broken up on its arrival overseas, as such was being done with most battalions, but a battalion, such as he had the honor to command, would by its devotion to duty, play the part of a worthy unit, and its individual members, he had no doubt, judging by their willingness to serve, would acquit themselves creditably.
    At the conclusion of the addresses the color party turned about and received a general salute after which marching in slow time, it resumed its place in line as the band played "God Save the King."  The Battalion then marched past, Sir John Gibson taking the salute.  The men were then allowed to stand easy and chatted with their friends until 4.30 when they formed up and marched to their quarters at the Westinghouse barracks where a lunch was served to the visitors.
    A brief description of the Colors will interest our readers:
    The King's Color, which is the Great Union, the Imperial Color of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in which the cross of St. George is conjoined with the crosses of St. Andrew and St. Patrick on a blue field bears in its centre the Territorial designation "Halton and Dufferin Overseas Battalion," on a crimson circle, with the number of the Battalion in Roman Numerals within surmounted by the Imperial Crown.
    The Regimental Color is of blue, representing the color of the facings of the Battalion, bearing in its centre the Battalion badge within the Union -- wreath of roses, thistles, Shamrocks and Maple Leaves, and ensigned with the Imperial Crown.

Orangeville Banner dated 25-Jan-1917 Page 3, Column 3
BATTALION AUXILIARY'S MESSAGE
    The Ladies' War Auxiliary of Orangeville sent the following telegram to the 164th Battalion in connection with the presentation of colors at Hamilton last Friday.
To Lieut.-Col. Domville.
    Officers and Men of the 164th Battalion:
  May the colors with which you are this day presented remind you all of the noble deeds of your ancestors. Fighting beneath their folds may you as you go forward to fight for liberty and freedom, emulate the example of our forefathers.  The sympathy, the love and the tenderest thoughts follow you to the field of battle, from the Ladies' War Auxiliary of Orangeville.
        Mrs. Fisher, President
        Miss R. McGillivray, Sec.
    In reply to their message the Auxiliary received the following telegram from Col. Domville.
                    Hamilton, Jan. 19, 1917
Mrs. Fisher, President the Ladies' War Auxiliary:
                    Orangeville, Ontario
    Will you kindly convey to the ladies of the War Auxiliary the sincere thanks of the Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers and men of the 164th Battalion for their kind, stimulating message.  we are encouraged by your sympathy and strengthened for our task by your hearty support. 
                    Percy Domville.
    Mrs. D. Macpherson was the representative of the Auxiliary at the presentation of the colors.           

OUR SOLDIERS CLUB
    Our Soldiers Club has received acknowledgment of Christmas parcels from the following overseas men: Ross Macpherson, J. Menary, A. Firth, R. B. Endacott, A. E. Fleming, S. Arnott (for Sam Brooks killed in action), R. B. McGuire, Cecil Statia, Dr. Carson, Ross Corbitt, D. A. Cameron, Geo. Cheney, H. Wade, J. Dawson, Stuart Porter, Laddie Stevenson, J. M. Murray, Lindsay Morrison, J. E. Jenkins, Orton Walker, H. E. Firth, Frank Jackson, W. N. Lackey, Earl Stevenson, Lester Arnott, Fred Lewis, Captain Preston.

Orangeville Banner dated 25-Jan-1917 Page 3, Column 4
MILITARY NOTES
    It is reported on reliable authority that the 164th Battalion will leave for overseas in February.
    Ewart Macpherson, son of Mr. and Mrs. D. Macpherson, has received his Lieutenancy in the 164th.
    Sergt. W. Smeaton, of Inglewood, was one of a large party of returned soldiers who reached Toronto, on Sunday morning.
    Mayor Henderson has received word that his eldest son, Corp. Clifford C. Henderson, who is with the Medical Service Corps in France, has been seriously ill with an affection of the ear.
    Pte. Harry Pickering, of Shelburne, a member of the 164th Battalion, was successfully operated on for appendicitis in the Western Hospital, Toronto, on Monday of last week.  The patient is doing nicely.
    Pte. Russell A. Patterson, of Shelburne, with the 164th Battalion, has been in Grace Hospital, Toronto, for the past three weeks, having undergone an operation for an abscess on the heavy muscles of one of his legs.
    The name of Gunner Marmaduke P. Pearson, of Chatham, a son of Rev. and Mrs. E. A. Pearson, appeared among the wounded in Tuesday's casualty lists.  The young man is a nephew of Mrs. W. M. Green and Dr. W. H. Bowles.
    Mr. and Mrs. D. . Brown have received a letter, giving some particulars in the manner of which their son, Pte. C. W. Brown, was wounded.  The young soldier received his wounds in the trench at Vimy Ridge, near Arras, early in November. A German trench mortar bomb burst in the trench behind him.  He was wounded in twenty places and as a result of his injuries his right arm is useless.  Pte. Brown is now in a hospital in London and will be invalided home as soon as he is fit.

Orangeville Banner dated 25-Jan-1917 Page 3, Column 7
MELANCTHON STATION
    Pte. T. A. McComb, who went overseas a short time ago is now in France with the 58th Battalion.

Orangeville Banner dated 25-Jan-1917 Page 4, Column 3
    Citizens of Fergus presented Sergt. Instructor Geo. Hamilton with a well filled purse of gold on his return home after spending sixteen months in the trenches.  Hamilton won two stripes on the field.

Orangeville Banner dated 25-Jan-1917 Page 4, Column 4
    Simon F. Hunter, of Hornings Mills, who has been principal of the Markdale public school, has resigned to heed the call of King and Country.
    Colonel W. T. McMullen, who went overseas in charge of the 168th Battalion, has returned to Woodstock, and reports that over 100 German U-boats have been captured.
    Mrs. Elizabeth Winyard died suddenly at Stratford. Her husband is in England with the 125th Battalion, and five small children, all under thirteen years of age, are left.
    Mr. Ed. Stoddart, of Bradford, has a dangerous looking German knife that he received from friends at the front, who received it from a German prisoner in exchange for some cigarettes.

Orangeville Banner dated 25-Jan-1917 Page 4, Column 5
    An address and a silver salver were presented to Battalion Sergt.-Major Johnston, 157th Battalion, by the officers of the Simcoe Foresters, at a farewell banquet, held before the battalion was broken up.

Orangeville Banner dated 25-Jan-1917 Page 5, Column 2
    Signaller Norman Huck, a Walkerton boy now at the front, has received a stripe for being in active service for two years without a misconduct mark.

Orangeville Banner dated 25-Jan-1917 Page 6, Column 6
ROSEMONT
    Word has been received on January 10 from Pte. F. C. Robinson, who received shrapnel wounds in the legs at the Somme on September 15th and ever since has been in the Royal Hospital, Sheffield, England. He was just able to be out of bed for a very short time, but was not able to walk without crutches, when on December 20th, he took influenza and had to return to bed once more. He sent word to his parents that he had received a good many Christmas gifts from his friends and to thank them all for him although he did not enjoy Christmas very much.  He could not eat a bite, said he had to miss all the turkey and Christmas cheer, his temperature being 104 on Christmas day, but he was able to write a few lines to his mother on December 26th.  A year ago he spent Christmas in the hospital in Toronto with measles and larngytis and came to his home near Rosemont about January 11th.  His many friends wish him a speedy recovery as it is just about 13 months since he enlisted in the 74th Battalion and went overseas the last of March.

Orangeville Banner dated 25-Jan-1917 Page 7, Column 2
    Pte. Harry Glover, of the 164th spent Sunday with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. A. D. Glover.
    Lieut. Joe. L. Lewis, of the P.S.I. Toronto and Mrs. Lewis, were the guests of the former's parents, Mr. and Mrs. G. D. Lewis over Sunday.
    Mr. and Mrs. Jno. McCartney and son, Garnet, of Emerson, Man., are visiting relatives in Orangeville and Caledon. Mr. McCartney, who is a native of Caledon Township, has a unique municipal record to his credit. He is now serving for the sixteenth year as Reeve of Franklin District. He has held the Reeveship continuously all these yeas and had hoped to retire after completing his fifteenth term, but his constituents insisted that he remain in harness for at least another year. Mr. McCartney has two sons in khaki, one at the front and the other training in Winnipeg.

Orangeville Banner dated 25-Jan-1917 Page 7, Column 3
    Corp. L. McCabe, son of Mr. and Mrs. Arch. McCabe, of Laurel, has qualified as sergeant in the 164th Battalion.

Orangeville Banner dated 01-Feb-1917 Page 1, Column 3
    Thos. W. Reid, a returned soldier, is assistant agent and baggagemaster at the C.P.R. depot in Dundalk.

Orangeville Banner dated 01-Feb-1917 Page 1, Column 4
    Pte. Roy Watson, son of Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Watson, of Shelburne, is again in the hospital in France receiving treatment for his eyes which have not yet recovered from the effects of the gas.

Orangeville Banner dated 01-Feb-1917 Page 1, Column 5
    Pte. Wm. O'Reilly, 164th Battalion, was killed and nine other soldiers were injured, one seriously, by the explosion of a grenade at the bombing school at Hamilton.
    Another old Bolton boy is receiving promotion in the army.  R. O. (Ollie) Alexander has been promoted to the position of Lieut.-Colonel.  He is now stationed at London, Ontario.

Orangeville Banner dated 01-Feb-1917 Page 2, Column 3
MILITARY NOTES
--SOMEONE will call on EVERYONE for donations to buy wool to knit socks for our boys who are going overseas.  Bachelors and widowers called on first.
    Pte. Stanley and Pte. Leslie Martin wish to thank the members of the Camilla Ladies' Aid for their splendid Christmas gifts. The parcels reached them in good condition and the contents were much appreciated, especially the cake.
    The 164th Battalion has eight newly qualified sergeants. -- D. E. Rowan, S. R. Baker, N. S. Marshall, H. Bowes, S. H. Perry, L. R. McCabe, W. Anderson and J. W. Houghton and the following corporals, S. B.  Lomas, J. E. Eastwood, C. H. King, C. W. King and W. Pilgrim.
    Word has come to his relatives here that Garnet Jackson, youngest son of the late Robert Jackson, of Cardwell, reached the trenches in France during the first week in January.  Jackson, who formerly lived in Orangeville, went overseas with the 166th (Queen's Own) Battalion.
    Harry Lewis, a son of Mrs. Lewis, Third Avenue, was recently specially mentioned in despatches by General Haig, for bravery in bringing up the guns during action.  Lewis, who is a Bombardier with the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, is a son of the late Dr. F. W. Lewis and comes of good fighting stock.
    Clifford and William Henderson, sons of Mayor Henderson, have written asking all persons and societies who so kindly remembered them during the Christmas season by sending parcels to accept their heartiest thanks for their kindness.  Some of the parcels they have already acknowledged by letter; others have not yet received and in one or two cases there was not any name enclosed.  For all they are equally and truly grateful.
    Miss Clara Hulse, Corresponding Secretary of Lord Dufferin Chapter, I.O.D.E. has received acknowledgment of Xmas boxes sent overseas as follows: Frank Kilpatrick, B. Reynolds, Jack Aiken, Harry Lewis, Orton Walker, S. Arnott (for Sam Brooks killed in action), Bert Booth, Clifford Henderson, Hutch Keith, Capt. Fremlin, W. W. Lackey, Earl Stevenson, Ross Macpherson, Frank Jackson, Lindsay Morrison, Chester Bowers, R. Dobson, Lloyd Patterson and J. A. Menary.
    His friends here will be glad to learn that Capt. G. M. Endacott, son of sheriff and Mrs. H. Endacott has recovered his wonted health and is now in command of 1100 wounded men at St. Leonard's-on-the-Sea.  Pte. Douglas Macpherson, of Orangeville, Lieutenant R. Richardson of Guelph and Lieut. Balfour, of Regina, are in his camp preparing to go back to France. When his brother Ralph visited Capt. Endacott at Christmas time there were five former Orangevillians there on the same day.

Orangeville Banner dated 01-Feb-1917 Page 7, Column 2
THE Y. M. C. A.
Captain Pearson, Who Spent 20 Months at Ypres, Will Address Orangeville Audience on Feb. 6th.
    Captain Pearson is at present on a furlough in Canada after spending some twenty months with the Canadians at Ypres.  He knows intimately the stories of St. Eloi, Sanctuary Wood, Festubert and the first attack on the Canadians at Ypres and tells a powerful story of Canadian gallantry and with it the part played by the Y. M. C. A. in helping our boys live through those troubled days.
    In the earlier days Y. M. C. A. Officers were looked upon as being unnecessary and a great difficulty was experienced in getting even a place to sleep. In a few months, however, the Association Officers, both in England and France, demonstrated the fact that they could make a great contribution to the efficiency of the soldiers.  Up to the beginning of 1915 a trunk full of stationery would last the association in France a week, but now over a million sheets a month are distributed free both in France and England.
    Services at first were held without assistance of books or music, and in the old barns or any place they could get rent free, but today each brigade in the Canadian Corps has a well equipped Association tent or hut, and some brigades have three or four smaller branches.  They own 18 pianos, and have ordered 10 more, eighty-four grafanolas and over a thousand records, all the hymn books and testaments they can use and a very valuable assortment of athletic equipment.
    Captain Pearson has addressed small groups of representative men.  In every case his story, which is told in a forceful, soldierly way, has gripped his audiences powerfully and raised greatest enthusiasm.  Hear him in the Town Hall Tuesday evening, February 6th.

    Flight Lieut. Macdonald, a returned Canadian aviator, is visiting Mr. and Mrs. C. R. McKeown. Macdonald dropped a distance of 2000 feet when his aeroplane was shot down by the Germans.

Orangeville Banner dated 01-Feb-1917 Page 7, Column 3
RECRUITING MEETING
    A large audience attended a stirring recruiting meeting held in the Opera House on Friday night under the auspices of the Canadian Field Artillery.  Capt. Creighton, who occupied the chair, explained the organization of a field battery in a clear, succinct manner.  An excellent address was given by Sergt-Major Gustar, who fought at Langemark and is now preparing to go overseas a second time as soon as he is physically fit. The speaker gave an interesting account of the trip of the First Contingent across the Atlantic, the sojourn at Salisbury Plain and the subsequent journey to France.  He also related a number of extremely interesting incidents connected with the desperate fighting at Langemark.  The closing part of his address was largely an appeal for recruits presented in an eloquent and most convincing manner.  Short addresses were also given by Rev. W. M. Morris, Rev. E. R. Young, Rev. A. E. de St. Dalmas and Mr. C. R. McKeown, M. L. A.  A delightful musical programme was provided by Corp. Ross, Miss Clara Hulse, Miss Mildred Forbes, Mrs. R. E. Jackson and Miss Browne, the last named acting as accompanist during the evening.  Before the meeting was brought to a close a resolution proposed by Rev. W. M. Morris, seconded by Mr. McKeown, asked the Government to enforce the Militia and Defence Act by calling out for home defence all men qualified to serve but not eligible for overseas service.  The big audience endorsed the resolution by a standing vote.
    A second meeting was held in the Opera House after the church services on Sunday night and attracted another good sized audience.  Mr. V. A. Statia presided and addresses were given by Sergt.-Major Gustar and Messrs. D. Macpherson, B. McGuire and Robt. Wansborough.  The musical programme included a couple of songs by Miss Forbes and a solo by Corp. Ross.

Orangeville Banner dated 01-Feb-1917 Page 7, Column 4
SOLDIER WAS KILLED
Ten Others Injured by Bursting Bomb at Hamilton.
Men of 164th Battalion in a Bad Accident.
    Pte. Wilfrid Reilly, a member of the 164th Battalion, was instantly killed and ten other soldiers were more or less seriously wounded by the explosion of a hand grenade in the bombing school at the Hamilton rifle ranges on Wednesday afternoon of last week.  At the time Captain Harvey Evel, of Hamilton, a returned soldier, was lecturing the class on the construction of bombs.  In some way, as yet unexplained, a loaded grenade got amongst the unloaded grenades which were being used for the demonstration.  It is thought by some that Reilly, in handling the loaded grenade, loosened the lever, causing it to explode.  The unfortunate man was instantly killed and ten other men near him were wounded by flying fragments of metal.  The only one seriously injured was Pte. R. J. Small, of the 164th, a former Grand Valley man.
    The names of the injured are:
    Pte. R. J. Small, 164th Battalion, seriously.
    Pte. Albert Greenwood, 164th Battalion.
    Pte. Harold Lush, 164th Battalion.
    Pte. Roy Laking, 164th Battalion.
    Pte. Chas. Nelson, 164th Battalion.
    Pte. Jas. Harley, 205th Battalion.
    Pte. Thos. Argent, 205th Battalion.
    Pte. Fred Woolridge, 205th Battalion.
    Pte. Geo. Dixon, 205th Battalion.
    Pte. Small underwent an operation shortly after the accident, but little hope is entertained for his recovery.  Small is a son of Mr. John Small who ran the temperance hotel in Grand Valley until a few months ago. The family is now living in Fergus.  Laking was a barber in Shelburne.  Greenwood is an East Luther boy and is a nephew of Mr. Wm. Irvin, Church Street, Reilly is a son of Mr. John Reilly, of Amaranth and has two brothers in khaki.  Lush and Nelson are Peel County men the former hailing from Oakville and the latter from Milton.  The 205th Battalion men all belong to Hamilton.
    The bomb that caused the trouble is technically known as "No. 1 general service hand grenade." It is shaped like an Indian club and is very powerful.  "Dummies" are supposed to be used for instructional purposes at such classes as were being held, and how a live grenade got amongst them will probably be a subject of military enquiry.
    Capt. Evel has just ordered the bomb on which he was lecturing on, to be passed along among the members of the class.  When it reached Reilly he bent over it and immediately there was a tremendous explosion which shook the building and scattered death and wounds among the men.  Reilly had part of his limbs blown off and one of his fingers flew into the face of another soldier with such force as to cut it.  Pte. Small received such terrible injuries that he was almost unrecognizable and is in a very critical condition at the military hospital, where the wounded men were rushed following the explosion. The other members of the class all received slight wounds in the arms or legs.  The reason given for the fact that only one was killed was that when the bomb exploded Reilly's body, which was bent over, shielded the other members of the class.
    The headquarters staff refused to issue any statement as to the accident though they stated that the bomb was one of the ordinary type used, weighed about four pounds and had been used on numerous occasions before.

Orangeville Banner dated 01-Feb-1917 Page 7, Column 5
BIG BATTLE COMING
Allies Now Have Advantage in Numbers and Artillery
    Mr. Robert Wansbrough has received the following letter from his nephew, Pte. B. C. Wansbrough, who is with the 1st Canadian Cas. Training Battalion, at Hastings, Sussex, England.
                                    January 8, 1917
Dear Uncle Robert. --
    Your letter of the 8th ult. received a few days ago and was very pleased to hear from you and to know that you were enjoying good health.  You are indeed getting to be quite an age and it is remarkable how you can still get around so well.  It looks now as if the Germans have had about all they can stand and are very anxious for peace, but I think the Allies will hold out and get their terms after the great sacrifices they have made both in men and money.  I am now employed as clerk in the Paymaster's Office here and will not be going to the front any more.  This is a nice town and the population are very good to us.  My brother Hal, is now in France, having gone over last month and will be having some hardships of war by this time.  The weather here has been fairly nice all along.  There has been no snow and as usual in this country there is not likely to be any.  I suppose it is quite cold in Canada now.  This is my second winter away, but hope to be back again before another.  The largest and fiercest battles the world has ever seen will take place this year, unless the Germans give in, which they will not likely do until forced to.  It is only a  matter of time now until they will be beaten, as we have far superior numbers of troops and more artillery.  Artillery is the main factor in this war and the side with the most gun power will win in the end.  That is why the Germans were so successful in the early days.  well, I will close for this time and hope to hear from you soon. Hoping this finds you in the best of health, as it leaves me and with the best wishes for the year.  I am,
        Your loving nephew.

Orangeville Banner dated 01-Feb-1917 Page 7, Column 7
    Miss Pearl Ferguson, of Crombie, has received a letter from a soldier in France stating that he was wearing a pair of socks that she had written her name on, which he had received from the Red Cross Society.

Orangeville Banner dated 01-Feb-1917 Page 8, Column 5
LETTER FROM FRONT
Pte. Stinson Tells How Soldiers Appreciated Their Christmas Treats.
    Mrs. D. McKim, of Caledon, has received the following letter from her nephew, Pte. H. E. Stinson, who enlisted in the Medical Service Corps in Toronto and left for overseas last August.
                    December 28, 1916.
    Dear Aunt. - Received your letter today and was glad to hear from you.  I left No. 2 Canadian General Hospital about five weeks ago. The called for volunteers to go up to the line to No. 3 Canadian Field Ambulance so I volunteered to go.  Of course No. 2 Canadian General Hospital was a very fine place.  It was situated about fifty miles back of the firing line, right on the top of a large cliff about 500 feet high overlooking the town.  However, the town did not improve the looks of the hospital.  We had very fine quarters there.  There was a Y.M.C.A. a picture show and a Red Cross hut. The last was fixed up with writing tables, wicker chairs and all kinds of games.  Of course we have nothing like that where I am now, as our work is right in the trenches, carrying out the wounded.  We are resting at present, but expect to go in again in a couple of weeks.
    I will just tell you what we see where we are billeted at present.  We see an unceasing procession of motor lorries, autos, motor-cycles, horse transports, men coming and going in twos and threes, and ambulances, empty going one way and full going the other.  The first thought that strikes one is that it is dreadful to see so much machinery and material and so many men being used in the destructive work of war.  The war is carried on at an incalculable cost in money and lives, but it is a war on our part for the maintenance of righteousness and liberty. There are no sacrifices which a man or nation should not be willing to make in behalf of these great principles.  The war has aroused us all from our lethargy and shaken us out of our easy-going luxurious, and pleasure-loving way begotten by accumulated wealth and the prosperity which we have had in our fair Dominion for so many years.  I was thinking that this war has taught us anew the old lesson that "man cannot live by bread alone," but that right is a vital factor in the life of the nation.  It has also given us some measure of our moral and material capacity as an empire and a vision of the great purpose for which we are being used.
    It is wonderful when you stop and think who we are mingling with, Englishmen, Irishmen, Scotchmen, Canadians, khaki clad Belgians and blue-grey clad French soldiers, all on the Somme soil and with a common purpose in their hearts.
    Well I had better put my address in her as it is supposed to go in the centre of the letter.  No. 3, Can. Field Ambulance, C. Sec. B.E.F., France.
    Well I must tell you what we had for Christmas dinner and what we would have had it the eatables had reached us in time.  We had turkey, nuts of all kinds and oranges, and we would have had plum pudding had it not reached us too late, but better late than never, for we are going to have it on New Year's.  You know  a meal like that is quite a treat for us as we get cheese, bread and jam one day and the next, jam, bread and cheese, so you will understand how we will enjoy a change.  I have not received the parcel which Aunt Aggie sent, or one or two others which should have reached me, but I suppose it is on account of my coming up from the line.  I think I will have to stop writing now as my back is getting tired leaning over. I am sitting on the floor of my billet using my mess tin for a writing desk.  This will be all this time.  Hoping you all have had a merry Christmas and will have a happy New Year.
                Your nephew,
                    Pte. H. E. STINSON
                                No. 5276597

Orangeville Banner dated 15-Feb-1917 Page 3, Column 1
BLOWN FROM CRATER
Canadian Soldier Was Badly Used Up by a "Minnie."
    Mr. and Mrs. W. S. Martin, of West Caledon, have received the following letter from the son, Corp. W. Geo. Martin:
                    January 10th, 1917.
    My Dear Mother. -- Just a few lines to let you know that I am still alive and in the hospital yet.  I am getting better but very slowly, but expect to be back with my Battalion before many more weeks. I spent the Christmas and New Year holidays on a stretcher, but am able to be up and around a little now.  Norman Rayfield is in the same place with me, but not very sick.  Of course you will be wondering why I have not written before, but I did not expect to be away from my unit so long.  Well mother, I do not think it is anything serious, so don't worry.  I have suffered quite a lot of pain but am quite a bit easier now and as I said before, am amble to be up and around a little.  I was blown from a mine crater which we were holding by a "Minnie" and landed on my right side, then I was blown back and landed on my back but did not get the slightest wound.  Was badly caught in the lungs with smoke and gas and developed bronchitis, but soon got over that.  I was hurt more with the fall and the force of the "bust-up".  My right hip was hurt and the bone is very sore still and hurts a lot when I walk, as the sailors say "With quite a list to port."  Well I must not paint things worse than they are but for a while I sure as in a bad shape. I am fairly comfortable, but miss my mail and of course all the Christmas parcels -- my luck as usual.  But I cannot grumble.  I am thankful to have a whole skin as I have had some narrow escapes of late.  Well, mother mine, I must not write too much for a start and Norman will be waiting for his pad, so I will end and please don't write until you hear again, I am still in France.
                    Your loving son,
                        GEORGE.

Orangeville Banner dated 15-Feb-1917 Page 3, Column 3
MONO COLLEGE
    A largely attended meeting of the Women's Institute was held at the home of Mrs. I. J. Murphy, Centre Road, on Thursday, February 1st.  A busy afternoon was spent knitting and sewing for the soldiers at the front.  $15 of the recent concert proceeds was voted for the Red Cross and $10 was put by as a start toward a fund for furnishing a new ward in Lord Dufferin Hospital, when the proposed addition to the present building is completed.  Fourteen pairs of socks were turned in completed for the Red Cross. Mrs. J. H. Anderson gave an excellent paper on the subject, "Don't Worry and the Sunny Side of Life."  Undoubtedly we would live longer and look happier if we could bury our imagination and only deal with the real obstacles that come our way.  Letters were received and read by different members from all the boys who had been sent Christmas boxes, with the exception of Pte. S. Burt, in France.  The following is a sample of the manner in which the soldiers acknowledged these welcome gifts:
            France, Dec. 22, 1916.
Mrs. J. W. McMaster,
    Dear Friend, -- I take pleasure in acknowledging receipt of the nice box received by the Mono College Women's Institute.  I thank you from the bottom of my heart.  The boxes were made up of eats and socks, the two things we fellows look for.  I wish you and all the ladies of Mono College branch the compliments of the season and prosperity in your good work.
    Yours sincerely,
        Franklyn Jackson

Orangeville Banner dated 15-Feb-1917 Page 6, Column 7
LAUREL
    Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Hamilton, Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Twible and Miss Gertrude Hamilton attended the funeral of Mr. Clifford Twible of Toronto on Monday, February 5. The deceased was the youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. R. Twible, formerly of Shelburne. Mr. and Mrs. Twible have also two sons at the front and another preparing to go overseas shortly. We extend to the parents and other friends our heartfelt sympathy.

Orangeville Banner dated 15-Feb-1917 Page 7, Column 3
    Mrs. W. Mottershead received a cable on Tuesday which stated that her husband Sergt. Mottershead had left for France on Sunday, February 11th.
    Gunner Harry Mossop, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Mossop, of John street who enlisted last May with "C" battery, Kingston, was home on his last leave recently.  He goes overseas next month.
    Word has reached his brothers and sisters in Toronto that John Menary, a former Orangeville boy, has been wounded in action on the Western front.  Menary is a war veteran, having served in the second Riel Rebellion and also in the South African war.  He is the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Menary of this town.
    Major Massie, one of the officers in command of the 33rd Battery, of which the late Gunner Arnold Jackson was a member, was in town last Friday, coming here specially for the purpose of making a visit to Gunner Jackson's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jos. Jackson, of Cardwell.  Major Massie has only recently returned from overseas and has many thrilling incidents to relate of the battle of the Somme.  He says that Gunner Jackson was the only member of the Battery killed or wounded in this particular action.

Orangeville Banner dated 22-Feb-1917 Page 1, Column 4
    Pte. W. A. Campbell, of Inglewood is reported dangerously ill.  He is a son of the late Alex. Campbell, at one time station agent at Cheltenham.
    Pte. Herbert Cation, with the 198th Battalion, the Buffs, was a visitor with his father, Mr. R. H. Cation, Mayfield, and other friends on his last leave before going overseas.
    Word has just been received in Brampton, that Lieut. C. R. Duggan, of the Royal Flying Corps, having obtained his "wings" has been transferred from England and is now flying "Somewhere in France."
    Sergt. Bert Jamieson, of Flesherton, is lying dangerously ill of pneumonia at the Toronto base hospital.  He was gassed at St. Julien in April, 1915, and since coming home has been recruiting in northern Ontario.

Orangeville Banner dated 22-Feb-1917 Page 2, Column 1
BELGIAN RELIEF
    Mrs. D. Macpherson has received the following acknowledgment from the Belgian Relief Headquarters in Toronto:
                    Feb. 17th, 1917.
Dear Mrs. Macpherson.
    The case of splendid clothing for Belgian Relief arrived this morning and we are simply delighted with the contents.  Everything is most acceptable, including the little mufflers.  I would so like to be at the other end and see our cases unpacked and the things distributed.  They will be such a comfort.  Will you please convey to all the contributors the grateful thanks of the committee for their splendid cooperation.  The socks we are sending in 7-pound lots by post in order to avoid delay.  Until things are settled between the U. S. and Germany there will no doubt be delay in freight shipments, but we must go on with our work as the need will be enormous when peace comes.  We hope to get a continuation of our free transportation. Again thanking you for the splendid cooperation of Orangeville.
                    Yours very sincerely,
                        Mrs. Helen M. Pepler.
                        Cnvener.

Orangeville Banner dated 22-Feb-1917 Page 2, Column 3
DECISION ON BOMBING ACCIDENT
    Leiut.-Col. William Hendrie, commanding officer of the Fourth Brigade, gave out a statement recently on the finding of the Board, appointed to investigate the accident in Hamilton, which resulted in the death of Pte. Wilfrid Reilly, of the 164th.  The Board was composed of Capt. Kelly and Capt. Morani, members of the headquarters bombing staff and both experts on the subject of explosive shells.  Their finding stated that the bomb had not been exploded by a detonator, that the explosion was purely accidental and no blame could be attached to any one.  The conclusion of the Board was that the trouble was caused by the formation of gases resulting in a combination which, under the handling in heated hands and the extreme cold when not in use, caused the bomb to burst.

Orangeville Banner dated 22-Feb-1917 Page 2, Column 6
Hospital Notes
    Mrs. Fisher has received a letter from Lady Drummond acknowledging receipt of $50 which was sent by the Daughters of the Empire for five British prisoners whom they are keeping in Germany.  Mrs. Fisher has also received the following card from one of the prisoners:
                    Minden West, Germany
                        December 22, 1916
    Dear Mrs. Fisher. -- Just a card to say thank you for the many parcels received through your kindness.  To tell you how acceptable they are would be impossible but after the war is finished I hope to have the pleasure of thanking you in person.  I am a "Canadian born" and the happiest day of my life will be when I feel our good soil beneath my feet again.  Thanking you for your kindness and wishing you a prosperous New Year, I am,
                    Sincerely yours,
                        Sergt. C. W. Carson
                                        (11180)
    Mrs. Fisher has has also heard from a number of other prisoners.

Orangeville Banner dated 22-Feb-1917 Page 3, Column 6
MONO CENTRE
    Ptes. G. Walton and G. Muirhead, of the 164th, spent a few days in this vicinity last week.

Orangeville Banner dated 22-Feb-1917 Page 6, Column 1
WALDEMAR
    Pte. Robert Carter, of the 164th Battalion, is spending a few days with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Carter, 9th line.

Orangeville Banner dated 22-Feb-1917 Page 6, Column 3
RAIDING THE HUNS.
Canadian Soldier Gives Account of Fighting on the Somme.
Germans Prisoners Were a Frightened Looking Lot
    Our readers will be interested in the following letter from Robert McCulloch, a son of Mrs. James McCulloch, of Adjala.
                    Crewe, Eng.  Jan. 31, 1917
    Just a few lines to let you know what we are doing in the big war, as I am now away from the searching eyes of the censor.
    Leaving Renninghelst at 6.15 on the morning of August 24th we started on our way.  Of course we were not told where, but we knew very well that the Somme would be the next place of action. I might say that one of my best chums was killed during the last hour in the trenches. The Germans were putting over a number of shells. You could see them coming alright, but they were coming rather thick and one made a direct hit on him.  He came from the States and enlisted a day or so after I did.  He had made his way up to Sergeant and the papers were in the orderly room for his commission.  He was a very clever fellow.  He is buried with a good many others of the first crowd we left in Ridgemont Cemetery.  Two officers of the 19th Battalion were killed at the same time and we made two special crosses for them.  During the first day's march we went past Poperinghe and on to a town called Steenacarte, where we stayed two or three days.  Here the Flying Corps people gave us a good concert which was enjoyed very much by the whole brigade.  We had to take all the implements out of a house and fix the doors up for a platform, so we had it all to fix up again after the concert was over as we had to be on our way early the next morning. Next day we finished up at Leaderzelle, a very nice little French town, where we stayed two days and were issued with Lee Enfield riles.  The Ross rifles, which we previously used were tied up in bundles of a half dozen and sent off by motor truck.  I guess Jack Canuck will tell you where they went next.
    Leaving there we marched almost to St. Omer, where we all entrained, horses, wagons and everything.  At 1.30 in the morning we arrived at our destination and it was three o'clock when we got all unloaded and ready to start again.  It was raining most of the time and we must have marched seven or eight miles in the pitch darkness.  Some fell off their horses asleep and others slept on the march.  However, we finally got to an old convent, or school, about four o'clock in the morning and lay on the tile floor the remainder of the night.
    Three or four days marching then brought us to the town of Albert with the Somme running through it and its many old water wheels that had been used to run machine stops and other factories.  Now everything is in ruins.  One very fine piece of architecture is the music hall with a brass image of the Virgin and Babe set upon a tower nearly 100 feet high.  The image they say weighs four tons and has been hit by nine shells, and is now hanging at an angle of 45 degrees out over the road.  It looks very dangerous indeed and the French people firmly believe that when the tower falls the war will end.
    That was about the 10th of September so the next few days was spent getting organized ready for the big push.  The big guns never let up.  There were always some of them going but on the morning of the 15th at 6.15 every gun around opened up.  Believe me there was some noise.  About 8.30 or 9 o'clock the prisoners began to come in in large numbers. I cannot say how many there were, but there were over a thousand.  The British had gained their objective, the sugar refinery, in about an hour, so they organized another attack and also took Courcelette, as Canadians have all read in the newspapers.
    About the 18th our brigade was relieved and we all moved back three days march to a place called Bertheancourt, a very fine town with a large munitions factory in it giving employment to thousands of hands, mostly girls, old men or boys.  we spent three or four days there, then started back for the Some again, passing through several towns on the way.  We arrived in Albert again on the 25th, where we found the bombardment just as severe as ever.  This time we were camped at the brick fields.  The Germans did not put any shells real close this time, but the last time they put a big shell right near the 18th battalion horse lines so they had to cut some of the horses loose.  Then there was some wild times with horses running around and their drivers looking for them.  However, no one was seriously hurt.  One of the cooks got a blighty.  Our job during this turn was filling Lewis machine gun cylinders -- a very monotonous job indeed.  They had been left out in the wet and were rusted so we had to take the old cartridges out and clean them and put new stuff in.  What we filled during the day were taken out to the front at night.  About the 4th of October we were again relieved.  Nothing extraordinary happened this time, but after we had got back a couple of days march we heard that we would not have to go back to the Somme any more.  You can take it from me that no one was sorry.  Most of the other divisions were in three times and one of them four.  One of our brigade scouts led the first tank over for which he got a medal.  The tank sure put it over the Germans although I think it was a mistake to introduce them so late last fall as the enemy will have ample time this winter to invent something of the same kind.  Of course they are only of use to the attacking force and are practically no use to stop an attack.
    After another series of marches during which we were wet through many times, as the rainy season had commenced, we arrived at a large town called Bruay where we remained three days,  Sunday included.  We left there on Monday, October 17th, in the afternoon and made our next stop at Barlin (not Berlin). One day we were ahead of the battery and look over the canteen and baths for three or four days.  We gave them the water good and hot alright until we got into the way of regulating it.  It made us laugh sometimes to hear them shout.  Here we had an excellent billet in an old office and our carpenter shop was in an old planing mill. The machinery had all been taken away except the engine, a large gas affair manufactured in Lille.  Our brigade took over this area on 18th of October and found the trenches and everything else very quiet.  We were there for a month almost without a casualty, except a few accidents which are always happening.  The I guess they wanted to get along quicker with the war so started things going as Canadians always do.  In this way it began getting pretty rough at times.  The enemy came over one night on the 19th Battalion, killing a machine gun Sergeant and wounding one man.  Our machine gun got a line on them and must have killed or wounded a number of them as they beat it back and left a number of their kiln dried stock (a bomb they used exclusively) a revolver, a couple of steel helmets and some other stuff  It was up to us to do something so a big raid was organized.  The officers had a diagram of Fritz's first line trenches made in a field just near our shop and the battalion was put through the manoeuvres until they were sick and tired of it.  This was around Christmas time.  I often used to think of the school children practising for the concerts.  However from the extra machine guns, etc., we could see there was going to be something big come off.  The big guns had been quite busy for a week blazing up the German barbed wire entanglements.  They were in no hurray at all, just firing for an hour or so and then.  What annoyed us most was a battery of six inch guns that was quite near us.  When they started firing at night we had to leave off sleeping.  One night I was quite amused.  I had been awake for a long time listening to the guns when the other fellow finally woke up and said he hoped the ---- guns would burst.  By this time everything was ready for our fellows to go over the bags, as we call it, but the wind was in favor of the Germans, should they use gas.  We had been watching for several mornings because it was to be in the morning. I had watched  several mornings for the assault to start.  However, on the morning of the 17th the music started up in good shape, so we were all up pretty soon and found that about ten inches of nice soft snow had fallen.  I suppose Mr. Fritz thought the British would not come out on a morning of that kind but he got a rude awakening, indeed.  They first bombarded the trenches for about fifteen minutes on a 700 yard front and as our fellows knew the signals and kept sending up colored flames they were into the enemy's trenches before he got his artillery working.  The British did not have a casualty at all, going over, so of course the Germans, as on the Somme, came out with their hands up crying "mercy kamrade."  They were hustled off across "No-man's-land" as speedily as possible.  Twenty-eight came up from one dugout and any place where they did not come quickly the bombers sent in a few bombs.  Those who could come quickly got out alive and the others -----.  Then the engineers came along with mobile charges and blew the dugouts to atoms.  The attackers only stayed about twenty minutes and then the trouble was to get back, as Fritz was getting his artillery going pretty good.  It was while they were returning that our boys suffered their casualties -- about 170 all told and 70 percent. of them not serious cases.  Just 400 men from the 20th and 21st batt's. went over  Fifteen were killed in the 20th and I don't know how many in the 21st.  One young sergeant from my own platoon, the 20th, got a rifle shot in the right thigh, so was making two Germans carry him back to the trenches.  He was something like twenty yards from the trench when a shell came along and killed the Hun on his right side and also hit him in the leg above the knee, smashing the bone and muscles so badly that the limb had to be taken off.  I saw him in the hospital when I came away so asked him if he would like me to write to his mother, which I afterwards did.  He was from Owen Sound and while he was quite cheerful he admitted that his wounds were very sore at times.  He will likely be in England by this time. However he is done with the war.  He had not had a scratch until this engagement.  He was joking about the nice blighty he had at first, but the second shell spoiled all.
    Well by this time we had got our breakfast over and were having our morning wash.  We don't wash on active service until after breakfast.  Our corporal came along and told us that we had to go and guard the prisoners, so that is how we came to learn about the success of action.  Everyone thought it was going to be a failure as it had been so long on the way and a few nights before it was pulled off the Germans captured one of the 5th brigade patrol officers with some papers on him.  That, with some other little misfortunes that had befallen us, made everyone feel that the attack was doomed to failure, but when we got our rifles and equipment on and got over to the cinema we found fifteen or twenty Germans there and more coming in, so that by noon there were 87 rank and file and one officer.  One of them I had to take to the dressing station to get fixed up.  He had a bad wound in the muscles of his arm so I got a receipt for him and left him there.  Another fellow's injuries developed into a stretcher case, so we made four Germans carry him to the hospital.  The account in the newspapers gave the number of prisoners as 99 men and one officer, so I suppose there would be more wounded.  They sure were a frightened looking bunch as they came straggling in.  We had them sitting near the front of the building and as the others came along their chums would shot to them, so they got together as much as possible in little groups.  Then we started to give them hot tea and cigarettes.  You should see they way they looked at us when they were first offered the tea.  I suppose they expected it was poisoned, but they soon began to chat and enjoy themselves.  We had no trouble at all guarding them as they did not want to get back.  They said they had had enough.  They were chiefly Hanoverians, Silesians and a few Prussian Guardsmen.  They always seem to mix a few of these latter amongst the others to put the fire into them.  The guards are mostly big, dark complexioned fellows while the others are fair.  One old chap could talk good English so we had a great time with him.  He was working in London in a restaurant three years ago. Some were young fellows, one in particular, a good looking kid and quite small in stature.  I asked him how old he was, but he did not understand so I rubbed my hands over his cheek.  Then what I meant flashed across his brain and he counted off seventeen of his fingers.
        (To be continued)
<continued 01-Mar-1917 Page 6, Column 5>

Orangeville Banner dated 22-Feb-1917 Page 7, Column 1
    Pte. Willis Flatt, who enlisted with the 126th Peel Battalion, was reported dead in yesterday's official casualty lists. The young man was first reported seriously ill. We understand his death was caused by pneumonia. Flatt, who is an Orangeville boy, lived with the late Dr. Armstrong of Caledon for several years.

Orangeville Banner dated 22-Feb-1917 Page 7, Column 2
    Three sons of Rev. E. A. Pearson, of Chatham, who is well known in Orangeville, are now serving their country at the front.
    Company Sergeant Major Ewart Macpherson, of the 164th and Lieut. A. W. Dods, of the 234th, have qualified as trench experts.
    Sergt. H. E. Thomas, of No. 2 Special Service Co., Toronto, spent the week end at his home here.  Soldiering seems to be agreeing with our townsman who is now in full charge of a platoon.

Orangeville Banner dated 22-Feb-1917 Page 7, Column 3
    Pte. R. J. Small, one of the soldiers injured in the recent bomb explosion at Hamilton, is progressing satisfactorily and his complete recovery is only a matter of time.  Albert Greenwood, who was also injured, is able to walk about in the hospital and expects to be granted sick leave shortly.
    Mr. Andrew Menary, a prosperous farmer at Nesbitt, Man., is visiting Ex-Warden J. A. Marshall and other friends in Mono Township. Mr. Menary lived on lot 19, Centre Road, Mono at one time. He has been in the West for twenty-five years and is running a farm of 640 acres. He is a stalwart six footer and has a son in the trenches on the Western front.

Orangeville Banner dated 22-Feb-1917 Page 8, Column 5
MARRIED ORANGEVILLE GIRL
    Lieut.-Col. James Arthurs, M.P. for Parry Sound in the Dominion Parliament is now in the trenches in France. He went to England with his battalion but was not given a command, so in order to get to the front he went as a Lieutenant. His son is also in the trenches. If Mr. Arthurs returns safely, as we hope he will, he will be a hero among his constituents and the public generally in Ontario. Lieut.-Col. Arthurs, M.P. was a hardware merchant in Powassan when the war broke out. He got out of business and raised a battalion for overseas. He was born in Toronto in 1866 and was educated at the public schools and Hamilton Collegiate Institute. He was married on September 12th 1887, to Miss Elizabeth P. Gillespie, of Orangeville. They have a family of four sons and three daughters. Col. Arthurs was first elected to the House of Commons in 1908 and re-elected in 1911. He is a Conservative and Presbyterian.

Orangeville Banner dated 01-Mar-1917 Page 1, Column 4
    Friends and neighbors of Pte. Robt. Reid, of the 164th Battalion, met at the home of Mr. Thos. F. Reid, in Amaranth and presented Pte. Reid with a wrist watch and Mrs. Reid with an easy chair.
    A well known Owen Sounder, Edward S. Page, who formerly sailed on the Caribou and Manitau, and was mate on the John B. Ketchum, was one of the victims when the S. S. Rappandock was torpedoed by a German submarine.

Orangeville Banner dated 01-Mar-1917 Page 1, Column 5
    Hugh C. Templin, son of the editor of the Fergus News-Record, has the proper spirit.  about a year ago he was discharged from an overseas corps, on account of ill health, and now that he has recovered his health has again enlisted.  This time with the Divisional Signallers.

Orangeville Banner dated 01-Mar-1917 Page 6, Column 5
RAIDING THE HUNS
Canadian Soldier Gives Account on Fighting on the Somme
German Prisoners Were a Frightened Looking Lot
                        (Continued from Last Week)
    The officer was a big fellow who had been wounded five times altogether.  He had been at the Somme twice and was at Verdun.  He said he had been taken prisoner by the French and had escaped, but I have my doubts about that.  He is not likely to escape again as he will be well watched now.  He was taken to brigade headquarters and given a good questioning, but I don't expect he told very much.  They used to tell us that the Germans would not eat bully beef and bread and cheese, but these fellows could put it down very nicely and any that was left they put in a bag and took along with them so it was evident that they knew how to be careful.  They did not look to have suffered from hunger, but they certainly did not have underclothing on them and very few had their great coats with them.  I guess they left in a hurry alright and some, no doubt, had given their coats to cover wounded comrades.  Of course we got all our killed and wounded back from their first line.  We got some souvenirs from them in the form of German money. I got a two mark bill and a couple of shoulder straps. I want to get a trench cap and a belt, but they have not much left when they get that far.  They say the Canadians nail all the gunners.  They have no love for the Canucks.  You will see from this that despite our misgivings the raid turned out to be one of the most successful that has been pulled off yet.  The 21st Battalion captured two machine guns and a bomb thrower.  I saw them at brigade headquarters the other day.  Very likely they will be sent to Canada for relics, to look at in the years to come.
    One of our scouts brought in a trench sign board with "Hindenburg Weg" on it.  A few nights before the raid we worked until 9 o'clock making some sign boards in German, seven in all and they only used two.  The rest were there when we left on the 18th, three months to the exact day from the day we went there first.  It sure was the best place we have been in yet.  The 1st Canadians relieved us and we relieve the 3rd or 4th in a few days.  I think by the signs that the offensive will not start on the Somme this year.
                    Thursday, February 1.
    As I have taken my shoes to the cobbler to be mended and had to borrow a pair to come home I will not go up town this morning, but will get along with this.  After being relieved by the 1st division of Canadians we marched back to divisional rest camp.  There was not much rest about it except the name, as they had the soldiers out at target shooting and squad drill the next day after we got there.  It was bitterly cold with about two inches of snow still on the ground.  We helped to put up the targets four feet square 200 yards range.  I stepped off one side and a smaller soldier did the other so when it was lined up the range was considerably shorter at one side than at the other. However no person could shoot on account of the severe cold. The targets were set up against a railroad embankment about twenty feet high and some of the bullets were hitting a steel trough that ran along the side of the track.  However some of them were bullets that hit the ground first and glanced up there.  After we got them lined up there was not much else for us to do so they had us out fro squad drill for an hour one day.  It was no joke after being off it for a year or longer, so I thought it would be a fine time to talk about getting a leave to England.  I went to the Adjutant of the Battalion, who told me I would get leave in five days at the most.  The news seemed almost too good to be true, but the leave came along in three days and it was some relief alright as we were sleeping in the loft of a brewery on a cement floor and you could count the stars through the roof.  I went to a place where they were threshing and got a few sheaves of straw which served to relieve the pressure on the cement to some extent.
    However we were to be at headquarters at Bruay at 2 o'clock, and as another fellow in the brigade had got his leave, we went together.  At nine o'clock that night the London buses came along so we got to Bethune.  Here we stayed in the hotel until about two o'clock in the morning when we were lined up and searched to see if we had any ammunition.  Imagine anyone carrying that on leave, as if the pack was not heavy enough without it.  Then we got loaded on the French train with little glass in the windows and no heat so we had to keep walking to keep from freezing to death.  we got off by turns whenever there was a stop and secured a cup of coffee wherever possible.  By the way, it tasted more like sand and water than coffee to me. We finally arrived at Boulougne at ten o'clock, and as the boat had gone we were marched to St. Martin's Camp upon a hill, which I believe must be the highest place in France, and quartered in tents with two or three blankets per man and no fire.  By this time we were beginning to think our leave was pretty dearly earned, but after another sleepless night we were lined up again and asked to give up any souvenirs we possessed.  we felt they were about as hard on us as we had been on the German prisoners.  We were warned if we were caught with any souvenirs our leave would be cancelled and we would be returned to our units at once.  It brought the officer in some alright, and he got quite a number of souvenirs pretty handily.  I only had a wooden bootjack that I made out of the stile of a door that was taken from Ypres Cathedral.  This I was allowed to keep, so intend to post it to Ontario some day soon with a few other things I got from the prisoners.
            (To be Continued)
<continued 08-Mar-1917 Page 6, Column 4>

Orangeville Banner dated 01-Mar-1917 Page 7, Column 1
    Wilfrid Bagnell and James Kinch have been transferred from the 164th to a Construction Battalion.

Orangeville Banner dated 01-Mar-1917 Page 7, Column 3
    Pte. Harold Kilpatrick, of Queen's University Ambulance Corps. was home over the week end on his last leave of absence.
    Pte. Geo. Jenkins of the 164th has been given an honorable discharge having been found medically unfit for overseas service.  Pte. Jenkins has a clean sheet in the matter of character and conduct, as he was not once disciplined for any offence during the fourteen months he was in training.
    Corp. Harry Hamilton, Bombing Instructor in the 164th, has been rejected on account of throat trouble, which has confined him to the hospital for a month or longer.  Hamilton has been training for fourteen months and is keenly disappointed because he will not get overseas.  He was a fine type of soldier and would have given a good account of himself at the front.

Orangeville Banner dated 01-Mar-1917 Page 8, Column 4
MAJOR G. F. GABRIEL
Has Reverted to the Rank of Captain in Order to Get to France With the 124th Pioneer Battalion.
    Writing to the editor of the Shelburne Economist from England, under date of January 29th, Major George F. Gabriel, a son-in-law of J. C. Reid, County Clerk, says in part:
    Since I wrote you last I have seen considerable of England.  We landed at Shorncliffe, on June 8th.  That town is in Kent, on the Straits of Dover.  We remained there until November 2nd, when we were shifted to a little place called Seaford, in Sussex, a beautiful little place situated between Eastbourne and Brighton, both quite large cities, the former 30,000, the latter 150,000.  I must say that the counties of Kent and Sussex are very beautiful and splendidly adapted to agriculture.  When we left there on January 8th, the farmers were plowing, taking up roots and threshing.  Several of us went to see a threshing after parade hours and we certainly had to laugh to see the old time separator being fed from the top, about one sheaf per minute going in and the straw going up on the old fashioned carrier.  The threshing would never have been done had it not been for the Imperial Government lending troops.  Well, Ernie, after old Sam lost his job the organization of the Canadian forces over here underwent a complete change.  The numerous battalions that were then known are now known no more.  Our good old 95th is lost forever, being taken over by the 92nd battalion of Toronto, which also took over the 169th Battalion of Toronto, and will be known as the 5th Reserve Battalion, to be reinforced by drafts from certain parts of Ontario, and to reinforce certain battalions at the front.  When we lost our identity several of us majors who did not come over here to spend all our time in England decided to seek battalions that are to leave for France at once, so Majors Oxley and Aylesworth and myself struck out for Whitly Camp, to see if we could get with the 123rd and 124th Battalions, now knows as Pioneer Battalions, and both officered by Toronto officers, the former commanded by Col. Kingsmill and the latter by my dear old friend Col. Vaux Chadwick, of the old 36th Regiment.  Oxley and I interviewed Chadwick with good success, but we are both reverting to the rank of Captain in order to get over.  Aylesworth is reverting and going in a similar capacity. we could have remained with the 92nd and held our rank and got companied but did not like the idea of having to wear kilts, and furthermore we came to the conclusion that we have been in England long enough.  My separation allowance and my pension will not be affected but I will only draw captain's pay.  The 95th Battalion lost its identity at Bramshott.  We were shipped to Bramshott from Seaford on January 8th, arriving there at 8 p.m. and had to march three miles in a blinding snowstorm to our huts.  Bramshott and Whitly are without doubt the last places on earth.  They are right in the forests of Hampshire and Surry.  You can see nothing and the railway facilities are very poor.  It is amazing the number of senior officers in England doing little or nothing.  I think they are arranging to give them a Cook's tour over to France for a week or so and then send them back to Canada.  There is no chance of senior officers getting over to France as such.  Of the original officers of the 95th there are only three left with the 92nd - Col. Barker, Major Mitchell and Capt. Strange - and the rest are in France and in different parts of England. By the time this letter reaches you we expect to be in France.  A large number of mules and horses arrived for us yesterday.  We are having the coldest winter that has been experienced here in five years - not much snow but very good ice.  I am going over to see "Darby" Russell some of these days. He is close by.  Lieut. A. M. Wright, who was our adjutant in the 95th joined us last night and is going over with us.  I receive your valuable paper regularly and am always pleased to get it.  I see that municipal affairs were rather warm this year.  I am pleased to know my esteemed friend Hughie Falconer was returned by a large majority.  Remember me to all my old friends.

Orangeville Banner dated 08-Mar-1917 Page 1, Column 3
    Fred Beattie, partner in Beattie Bros. dry goods firm in St. Catharines, has left for Quebec to join the heavy artillery and qualify for a commission.
    Mrs. John Mitchell, mother of J. H. Mitchell, mayor of Alliston, celebrated her 80th birthday recently. In the last nine months she has knit 39 pairs of socks for soldiers.

Orangeville Banner dated 08-Mar-1917 Page 6, Column 4
RAIDING THE HUNS
Canadian Soldier Gives Account on Fighting on the Somme
German Prisoners Were a Frightened Looking Lot
                        (Continued from Last Week)
    We got on the boat about eleven o'clock after having our passports dated for another day's leave.  It was pretty rough as usual so we all got the life belts on in case of submarines, but I had to get sick, as usual.  This was the second time I was sick on the channel, and strange to say I was not a bit sick while crossing the Atlantic.  Of course I was not the only one.  It would not have troubled me very much at one time if we encountered a submarine. However we got to Folkestone without any mishap and entrained for Victoria Station, London.  We got into a first class compartment and no one molested us so we had a very comfortable ride and a sleep before reaching London.  Here we were met by buses which took us to the Pay office where we had to wait an hour until they adjusted our paybooks and gave us our money.  We could get all we had coming to us if we wanted it but I decided to leave a little and call again as there were several trying to get some on credit, but they don't do things that way in the army. Then we took a taxi for the Maple Leaf Club, a very fine institution indeed for Canadians under the patronage of their Majesties, King George and Queen Mary.  It only cost us four shillings a day and believe me a real bed was good that night.  I imagined I was on the channel with the boat swaying from side to side.  I was not any too well yet, so remained in most of the time  Here I met several I knew from the brigade and also H. Austin of Tottenham, who had been to Egypt and was now in France with the Queen's University bunch.  Fred Guest was supposed to be on leave also, but had not registered at the club then.  However, I expect to see him when I go back tomorrow.
    I had an invitation to spend my time at Crewe, Cheshire County, so I thought I would accept it.  I found my way by the tubes from Victoria Station to Easton and had a vine ride over a very smooth track for about 150 miles.  There are double tracks all the way, so accidents are very rare indeed.  I was quite amused to see the sheep lying in the furrows sleeping with their noses in the grass as we would see them in Ontario in July.  I thought once I saw a Zeppelin had dropped a bomb, but as I looked a little more closely I saw it was where they had thrown up some hay for the horses and they had worked it around, eating it into a circle or rather part of a circle which looked very much like a shell hole.  The Zeppelins were within ten miles of here during the last raid, they made the 28th of November, but I think they have given that kind of business up for a bad job.  The people here were very much excited yesterday to see an aeroplane.  I was in a store at the time so missed it.  I noticed one around London with two engines in it.  They will be much faster than the one propeller planes. Two German planes were over the day I left Bruay.  I did not hear if we got either of them, but we got one the day before.  All the time we were at Bullay Gernay, the last billet we had the aircraft guns were just across the road from us. It sure was good sport to see them in action.  They pitch the thirteen-pound shells to them much as wood is thrown to a circular saw and when they close the breech and fire it is just a steady flare until they get to the last.  Then they have to slow up some.  It is easily a minute from the first shot is fired until it explodes in the air with a puff of white smoke, so you can easily understand that if the aeroplane happens to turn in another direction some of the shots will explode quite a distance away.  The idea is to keep the airman from observing too much.  It is usually a chance shot that gets the aeroplane.  They brought one down the week I was in hospital so I missed seeing that.
    This is quite a manufacturing town with a population of 58,000.  Of course most of the common people are making munitions.  I should like a look through some of the plants but will not have time this trip.  At one place in France I noticed several carloads of shavings that they take off the rough shells in the lathes.  I expect they were going to melt them down again.  We certainly have got the shells now. They have them piled up like piles of wood beside the guns.  Many of them are rusty looking objects.  I asked one of the fellows if they were any good.  They sure were rusty looking, but he assured me they would make it quite interesting for Fritz when sent over.  There certainly will be a goodly number of them handed to him this summer.  I guess the worst is yet to come.  Today's paper looks very startling for it reports a number of arrests which have been made in connection with a plot to murder Lloyd George.  I have not had time to read anything except the head lines.  The new cabinet has made some good moves.  If they had been made two years ago the situation would probably have been very different today, especially in the navy.  There are just about as many sailors around London as soldiers.  I have not had a chat with any of them yet.  I am the only Canuck in this town at present -- at least I have not seen any others.  The people all seem to have quite a bit of respect for the Canucks. I might say that there is a Toronto lady staying at this house, so that accounts for my being here.  For some reason or neither the English Tommies nor the Canadians have very much use for the Australians. Of course I have met some fine fellows.  I might relate a little incident that happened us at Ypres about the time the Australians relieved us in the salient there.
    It was in the estaminet, of course.  They were telling us what a place the Somme was, and one of them said they had come up there to do what the Canadians could not do, namely, advance and straighten out the salient.  The Canadian politely told the man from the antipodes that the Ausralians had better go back to Gallipoli and finish off what they had started there.  That finished the argument along that line.  I saw our fellows handle a couple of them on Christmas eve and not with kid gloves either.  Only one of them would come outside.  I would have like awfully well to see the other fellow perform.  They are great fellows in their own estimation, but they have to admit that fighting the Turks was a joke compared to warfare on the Western front.  They had no trench mortars there -- just common artillery and not too much of that.
    I think this will be all for this time as I have things to look after and get ready to leave for London tomorrow.  I have only four or five days more leave, but I am liable to overstay my pass a day or so as they don't say very much about a day or two if you have a reasonably good excuse.  I might tell you that the last engagement I tried to tell you about took place at The Bluff, to the right of Hill 60, with which newspaper readers are all familiar.  Of course Hill 60 is only a series of craters and shell holes this last year as it has been practically blown to pieces.
    The weather here if fine, but they think it is very cold.  They say it is the coldest for twenty years. I was out for a walk around the Wistaston Estate.  It was just like a night in Ontario in October.  They have a place called Lovers' Lane and it was by no means deserted either.  It is amusing the questions they ask about Canada.  The cobbler has sent my shoes home so I must get them on as the pair I am wearing do not feel comfortable.  They sure do good work here and only charge 3 shillings for half soles.  They cost that in Canada years ago.  Of course things are much higher here than in London vicinity.  I will close now with hope the war may be over when I get back to France.
                    Yours sincerely,
                        ROBT. McCULLOCH

Orangeville Banner dated 08-Mar-1917 Page 7, Column 1
    The 164th Battalion Auxiliary is indebted to the Willing Workers of Hornings Mills for a handsome contribution of one hundred pairs of socks for the soldier boys.
    Bandmaster C. C. Laugher, of the 235th Battalion, has qualified for a Lieutenant at Kingston and has been granted a commission.  Bandmaster Laugher was formerly leader of the Orangeville Methodist choir.

Orangeville Banner dated 08-Mar-1917 Page 7, Column 4
MILITARY NOTES
    Pte. Albert Prior, 291504, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Prior, of Jessopville, who went overseas with the 222nd Battalion, is now with an Entrenching Battalion in France.
    Since the turning of the 205th Battalion of Hamilton into a Machine Gun Battalion, over two hundred members who could not qualify as machine-gunners have been transferred to the 164th Halton-Dufferin Battalion.
    Mr. and Mrs. J. W. McMaster, Prince of Wales Road, have received a letter from Pte. S. Burt, of "D" Company, of the 58th Battalion, acknowledging receipt of the Xmas Box sent to him by the Mono College Women's Institute and expressing his gratitude to the members for their kindness in remembering him.  Pte. Burt has been in the trenches for 18 months.
    Suffocated while on duty in the trenches with a tunneling unit, was the fate of Pte. Lewis S. Carson, a telegram from Ottawa informed his mother.  Mrs. Elizabeth Carson, 151 Bathurst Street, Toronto.  His death occurred on February 15th. Pte. Carson, who is a cousin of Mr. C. V. Jeffers of this town, had been in the trenches for a year or longer.  A younger brother, Pte. A. Carson, only 15 years old, is in barracks in Toronto with the 234th Battalion.
    Pte. Wilfrid Bagnell was home on his last leave of absence on Friday of last week.  Pte. Bagnell has been in training with the 164th for about thirteen months, but was recently transferred to a Construction Battalion.  He regretted very keenly his separation from his chums in the 164th, but was pleased to be able to do his bit even in another battalion.  Wilfrid has been an enthusiastic young soldier and was quite a successful recruiter.  he was deservedly popular and will be much missed until his return. His many friends join in wishing him all kinds of god luck.
    Mr. and Mrs. O. Wilder, Zina St., received word last week that the former's brother, Pte. Dufferin Wilder, had been killed in action at the front.  Pte. Wilder, who is a former Horning's Mills boy, had been living at Rockwood before he enlisted.  He joined the 71st Battalion at Guelph, but was transferred to another battalion after reaching England.  He was killed by a hand grenade which fell at his feet and exploded before he could throw it out of the trench.  He was 21 years of age and is survived by his mother, two brothers, and a sister.  The sympathy of the people of Orangeville is extended to Mr. and Mrs. Wilder and other relatives.

Orangeville Banner dated 15-Mar-1917 Page 1, Column 3
    The brass band of the 164th Halton-Dufferin Battalion now have forty-five players.
    Miss Florence Dolson, a Chinguacousy girl, has gone to England to act as an army nurse.
    Lieut. Frank S. Rutherford, a former Bolton man, has been appointed a travelling inspector by the Imperial Munitions Board.

Orangeville Banner dated 15-Mar-1917 Page 1, Column 4
    Mrs. Hornsey, of Stratford, wife of Pte. J. Hornsey, who suffered the total loss of her house and its contents by fire, was presented by citizens with a comfortable brick house, completely furnished.
    Mr. L. Wideman, who had been in the hardware business in Charleston for about ten yeas, died in Dundalk recently from hear trouble. Deceased, who was formerly an architect, held the rank of major in the Canadian militia. He was the father of Col. Wideman and Major Wideman who are serving at the front.

Orangeville Banner dated 15-Mar-1917 Page 1, Column 5
    Lance Corp. Jos. J. Howson, of the 153rd Battalion, died at the military hospital, London, from pneumonia. Deceased was an Arthur man.

Orangeville Banner dated 15-Mar-1917 Page 3, Column 5
A GIGANTIC STRUGGLE
    In a letter to Mr. B. McGuire, Col. J. A. V. Preston says, "The war has now developed more clearly than ever into a gigantic struggle, not only for the existence of the Anglo-Saxon race, but of right again wrong, freedom against tyranny, Christianity again atheism and civilization against barbarism.  Every man who can fight is needed, and any man of fighting age and physically fit, who has not enlisted, must have a good excuse indeed, if he does not want to be condemned for all time to come as a poltroon, unworthy of the name of man and of the protection and privileges which he enjoys in a free country like Canada.

Orangeville Banner dated 15-Mar-1917 Page 4, Column 5
ROSEMONT
    Rev. G. L. Grey was called to Toronto on Saturday last to say goodbye to his brother, who is leaving for overseas.

Orangeville Banner dated 15-Mar-1917 Page 7, Column 2
    The Banner is indebted to Mr. T. A. Dawson, Lakeview Farm, Bronte, for several excellent postcard views of the 164th Battalion.

Orangeville Banner dated 15-Mar-1917 Page 7, Column 4
    Mrs. John Pierson, of Glencross, had a letter from her brother, Pte. "Billy" Bell last week.  Bell has been in the trenches in France nearly four months and has been through some pretty stiff fighting.  So far he has escaped without a scratch.  He was in the best of health when he wrote.

Orangeville Banner dated 22-Mar-1917 Page 1, Column 3
    Lieut.-Col. Stewart, of Belleville, has received the coveted long service decoration.
    The Imperial Munitions Board has taken over Dr. Johnston's residence at Trenton, for a hospital.
    Jas. Barnhardt, a Midland member of the 157th is reported as having died from wounds, in France.
    Lambton County to date has sent 1,996 men to the overseas battalions.  Seventy-nine of these have been killed or died.
    Major George Bruce Hood, of Guelph township, a noted live stock judge and active military man, died recently, aged 76.
    The veteran volunteers of 1866, meeting at St. Catharines, have passed a resolution favoring enforcement of the Militia Act.

Orangeville Banner dated 22-Mar-1917 Page 1, Column 4
    Returned soldiers are to be given one day's priority over all other applicants in cases where Dominion lands are thrown open for homesteading.
    Capt. J. H. Burnham, M.P., Peterboro, has forwarded to Ottawa the application of over 600 women who would be willing to go overseas in a Canadian Contingent.
    Seven examining centers have been opened in Grey County for the benefit of the 248th Battalion, at Dundalk, Markdale, Durham, Hanover, Thornbury, Meaford and Owen Sound.
    Major Norman D. Mackenzie, of Galt, 111th Battalion, who returned from overseas recently, has been appointed assistant superintendent of the Government Experimental Farm at Brandon, Man.
    J. B. Russell, of Hillsburg, who is attending Toronto University, has enlisted and passed examination at Ottawa for wireless operator, and has been sent on to Halifax for three or four weeks to complete his training on board the Niobe.

Orangeville Banner dated 22-Mar-1917 Page 2, Column 2
RUSSIAN SOLDIER GOT SOCKS
    On December 24th, 1914, a few months after the commencement of the war, the Women's Missionary Society of Laurel Presbyterian church shipped a parcel of socks, blankets and other articles for the use of the soldiers fighting at the front.  Mrs. (Rev.) J. R. Bell, one of the members of the society, wrote a letter which she enclosed in a pair of the socks. On Tuesday last Mrs. Bell received a card from a Russian soldier thanking her for the socks and telling her how warm and comfortable he had found them.  The soldier, who signed the name of T. Sorokin to his card, stated that he was at the present time a prisoner in Germany. The card is quite interesting and will be prized by Mrs. Bell as a memento of the great war.

Orangeville Banner dated 22-Mar-1917 Page 3, Column 3
HALL'S CORNERS
    Pte. J. L. Blair, civil engineer of St. John's, Que., visited at Elmvale Farm over Sunday.
    Pte. Will Meldon visited at Mr. Wm. Shields over Sunday.   

MONO MILLS
    Pte. Will Welwood, his sister, Miss Maggie Welwood and Mrs. (Dr.) R. T. Welwood visited friend at Bolton on Monday.

Orangeville Banner dated 22-Mar-1917 Page 3, Column 4
PRESENTED WITH WATCH
    Gunner Mervin Oliver of the 69th Battery, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Alex. Oliver, East Garafraxa, is leaving for overseas this week.  When his friends learned of his approaching departure they got together and presented him with a fine military wrist watch and the following address:
                    March 20, 1917
Gunner Mervin Oliver
        69th Battery, C.F.A., C. E. F.
    Dear Friend. -- Learning that you are about to leave for overseas your friends decided to take this method of expressing their appreciation of the fine spirit which prompted you to offer your services for King and Country in this the most tremendous struggle in the world's history.  Words would fail to express our admiration of the manly courage that has led you do don khaki and undergo the training and discipline necessary to fit yourself to take you r part in the great task of crushing the enemies of our beloved Empire.  BE assured that you will carry with you the prayers and hearty good wishes of those who have known you most intimately and through knowing you have learned to esteem you so highly.  May we ask you to accept this military wrist watch as a small but tangible token of our regard.  That it may always serve to recall happy memories of your old home and home friends is our earnest hope.  With it we tender our sincere wishes for your welfare during the discharge of the arduous duties that lie before you and for your safe return in your present health upon the conclusion of the war.
     Signed on behalf of your friends,
            Will Everson.
            Elton Ferns.

Orangeville Banner dated 22-Mar-1917 Page 5, Column 2
THE WOUNDED SOLDIERS
Medical Officer Tells How They Are Handled at Front
Ambulance Work is Thoroughly Organized
    Our readers will find the following letter from the front interesting and informing reading.  It is written by Capt. J. W. Pilcher, who has been in France for two years as a Medical Officer, to his sister, Miss Lessie A. Pilcher, teacher in the senior department of Caledon Village school.
    Dear Sister. -- I'm sure you would be immensely amused to see some various kinds of dugouts. I'm sure after the war is over many tourists will visit the scenes of our present endeavors.
    Now I am sitting very comfortably at a little table with a lamp on it, and a comfortable little stove within arm's reach of me.  I am about ten feet under the bank and the dugout is about ten feet by eight feet.  We eat in here.  Just outside the door, and to the left is our sleeping dugout, covered with sandbags.
    We have two bunks in here, one above the other, ship fashion.  On the whole, we are very comfortable and eat well.  Now tonight for dinner I've had good soup, two good muton chops and bread, marmalade, French fried potatoes and very good tea.  So what more cold one desire?
    Adjoining here, that is some twenty feet away is a series of dugouts where the men sleep and we have a dressing station and a kitchen. 
    I might say we are now located about half a mile from the German lines, almost at a cross-roads leading into a town which is almost knocked as flat as the tables.
    We, of the ambulances, take turns in doing advanced work, that is two officers come up each ten days and relieve each other. I don't know whether or not I've explained to you how wounded are handled.  I shall endeavor to do so now.
    Every regiment or battalion has its own medical officer who goes everywhere the battalion goes.  When they go into the front line trenches, he is usually located near battalion headquarters, that is where the Colonel is.  This place is usually located about 400 or 500 yards behind the front line.  It may be more. It may be a great deal less.  it always varies.
    Now the medical officer has a dugout for sleeping and another for a dressing station, that is where he can dress any wounded.  In case of an advance, he might pick an old farm house, or a barn, or merely under a tree.  In an advance he may change this dressing station daily.
    As things are done under present conditions he has a dugout with steps leading down into it perhaps twenty feet, or less.
    In each battalion is a squad of sixteen stretcher bearers picked from the men by the medical officer.  Four of these go to each company.  When a soldier is wounded in the front line or thereabouts, he is immediately picked up by his company stretcher-bearers who take out his first Aid Dressing and cutting his coat or breeches according to the location of the wound, dress the wound as best they can.
    They then remove him on a stretcher or let him walk if he is able, back to the regimental aid post, where the battalion doctor looks him over and probably changes the dressing.  In many cases this is not necessary as the stretcher-bearers become very expert.
    A ticket is here attached to the patient and he is handed over at this post to the stretcher-bearers of the Field Ambulance who carry or accompany him back some 400 or 500 yards further where there is an advanced dressing station of the ambulance, similar to where I am now writing this letter.
    Here his dressings may be changed if any signs of hemorrhage are present, otherwise he is loaded on an ambulance car here and sent back to the main dressing station of the ambulance, that is about four or five miles. Here it is possible his dressings may again changed if necessary, but of course the least touched the better.
    From the main dressing station he is carried in a car of the Motor Ambulance convoy and taken back some three to five miles further to the Casualty Clearing Station.  Here he first sees a bed and a nurse.  He is here operated on, if necessary, or he may go on to the base hospital that is forty or fifty miles behind the lines.  In case of emergency, as during big fights, where there are hundreds of wounded he is placed upon a train at the Casualty Clearing Hospital and sent on by rail to the Base.
    He may return to his battalion on recovery from the Base, or if his recovery will take longer than three weeks, he is sent by Hospital Ship across the Channel to England and treated in the hospitals there.
    You can see by this that a patient passed through many hands, and that his stay in an ambulance is very brief.  Also his battalion doctor sees little of him till he returns to the regiment, and sometimes has never seen him at all.  I have done the work at the front now, that is as far back as Main Dressing Station, for over a year, and I am somewhat anxious to go a little further back, as you can imagine.  I put in four months as Regimental Medical Officer, so you can imagine I've seen considerable activity.
    Night before last about fifteen Huns came over to our lines, but were driven off.  Two of them were wounded and taken prisoners and came back through our lines.  I detest the sight of their grey-blue uniforms.
    Last night the Huns bombarded our front line very hard.  I went out on the road to see the shells bursting when the Huns blew up a mine. It made a terrible noise and flames shot up hundreds of feet into the air.  We had quite a number of wounded after it.  Tonight there is a big bombardment on the north. I wonder what is on, if it is ours or theirs.  I can hear the roll of the guns.
    It is really remarkable how one becomes accustomed to this game.  I sit here and write and hear machine guns occasionally popping and a few shells going over, and I think no more of them than if I were sitting in Toronto and heard street cars passing.
    The future no doubt holds many exciting and dangerous periods for us all out here.  A few months, I think, will see some of the hardest and bloodiest fighting of the whole war.  No one can tell what this summer may bring forth.  However, we'll hope for the best.  I can readily see we are getting stronger every day. So the Hun will eventually meet his well-deserved destruction.
    Your affectionate brother,
                J. W. PILCHER.

Orangeville Banner dated 22-Mar-1917 Page 7, Column 1
    Lance Corp. Bert Annis, of  the Special Service has been in Toronto for two weeks and may be home shortly.

Orangeville Banner dated 22-Mar-1917 Page 7, Column 2
    Pte. Leslie Martin, who went overseas with the 95th and was wounded in France, arrived home on Friday.
    Ptes. Wm. J. Pearson and George Galbraith, late of the 164th Battalion, have been transferred to the Engineers.
    Gunner Ernest Irvin, of the 70th Battery, Toronto, spent the week end with his uncle, Mr. Wm. Irvin, Church street.
    Pte. S. R. Violet, who went overseas with the 95th Battalion has was later transferred to the C.A.S.C. left Shorncliffe for France on February 15th in a draft of 150 men.
    Pte. Wm. Gallaugher, of Shelburne, a member of the 204th Beavers Battalion, was at home last week on his last leave before proceeding to Halifax with his Battalion for overseas.
    Private Roy Laking, of the 164th who was injured by the explosion of a hand grenade in the bombing school in Hamilton is spending leave at his home in Everett and with Shelburne friends. He is quite lame, but cam get around very well with the aid of a cane.

Orangeville Banner dated 22-Mar-1917 Page 7, Column 3
MAY BE ALIVE
    On Tuesday Mrs. Wilder, of Rockwood,  mother of Pte. Duff Wilder, whose death was officially reported a couple of weeks ago, received a letter from her son written several days after his reported death.  In the letter her son stated that he was employed in the office of his battalion and had not been in the trenches since he was wounded some time ago. He added that he was quite well again.  Pte. Wilder is a brother of Mr. O. Wilder, Zina Street.

Orangeville Banner dated 29-Mar-1917 Page 1, Column 3
    Pte. Harold Harrison, a Chesley boy was killed in action a short time ago.
    Pte. James Lugden, who enlisted at fourteen at Stratford two years ago, and was slightly wounded at Ypres is being sent home.

Orangeville Banner dated 29-Mar-1917 Page 1, Column 4
    Friends and neighbors of Pte. Bert Noble, of Reddickville, presented him with an address and a well filled purse upon learning that his battalion had been ordered overseas.

Orangeville Banner dated 29-Mar-1917 Page 2, Column 2
COL. PRESTON HOME
Arrived Friday Night After Over Two Years on Active Service

    Col. J. A. V. Preston, who returned from England about ten days ago on leave of absence, reached town on Friday night. The fact that he was due to arrive Friday night was not generally known, although a few of our citizens got wise to his coming during the day. These circulated the good news as well as they could, and as a consequence the Colonel found a large number of representative citizens, prominent Masons and close personal friends on hand to give him the glad hand when he stepped from the train at the C.P.R. depot.  A carriage was also in waiting to convey him up town. Clad in his smart officer's uniform and apparently in the best of health and spirit, out townsman looked every inch the good soldier that he has always proved himself. While by no means tired of military life and still in readiness to serve his country and the Empire in any way he can, Col. Preston did not hesitate to admit that it was a real pleasure to find himself amongst the friends and familiar scenes of ante-war days.
    Col. Preston left Orangeville in December 1914 to take command of the 39th Battalion, C.E.F., which had its headquarters in Brockville.  He sailed for England with his battalion on June 24th, 1915, landing on July 4th, and proceeding to Shorncliffe Camp, where he remained in command of the 39th until last January. When the battalion reached England officers and men expected and hoped to go to the continent as a unit.  Before their training at Shorncliffe was completed a change was made in the military regulations and the 39th was converted into a reserve battalion.  It then became the duty of Col. Preston and his officers to take charge of reinforcements coming from Canada and complete their training.  Expecting a month which he spent in the St. Eloi salient in France, Col. Preston was engaged constantly in this important and arduous work until last New Year, when all the Canadian units in England were reorganized out of existence, new units being formed to take their places.  He was then allowed to return home on leave of absence, but may be recalled to England again, or given a commission in Canada.
    Col. Preston was in the St. Eloi salient during March of 1915 and saw some desperate fighting for this now historic bit of ground.  He speaks very highly of the work of our Canadian soldiers at the front.  In his judgment they excel in endurance, initiative, adaptability and discipline.  English officers frequently expressed the opinion that the Guards regiment and Canadians were the best soldiers on the western front.  The English people, Col. Preston states, are in deadly earnest over the war.  They are united in the resolve to win out no matter what the cost or sacrifice and are subordinating everything else to that end.  Lloyd George is the outstanding figure in English public life and is a recognized leader in the Entente councils.  He has surrounded himself with a strong and thoroughly national ministry, that is doing great work in the matter of organizing the nation for vigorous and efficient prosecution of the war.  Col. Preston confessed that he was surprised and pained upon his return to Canada to find that Canadians were not yet fully alive to the gravity of the situation and the fact that the existence of the entire British Empire depends upon the issue of the present struggle.  He deplored the indifference toward recruiting, pointing out how very necessary it is that Canada continue to furnish enough men to keeps its army at the front up to its present fighting strength.
    Col. Preston, as most of our readers know, has been local Registrar of the Supreme Court, Clerk of the County Court and Registrar of the Surrogate Court of Dufferin since 1906. He is an old military man, having served for more than thirty years as an officer of the 46th Durham Regiment.  He served through the Northwest Rebellion of 1885 with the Midland Battalion, commanded by the late Lieut.-Col. A. T. H. Williams.  His interest in military matters made him the prime mover in the organization of the Orangeville High School and Public School Cadet Corps a few years ago.

Orangeville Banner dated 29-Mar-1917 Page 3, Column 3
CAMILLA
    We are pleased to see Pte. Leslie Martin looking so well after the hardship and suffering he has endured in defence of our country.

Orangeville Banner dated 29-Mar-1917 Page 6, Column 3
IN ENGLAND NOW
Pte. Clarence Washington Writes Home From Purfleet Camp
    Mr. and Mrs. A. Washington, of Farmington, have received the following letter from their son, Pte. Clarence Washington, who is now in England with the 218th Battalion.
                    Purfleet Camp, Essex, Eng.
    Dear Mother and Father. -- Just a few lines to say that I arrived in England O.K., yesterday about two o'clock.  Had a good lunch and am feeling fine and dandy.  About 2000 came over on our boat and about 1,500 on another vessel.  We had one escort and the boat we were on was well armed,  but it was not as dangerous on an armed vessel as on any other.  At least I don't think so.  we sure had a fine trip over.  The sea was as calm as a lake.  The first night we started I was put on guard.  I liked it very well only I was seasick for about three days, but felt fine the the rest of the way over.  It took us about ten days to cross and it was about eighteen days from the time we left Edmonton until we landed here.  We were chased some distance by a submarine, but managed to doge it.  It was afterwards caught up in a net.  We sure have a grand camp here, high and dry.  When we awaken in the morning we can generally see two or three aeroplanes flying around.  It sure is a change here from Canada -- little houses and back gardens that wouldn't make a good flower garden at home.  Everybody here is in excellent spirits.  They cheered us the whole way along the country until we reached Purfleet Camp.  We are having our medical examination Thursday and Friday and I will write and let you know how I make out.  The people in this country are patriotic to the core.  Tell the people at home to write as I have so many to write that it will be hard to keep up all my correspondence and write very often.  I will close with love to all.
    Your loving son,
        CLARENCE

Orangeville Banner dated 29-Mar-1917 Page 6, Column 4
LIEUTENANT ON TRIAL
Court Martial Hears Charge of Desertion Against 164th Officer
    A general court martial was held Tuesday at the Toronto Armories, to Deal with the case of Lieut. J. McGibbon, of the 164th Battalion, charged with desertion.  The presiding officers were: Senior Officer Lieut. Col. H. D. Smith, G. S. O. Military District No. 1; Major S. W. Bond, 255th Battalion; Major G. R. Rogers, 177th Battalion; Major W. G. Pink, 220th Battalion, and Major J. H. Bennett, of the 201st Battalion.  The prosecution of the charge was in the hands of Captain J. C. Gallen, of the 164th Battalion.
    Col. Domville, O.C., 164th Battalion, stated in evidence that Lieut. McGibbon had been detailed as instructor of the 4th Brigade Lewis Automatic Rifle school; and that he was reported absent on December 2.  Search was conducted for the missing officer, and he was located in Ottawa and returned to military headquarters on February 15th, under close guard.
    Capt. Brown brought the officer from Ottawa to Toronto on February 8th, where he was turned over to Lieut. J. R. Peacock to be escorted back to Hamilton, where the 164th is stationed.
    Capt. Gallen endeavored to put forward as evidence correspondence which passed between O.C., and the prisoner, part of which purported to be the resignation of Lieut. McGibbon.  Lieut.-Col. Smith refused to admit the letters.
    This left matters at a standstill while Capt. Gallen endeavored to get in touch with Col. Hendrie, O.C. of the 4th Brigade. He returned in a short time with the information that Col. Hendrie would be available at 4.30 p.m., when the trial was proceeded with.
    This is the first time in this district that a general court-martial has been held.

Orangeville Banner dated 29-Mar-1917 Page 7, Column 2
    Capt. Digby of the 164th visited friends in town this week.
    Mr. Arthur Macpherson spent last week in Hamilton as the guest of his brother, Lieut. Ewart Macpherson of the 164th.

Orangeville Banner dated 29-Mar-1917 Page 7, Column 3
LIEUT. SIMMIE HERE
    Lieut. W. R. Simmie, of the 3rd Battalion, who has been home on leave since January, spent Monday in town as the guest of Mr. and Mrs. D. B. Brown.  Lieut. Simmie and Corp. Barclay Brown, who was fatally wounded last October defending a trench against a Hun attack, were comrades and were together when Brown was shot.  The two officers and a party of men were holding an advanced post against superior forces of Germans.  Realizing that they were outnumbered they started to retire after they had exhausted their stock of grenades.  While in the act of retreating Brown was shot through the abdomen.  Simmie rendered first aid, but found it impossible to take his comrade out without a stretcher and was obliged to leave him to the tender mercies of the Germans.  Simmie was also wounded and spent some time in the hospital.  he is now fully recovered and expects to go overseas again in a couple of weeks.  Simmie, whose home is at Clavering, near Wiarton, is a fine, manly fellow and has the carriage and appearance of a first-class fighting man.  He speaks very highly of the courage and resourcefulness of Brown, and says he was a splendid solder.  Brown, who probably died a short time after he was shot, was recommended for the V.C., and Simmie was afterwards decorated for the part he played in the engagement.  Lieut. Simmie's visit was keenly appreciated by Mr. and Mrs. Brown and family.

Orangeville Banner dated 29-Mar-1917 Page 7, Column 5
MILITARY NOTES
    Major R. J. Bennett, of the 153rd Battalion, has passed his examination in equitation.
    Sergt. Sandy Thompson, of the 164th Battalion, is convalescing at his home in Arthur after an attack of pneumonia.
    Mr. D. Brocklebank, reeve of Arthur, was notified last week that his son, Lieut. Stanley Brocklebank, has been wounded in action on Friday, March 16th.  Lieut. Brocklebank went overseas with the 71st Battalion.
    Mrs. E. H. Delaney, of Melville Cross, had a letter last week from her brother, Grant Wylie, a former Orangeville boy, who has been in the trenches for several months.  He was in the best of health at time of writing.
    Mrs. John Dickson, of Monticello, has received word that her brother, Coyen Lewis, of Hamilton, is reported wounded and missing.  Lewis enlisted with the 121st at Vancouver and on reaching England was drafted to the 7th Battalion.
    Pte. James Checkett, formerly of Violet Hill, a former member of Shelburne Company of the 164th Halton-Dufferin Battalion, and who was later transferred to the 170th Battalion, Mississauga Horse, of Toronto, is reported wounded in action.  His battalion left Toronto the latter part of October.
    Lieut. A. Douglas McAlister, of the Canadian Veterinary Corps, a son of Auctioneer Geo. McAlister, of Shelburne, has just graduated from the Ontario Veterinary College, winning a $75 scholarship.  Lieut. McAlister expects to go overseas shortly with eleven other graduates of the Veterinary College.

Orangeville Banner dated 05-Apr-1917 Page 6, Column 1
IN EDINBURGH
Gunner Alex. Fleming Taken Ill While Visiting Scotland's Capital.
    The following are extracts from a letter which Mr. and Mrs. George Fleming, Broadway, received from their son, Gunner Alex. Fleming, a few days ago.
                    Edinburgh, March 10, 1917
Dear Folk:
    Last Friday morning Bill and Gordon Muirhead and I got our passes and left Friday night for London.  We got to Charing Cross about 10.30 and took a tube to King's Cross, but our train from Edinburgh had just gone and we stayed in the Y.M.C.A. till morning.  At ten we got a train that landed us here at 8 p.m.  We went to a Soldier's Club and got real good beds for 1s 6d each.  On Thursday before we left I was sick but did not go to the doctor on account of our passes.  Well I kept getting worse and worse and on Sunday afternoon I went to a doctor and here I am in Edinburgh city hospital with measles.  I don't know how long I will be here but maybe for five or six days yet.  I was pretty sick at first but am alright now.  My temperature was over 102 and my pulse 108, but they are down to normal again and I will be up in a couple of days.  The doctor we went to was very surprised when we went in, and told us his charge for interview was 2 guineas ($10), so we were going to a military doctor, but when he found out we were Canadians he was very much interested and examined me free and then sent us with a note to a military doctor in Edinburgh Castle and I was there about three hours then came here in an ambulance.  I haven't seen Bill or Gordon since, but suppose they are in camp now.  This is just a good rest for me and I guess all the fellows envy me.  I am glad I was up here for I am the only Canadian in the hospital.  Our ward is all soldiers but two.  We all have measles, about 18 of us.  The nurses are very busy, but they are real nice. How is Orangeville hospital getting along and have they built any to it yet?  Well I will be able to say that I was nearly two weeks in Edinburgh and I was up in the Castle and it sure is a wonderful place.

Orangeville Banner dated 05-Apr-1917 Page 7, Column 2
    Pte. Geo. W. King, of the 122nd Muskoka Battalion, which has been training at Galt, has been spending his last leave of absence his parents, Engineer and Mrs. Charles King.

Orangeville Banner dated 05-Apr-1917 Page 7, Column 4
MILITARY NOTES
    Mark Irwin, youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Irwin, Mill street, has enlisted as an electrician in the Royal Flying Corps.   
    Leo. Maxwell, a C.P.R. operator, whose home is in Inglewood, has enlisted and expects to go overseas shortly.
    Lieut. E. A. McAlister, formerly of Orangeville, has been transferred from Chatsworth to Dundalk, where he has been placed in charge of the 248th Battalion recruiting depot.
    The colors of the 153rd Battalion have been removed from St. Thomas to Fergus, where they were place in St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church.  They will remain in the church while the battalion is overseas.
    "Bob" Cook, who was wounded while fighting on the Western front some months ago, arrived home this week.  He is looking fairly well and relates some very interesting incidents connected with his experience as a soldier.
    Pte. Russell A. Patterson, one of the Shelburne boys who is in the 164th Battalion is now in the base hospital in Toronto.  He has been bedfast for three months with abscesses and has been obliged to undergo several operations.
    Last Friday's issue of the Owen Sound Sun contained an excellent photo of Lieut. F. A. McAlister, of the 248th Battalion.  Lieut. McAlister, who was C.P.R. operator in Orangeville a number of years ago, has been C.P.R. agent at Chatsworth for several years.  He is now recruiting at Dundalk.
    Dr. T. A. Carson, who went to England over a year ago to join the staff of the Canadian military hospital at Orpington, is now doing hospital work in France.  A call came to Orpington recently for doctors to go to France and Dr. Carson was one of three members of the staff who volunteered for service.
    Mr. Hugh W. Simpson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Simpson, East Garafraxa, has completed his final year at the Ontario Veterinary College.  Dr. Simpson is doing his bit for King and Country having gone overseas immediately after graduating as Lieutenant in the Canadian Army Veterinary Corps.
    Lieut. J. Spence Reid, son of Dr. J. B. Reid, F.R.C.S., of Tillsonburg, has been recommended for distinguished service. Lieut. Reid, who is a nephew of Messrs. Robt. and Geo. Reid, of Mono, graduated from Victoria College in 1914 and then studied medicine.  He went to England with the University Medical Corps and when he found that undergraduates were not wanted he became a Lieutenant in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry.  He served some time in Ireland and was then sent to France.  While at Toronto University he was the Varsity tennis champion and was also a member of the Meds Fraternity.
    A High School Cadet Brigade has been organized in Toronto for the purpose of giving students in the city high schools the ground work of military training.  The brigade has a strength of 1080 and members will take two hours of drill a week.  Nine instructors are drilling the corps and will also devote some time to the training of officers, signalling work and rifle shooting  Our readers will be interested to learn that Mr. T. E. Reid, B.A., of Parkdale Collegiate Institute is the Brigade Commander.  Mr. Reid is the oldest son of Mr. J. C. Reid, County Clerk of Dufferin, and received his High School education in Orangeville.  another former Orangeville High School boy, Mr. E. J. Halbert, is the Brigade Adjutant.  Mr. Halbert, who is an old Mono boy, is a son-in-law of Mrs. Jas. Woodland, of Mono.

THEIR LAST LEAVE
    A big bunch of the 164th boys were home over the week-end on their last leave of absence before going overseas.  Several hundred citizens gathered at the C.P.R. depot Monday morning and gave the soldiers a hearty send off.  In spite of the rain and wretched roads, the crowd was augmented by many people from the surrounding townships.  When the trained pulled out the station platform was densely packed from end to end.  The trains brought down over one hundred 164th men from north and west of the county and there were probably 200 soldiers on the Bruce when it left here.  The Red Cross Girls were out in force and distributed well-filled boxes amongst the local soldiers.  Mr. C. R. McKeown, M.L.A., also bade the men an eloquent farewell in behalf of the citizens, voicing at the same time the wishes of all for their success and safe return.

Orangeville Banner dated 12-Apr-1917 Page 1, Column 3
    Nearly 5000 invalided soldiers are now being cared for in Canada by the Military Hospital Commission.
    Miss Janet Aldcorn is teaching the school near Riverview, made vacant by the enlistment of Fred Pacey, son of Wm. Pacey, of Amaranth.
    Four Owen Sound nurses, Misses Rose Pollock, Myrtle Brown, Marguerite Kerr and Della Carson, are leaving shortly for overseas.

Orangeville Banner dated 12-Apr-1917 Page 1, Column 4
    Wesley Russell, son of Reeve Robt. Russell, Walkerton, has enlisted.  He is the fifth and last son to answer the call for recruits.  Leith, the youngest son, has paid the supreme price with his life.
    Carson Campbell, son of Reeve Jno. Campbell, of Mt. Forest, who has been a member of the 153rd Battalion band since it was first organized, has been discharged on account of being too young.
    There are at present in Simcoe County over 9,000 men of military age, who have been canvassed by the men of the 177th Battalion, during the last five months, and of this number 2,573 admitted in writing that they had no reason for not enlisting.
    Private John Crewson visited recently with friends on the 2nd concession of West Luther. Private Crewson went overseas with the first contingent, and spent close to two years in the Mechanical Transport Department in France.  He is back in Canada at present on leave.

Orangeville Banner dated 12-Apr-1917 Page 2, Column 2
MEMORIAL SERVICE
Eloquent Tributes to the late Corporal Barclay Brown.
Capacity Congregation Attended Service in Methodist Church Sunday Night.
    A very impressive memorial service was held in the Methodist church on Sunday night in honor of the late Corp. David Barclay Brown, son of Mr. and Mrs. D. B. Brown, who was fatally wounded in the trenches last October, and has just now been officially declared dead. The edifice, which was filled to capacity, was appropriately draped with black and with British flags, while a portrait of Corp. Brown hung in front of the pulpit.  The music rendered by the choir was very fine.  Miss Russell's interlude was the Funeral March by Chopin.  The anthems by the choir were, "Resurrection Hope," and "I Must Have Jesus Near," the duet in the latter being taken by Mrs. R. H. Robinson and Mrs. W. M. Green.  Mr. Harry Sloan, of Toronto, also sang a solo, "Heaven is my Home."
    Two earnest addresses were given by Colonel Preston and Rev. E. R. Young, both speakers paying eloquent tributes to the worth of the departed soldier.  Col. Preston spoke of his first acquaintanceship with the young soldier, when as a boy he belonged to the High School Cadet Corps.  He had not met him for some years, but he knew that when the call of his country came he responded promptly, had done his work bravely, and died doing his duty. That was all he wanted to know and all that it was necessary to know of a young man in this crisis.  His death was calling us today to consecrate ourselves and to see that he did not die in vain.  The war in which he had given his life was no small or indifferent matter.  It was not only a struggle of democracy against autocracy, but of right against wrong, and Christianity again barbarism.  The man who fights against Germany in the present war can feel and know that he is fighting as a gallant Crusader for the truest conception of humanity.  Col. Preston pleaded with his congregation to cast aside everything that hindered them from doing the very best to bring the war to a successful issue.  He urged the need for greater thrift, more Godliness, and stronger and truer men.  We needed to plead with God to cleanse our souls and then we must rouse ourselves to fight to a successful issue this great conflict that has been thrust upon our hands.  We boast of our love to Canada.  We have seen how Barclay Brown loved his country, giving his life for it.  Let us arise and be worthy of our country and of such noble, heroic martyrs of the Cross.
    From the test, "The Minister of God, a Revenger," Rom. 13:4; Rev. E. R. Young took up the challenge of the right of a Christian to be a soldier.  In the list of heroes of faith in Hebrews the names of soldiers like Gideon Barak and Jepthae appeared beside that of Samuel the preacher.  People do not hesitate to honor a preacher and to call him a "Minister of God." There is no question of his consecration and no misunderstanding of the general character and worked demanded of him, the consecration that is upon him does not save him from personal follies, people do not hesitate to put condemnation in the right place and to say that for these he will have to give an account, preacher and all that he is.  But if he does his duty in proclaiming the truth fearlessly and and he is killed like Christ and the martyrs, while doing it, there is not one put will confidently expect the Great Lord of All to say, "Well done thou good and faithful servant."
    All this, said Mr. Young, is equally true of that other "minister of God" the soldier, who is called upon, "not to bear the sword in vain."  He is to be God's revenger upon him that doeth evil.  Christ said to Peter "put up thy sword," but he did not say that to the Centurion whom he blessed; and no other writer in the New Testament had condemned a soldier for being a soldier. T he same consecration, the same fidelity to duty, the same demand for purity of life, the same sacrifice that is demanded of the minister who is a preacher is also demanded of the minister who is a soldier.
    But someone says this refers only to the king, who is not to bear the sword in vain and who is to be a terror to the evil doers.  In a democratic state, Mr. Young said, it is for us to remember that every enfranchised man is a sovereign.  He is the real dictator, the real ruler of the land.  And it is for us to learn this great lesson as well, that every many who accepts these sovereign powers has also upon him the sovereign responsibility to "to bear the sword." In the time of crisis such as this every man should be at the disposal of his country.  Otherwise, he has not learned his duty.  Otherwise he does not understand his kingly responsibilities.
    From all report that had come to him, Mr. Young said, Barclay Brown had proved himself true to the trust committed to him.  From the story told by his commanding officer he was one of his picked men.  What was it to be a picked man? To be chosen above one's fellows for a hard task?  That was the triumph of manhood; a triumph of confidence.  Such was the case with Barclay Brown.  In laying our tribute at his feet, the consolation belongs to his parents that he was one of the choicest of our soldiers, that he died performing the hard and heroic task, and in the greatest cause that has ever yet confronted our country.  There was no time so auspicious as Easter time, for such a memorial service.  Of our soldiers as of Christ it can be said "Greater love hath no man than this that a man layeth down his own life for his friends," and as Christ broke the power of the tomb and entered into his glory, he says to all who suffer with Him, "where I am, there shall ye be also."

Orangeville Banner dated 12-Apr-1917 Page 3, Column 3
CAMILLA
    Pte. Douglas Kyles and Miss Corinne Kyles spent the holiday with their grandmother, Mrs. James Kyles.

Orangeville Banner dated 12-Apr-1917 Page 4, Column 7
C.P.R. Military Medal Hero

    Corporal Ralph G. Murrow, who for four years previous to the outbreak of the war was in the Passenger Department, C.P.R., Liverpool, has won the Military Medal.
    Corporal Murrow joined the K.L.R. the day war was declared and went to France in February, 1915. Before the war he was a well-known member of the Harrowby Football Club and it is interesting to record the fact that the act which won for him the coveted medal was performed in the rescue of a club mate,  A. H. Robinson, who had been seriously wounded. Corporal Murrow picked up his companion and carried him some 500 yards under a heavy fire to the British lines. 

Orangeville Banner dated 12-Apr-1917 Page 5, Column 2
    Parents and pupils of Reddickville school in Melancthon met at the home of Mr. and Mrs. John Lusty and presented their teacher, Gunner W. A. McKee of the 70th Battery, C.F.A., with a military wrist watch and signet ring.

Orangeville Banner dated 12-Apr-1917 Page 5, Column 5
ROSEMONT RED CROSS
    The following subscription were given to the local Red Cross during the year 1916: --
    $15 -  Cleve Irwin.
   $12 - John Ball, Enos Brett, Fred Cumberland, Jas. Dickey, Rev. G. L. Gray, Samuel Heslip, Hill Little, Ed. McCracken, Alex. McDowell, Mrs. Geo. P. McNabb, Fred McNabb, Robert Martin, Jos. Milligan, Jos. Murphy, Samuel Parsons, John Parsons, John Solomon, Alfred Smith, Thos. Smith, Thos. Swaffield.
    $11 - Robert Shaw.
    $10.50 - Russell McDowell.
    $10 - Herbert Penelton, Jas. Aberdeen, Thos. Henderson, Wm. Cumberland, Dr. J. K. Blair.
    $9 - Ben Knight.
    $8 - J. W. Armstrong.
    $7 - Jas. Gillespie.
    $6 - Geo. Armstrong, Mrs. C. Armstrong, Jas. Baxter, Carter Boyle, John Breedon, Harold Ewing, Wm. J. Ferris, Mrs. Thos. Gallaugher, Thos. J. Gilmore, Thos. Gilmore, Wallace Gilmore, Robt. Haddock, Cliff Hand, J. J. Hunter, Rev. J. N. Holmes, Hill Jamieson, Sim Jenkins, John D. Little, Norman Little, Wm. J. Little, Wm. McCracken, Mrs. Thomas McCracken, John McNabb, Archie Moffatt, Robt. Moffatt, George Moore, Jos. H. Murphy, James F. Murphy, Michael Ryan, Wm. Stephens, Wm. Thompson.
    $5 - John Black, Wm. Burk, D. Cameron, S. Caldwell, Thos. Hoey, George Gilmore, James Gilmore, Ernest McNabb, Jas. McCreary, Alf. McNabb, Alex. Milne, Samuel Lee, Norman Palmer, John Parker, Herb. Reburn, John Russell, J. J. Rawn, Geo. Sawdon.
    $4.80 - Mrs. W. B. Dickey.
    $4 - Jas. Boyle, Samuel Dickey.
    $3.25 - Annie Holland.
    $3 - Norman Boyle, Archie Creary, George Hoey, Harry Solomon, Mrs. Thos. Wilson, Andy Johnson, Robert Agnew, Thos. Burk, Chas. Mitchell, William Kerr.
    $2.50 - Emma Lee, John McDowell.
    $2 - Alf. Morris, Robert Dermott, Wm. Shaw, Ab. Graham, Geo. Faux, John Burk, Hugh Armstrong, John Murphy.
    $1 - Ham. Hunter, Michael Conway, Miss Roseveer, Thos. Mitchell, Wm. Mitchell, John Quail, Paul Ames, Geo. Agnew, Wm. Milligan, Thomas Tracey, John Little, Robt. Morrison, Robt. Lee, John Henderson, Thos. Ferris, Milford Murphy, James Lamon, Richard Hanley, Rev. J. W. Dudgeon, John Law, Wm. J. Ludlow, Wm. Parkes, John Robinson.
    50c - James Dew, Mrs. Sarah Webster, Fergus Conner, Samuel Hetherington, John Parsons.
    25c - Wm. E. Murphy, Ross Horsley, Jas. Haddock, Geo. Hilton, Wm. Heatherington, George Evans, Geo. Stephenson.

Orangeville Banner dated 12-Apr-1917 Page 6, Column 6
C.P.R. Solicitor Killed in Action
   
THE Canadian Pacific Railway has lost another of its valued servants at the front. Lieut. Jas. McNaught, a Scotchman by birth, was one of the company's solicitors, with office in Montreal, and his death was recently reported in the casualty list.  Lieut. McNaught was one of the most popular officials of the C.P.R.  He was born at Walkerburn, Scotland, thirty three years ago and came to Canada in 1906, after qualifying as a solicitor in Edinburgh.  Shortly after his arrival he joined the law department of the railway company. His abilities were quickly appreciated by those in higher authority and his efforts were rewarded by a promotion as Assistant Solicitor on Jan. 1st, 1912.  It was nearly three years afterwards that Lieut. McNaught was made one of the solicitors of the C.P.R., but when war broke out, like many other Scotchmen, he had the fighting fever.  He commenced his training with the McGill Battalion in the summer of 1915.  On Nov. 17th, the same year, he went back to Scotland and enlisted for active service in the Royal Scots as a private.  He trained all through the winter until June 1916, when he was selected to take an officer's training course.  Lieut. McNaught had no difficulty in qualifying, and in October last he was appointed to the 2nd Batt. Royal Scots, and went to the front about the beginning of December.  He was on the Somme front and was killed on January 7th.

Orangeville Banner dated 12-Apr-1917 Page 7, Column 5
MILITARY NOTES
    Wm. McKee, son of Mr. S. H. McKee, ex-Reeve of East Luther, and for some time school teacher near Shelburne, has enlisted with the 70th Battery.
    Gunner Harry S. Waugh, of Calgary, was reported wounded in Tuesday's casualty list.  He is a son of Mr. and Mrs. W. S. Waugh, formerly of Orangeville.
    A. H. Armstrong, who was ledgerkeeper in the Bank of Toronto, Shelburne, up to two months ago, when he was transferred to Toronto, has enlisted with the Cobourg Battery.
    Sergt. Alvin Scott, who helped to recruit and train the Grand Valley platoon of the 164th, resumed the rank of private in order to get transferred to the Divisional Signallers.
    Gordon Gallaugher was arrested in Guelph as a deserter from the 164th.  Magistrate Watt remanded him for a day and in the meantime an escort from his battalion visited Guelph and took him back to Hamilton.
    On Sunday last Alton Methodist Sunday School presented Bibles to Lieut. A. Dods and Ptes. Fred Martin, John Hall and James Simpson, who spent the week at home before leaving for overseas.
    Corp. George Kearns of the 234th Battalion, spent the weekend with his father, Mr. John B. Kearns, South Ward, leaving town again on Monday morning.  This was Corp. Kearn's last leave of absence as the 234th is leaving for overseas.   
    On Tuesday evening members of the Alton Methodist Sunday School gathered at the home of Mr. and Mrs. S. A. Dean and presented their son, Gunner George M. Dean, with an address and a Bible.  Gunner Dean leaves for overseas service shortly with C. Battery, R.C.H.A., of Kingston.
    Foster Ferguson, at one time principal of the Orangeville Business College, is now in France with the 18th Battalion, C.E.F.  Mr. Ferguson is a Sergeant in the 18th and has two brothers at the front as well.
    A recent issue of the Ottawa Citizen had a photo and sketch of Lieut.. Jesse Ketchum, a son of Mr. Harry G. Ketchum, of Ottawa, formerly of Orangeville,  His family received a cablegram from Lieut. Ketchum a few days ago stating that he was in London "convalescent." Inquiries through the militia department brought the further information that he was in the Royal Free Hospital, London, ill with fever and progressing satisfactorily.  Mr. Ketchum also received a letter from his son written from the trenches on March 7.  he was then in good health and the battalion was busy with trench-raiding operations. Lieut. Ketchum, who has developed into a crack marksman since going to the front, recently qualified in the sniping course.  Among the souvenirs received from him by recent mail is a German soldier's field service cap, showing unmistakable sings of the campaign mud.
    Sergt. Leonard McCabe, of the 164th Battalion, who qualified as a bayonet instructor while his battalion was at Hamilton, has been selected to go to Camp Borden as an instructor for one of the new battalions which will train there during the coming summer.  While appreciating his selection for this responsible duty Sergt. McCabe, who is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Arch. McCabe, of Laurel, intimated very plainly that he would prefer to go overseas with the 164th.

Orangeville Banner dated 19-Apr-1917 Page 1, Column 3
    Graydon Gibble, of Oshawa, has been killed in action. His father and younger brother are also overseas.
    Neighbors of Mr. and Mrs. Edward McCracken, of Rosemont, presented their son, Pte. Joseph McCracken with an address and a purse of gold.

Orangeville Banner dated 19-Apr-1917 Page 1, Column 4
    Pte. F. Kelly, an American who enlisted in the 241st Battalion at Windsor was shot and fatally wounded by Anthony Russo, of Detroit, who resented Kelly's friendship with his wife.

Orangeville Banner dated 19-Apr-1917 Page 2, Column 3
WAR AUXILIARY
List of Donations for the 164th
Organization is Planning to Aid Returned Soldiers
    The following is a complete list of donations of socks and money received by the 164th Battalion War Auxiliary.
    The Auxiliary has sent 1000 pairs of socks to the 164th Battalion, four pairs to be given each soldier from Dufferin County. The Auxiliary will continue knitting socks and comforts to the boys from Dufferin.
    The Auxiliary has now a cash balance in the bank of $200.00 and hopes to be in a position to help any returned solder of this county.
    Donations of Socks. - Mono Centre Women's Institute, 9 pairs; Laurel Women's Institute, 14 pairs; Horning's Mills Women's Institute, 58 Pairs; D.O.E., Orangeville, 100 pairs; Camilla Women's Institute, 14 pairs; Laurel Presbyterian Women's Missionary Society, 20 pairs; Laurel Methodist Ladies' Aid Society, 29 pairs; Whittington Women's Institute, 31 pairs; Orangeville Women's Institute, 20 pairs; The Maples Women's Institute, 41 pairs; Mrs. J. E. Smith, 1 pair; Mr. J. D. McMillan, 1 pair; Busy Bee, Orangeville, 6 pairs; Melancthon Council (Mr. Clarke) gave yarn, socks knit by Willing Workers, 100 pairs; Miss Clara Hulse, 1 pair; Miss Ruby Wilcox, 1 pair; Mrs. Jas. Parks, Camilla, 1 pair; Soldiers Club, 7 pairs; Whittington Women's Institute, 10 towels and 17 shirts.
    Cash Donations. - George Lawrence, Toronto, $25.00; Hugh Carson, Ottawa, $25.00; Jas. Curry, Toronto, $25.00; Jno. M. Dods, Alton, $17.00; W. L. Walsh, Calgary, $5.00; Red Cross Girls, Orangeville, $15.00; Armstrong & Robinson, $2.00; Judge McCarthy, $20.00; A Friend, $9.50; C. R. McKeown, $5.00; F. T. Hill & Co., per A. Walker, $5.00; A Friend, $5.00; Fred Wright, $2.00; Thomas Wright, $2.00; Geo. Robb, $2.00; H. A. Dallyn, $2.00; Mrs. T. S. Little, $2.00; Alex. Johnston, $1.00; Wm. H. Kearns, $1.00; N. T. McWilliam, $1.00; Jno. McKim, $1.00; Jno. Foley, $1.00; G. H. Morrison, $1.00; A. E. Duke, $1.50; C. C. Hannah, $1.00; J. Gough, $1.00; Geo. R. Gray, $1.00; John Norris, $1.00; R. H. Robinson, $1.00; Geo. E. Brown, $1.00; J. H. Hulse, $1.00; E. H. Sproule, $1.00; A. T. Howard, $1.00; M. I. Stewart, $1.00; C. V. Jeffers, $1.00; R. Fairbairn, $1.00; R. Hill, $1.00; C. Graham, $1.00; I. Fleming, $1.00; Elmer Still, $1.00; W. H. Riddell, $1.00; J. M. Deagle, $1.00; A. H. Skey, $1.00; R. L. McKay, 50 cents; J. B. Adamson, 50 cents; C. C. White, 50 cents; G. H. McLean, 50 cents; Russell Morrow, 50 cents; M. E. Henry, 50 cents; R. W. Rooney, 50 cents; J. D. Torrie, 50 cents; F. A. Falconer, 50 cts; Geo. Beswick, 75 cents; E. C. Daniels, 50 cents; A Friend, 50 cents; Chas. Crombie, 50 cents; A Friend, 50 cents; B. Fairbairn, 50 cents; W. E. Irvine, 50 cents; S. Cranston, 50 cents; Will Gillepsie, 50 cents; Jos. J. Kelly, 50 cents; S. C. McCracken, 50 cents; J. H. Robinson, 50 cents; D. B. Hartle, 50 cents; A Friend, 25 cents; Mrs. Harshaw, $1.00; J. H. Graham, 50 cents; T. S. Hewson, 50 cents; G. Webster, 25 cents; W. Reynolds, 25 cents; Mr. Sanderson, 25 cents; Mr. Duncan, 25 cents; Mr. Perfect, 25 cents; Mr. Hayward, 25 cts; Mrs. Geo. Nicholson, 25 cents; Mrs. T. Robinson, 25 cents; A Friend, 25 cents.

Orangeville Banner dated 19-Apr-1917 Page 4, Column 3
    Miss Kate M. Chisholm, a daughter of the late Kenneth Chisholm, M.P.P. for Peel for many years, has been acting as forewoman in a munitions factory in Toronto.  Miss Chisholm has her military medal for service to her country.

Orangeville Banner dated 19-Apr-1917 Page 4, Column 4
CALEDON EAST
    Sapper W. H. Barmby, of the Divisional Signal Corps, Ottawa, spent a few days last week, bidding good-bye to his Albion friends before leaving for overseas.

Orangeville Banner dated 19-Apr-1917 Page 6, Column 7
    Capt. J. L. Hartt was banquetted and presented with a purse of gold by his Orillia friends prior to his departure with the 177th Battalion.

Orangeville Banner dated 19-Apr-1917 Page 7, Column 2
    Mr. W. E. Smith, telegraph operator at Military Headquarters, Exhibition Camp, Toronto, was in town on business on Monday.  Mr. Smith expects to go to Camp Borden very shortly.

Orangeville Banner dated 19-Apr-1917 Page 7, Column 4
MILITARY NOTES
    Pte. R. B. Lee, of the 48th Highlanders is spending  a week's leave of absence at his home near Connor.
    Geo. M. Endacott, eldest son of Sheriff and Mrs. Endacott, has been promoted from the rank of Captain to that of Adjutant.
    L. A. Walsh, a son of Mr. Justice Walsh, of Calgary, formerly of Orangeville, is now a lieutenant in the 28th Overseas Battalion.
    Lieut. Kennedy, a former officer of the 164th, who went overseas with an officers draft last August, was reported wounded last week.
    Bert Booth, son of Mr. J. E. Booth, is now engaged in aviation work on the Western front. We understand that he is acting as an observer.
    Alfred Myers, Cannea, Sask., a nephew of Messrs. Frank and Newton Myers, of North Amaranth, is reported missing.  Myers enlisted with a Western Battalion.
    Lieut. Rattle, of Orangeville Co. of the 164th Battalion, was transferred to another unit before the battalion left for overseas and will remain in Canada to do training work.
    Howard Pawley, nephew of Mrs. Jas. Hunter, of Horning's Mills, has been awarded the Military Cross for capturing a machine gun and being the means of capturing two German officers.
    Lieuts. Daniel and Garson, formerly officers of the Shelburne Company, did not accompany the 164th Battalion overseas.  The two officers have been transferred to other units to assist in training work.
    Sergt. N. A. Thompson and Corp. W. Enderwick, of the Shelburne Co. of the 164th, were transferred for the purpose of assisting in the training of other units.  They are now taking instruction in Toronto.
    Mrs. Lewis, Third Avenue, received word on Sunday evening that her third son, Lieut. Fred Lewis, had been wounded in the fighting on the Western front. Mr. Lewis has not received any particulars.  Lieut. Lewis went overseas last August with a draft of officers.  The draft included a number of men from the 164th.
    The name of Pte. Harry Riley, son of Mr. and Mrs. David Riley, Wellington Street, appeared among the wounded in the official casualty lists last Thursday.  Mr. and Mrs. Riley had a cablegram from Ottawa stating that their son had been wounded but was on duty again.  Riley went overseas with the 75th Battalion.
    The 153rd Battalion is not going overseas after all.  The Battalion had expected to leave for the East last week, but received word that it was to remain at St. Thomas for an indefinite period. Some of the local members were home on what they supposed was their last leave of absence about two weeks ago.
    Pte. J. Anderson, of the 234th Peel Battalion committed suicide in the Base Hospital, Gerrard Street East Toronto, on Saturday morning by cutting his throat with a razor. Police officers, who were detailed to investigate the death were informed that Pte. Anderson had attempted to take his life some days previously.
    W. M. Noble, of London, formerly of Orangeville, qualified as a lieutenant with the intention of going overseas but found afterwards that he was unable to pass the medical examination owing to defective heart action.  Mr. Noble has been with the London Life Insurance Co. since last May and is making good in the company's service.
    Mr. Jno. Little, of Tullamore, received a telegram last week informing him that his son, William, had been killed in action in France.  The young soldier was in his 25th year and enlisted in the 46th battalion at Saskatoon in December 1915.  He went overseas in June 1916, was slightly wounded in October and had recovered and returned to the fighting line.
    Lieut. G. E. Macklin, a former officer of the 164th, was slightly wounded on April 9th, but was able to remain on duty according to a telegram received by his wife in Toronto.  Lieut. Macklin is 25 years old and is a graduate of the University of Toronto.  He taught school in Toronto before enlisting.  He went overseas with a draft of officers in August, 1916.
    Nelson J. Maxwell, of the 8th Field Ambulance Corps is spending five months leave of absence at the home of his father, Mr. Alan Maxwell, of Caledon.  Maxwell, who enlisted at Calgary went overseas last year and has seen strenuous fighting since he went to the front.  He contracted trench fever some time ago and also a touch of trench feet and after he left the hospital was given leave of absence in order to recuperate.
    Mr. Peter Munro, of Albion, formerly of Mono and Caledon, has received word that his son, Pte. Geo. Watson Munro has been seriously wounded with a gun-shot wound in the nose.  In a letter to his parents, received a short time before they learned that he had been wounded, Pte. Munro related some stirring experiences.  In leaving the trenches when they were being relieved, he and a chum tried a short cut in the open.  a sniper got his chum in the leg and Munro had to carry him three-quarters of a mile, a good part of the way under fire.  Mr. and Mrs. Munro have another son, William at the front as well.  Both boys are members of the 126th Peel Battalion.  Another son, James Watson Munro, enlisted with the engineers but was discharged after a month's service owing to trouble from an old injury to one of his knees.

Orangeville Banner dated 19-Apr-1917 Page 8, Column 4
    Lieut. W. J. Norsworthy, of Ingersoll, is reported wounded.  Two brothers have already been killed and another one twice wounded.

Orangeville Banner dated 26-Apr-1917 Page 1, Column 3
    Dr. Howard Robinson, of Kleinburg, has joined the Army Medical Corps and will leave for overseas shortly.
    Lieut. J. Thompson Robb, an Owen Sound man, was killed in action a short time ago. Deceased had been married less than a year.

Orangeville Banner dated 26-Apr-1917 Page 1, Column 5
    At Camp Borden while attempting to pick up a shovel in front of an aeroplane the propeller revolving, Cadet Ducien Perrault, Montreal, was struck in the head by the propeller and instantly killed.

Orangeville Banner dated 26-Apr-1917 Page 3, Column 5
RECOMPENSE
Although I do not know God's wondrous ways,
Yet I believe from out life's puzzling maze
    I shall be brought.
        He knows.

I do not ask to see the journey's end
For he walks at my side just like a friend,
    So all is well,
        He sees.

I will not care, though roads are long and rough,
Sure will His grace sustain, and that's enough
    To bear me up,
        He cares.

I would not be my own guide if I might,
But rather trust to His unerring sight
    To lead me on.
        He guides.

I could not guard myself, for that were vain,
Yet this I know: He faithful will remain,
    And keep me safe.
        He guards.

I would not live when done my task is here,
For I can heed His summons without fear,
    He died for me,
        He lives.

So when the scenes on earth He beckons hence,
To fairer realms, t'will be sweet recompense,
    For evermore
        With Him.
--Written on the Somme battlefield by a Canadian soldier.

Orangeville Banner dated 26-Apr-1917 Page 4, Column 5
    Major S. P. McMordie, of Niagara Falls, Ontario, who had been reported killed in action, has been seen by Major Evan E. Fraser, who says he is in command of the camp at Crowborough.

Orangeville Banner dated 26-Apr-1917 Page 6, Column 4
100 YEARS AGO METHODS SIMILAR IN RECRUITING
An Interesting Document Relating to Recruiting in England in War of 1812.
    "Your King and Country need you," is the call today.  In the days of the Napoleonic wars they had the same call to make to the Manhood of Britain, bat the lure was put in a different style.
    The paragraphs we reproduce below were issued when "The Little Corporal!" was on the warpath.
      WHAT HO! MY MERRY BUCKS!
          NOW OR NEVER!
      G (ROYAL ARMS) R
    Wanted a number of bold aspiring Yorkshire lads to serve as Gentlemen Soldiers in His Majesty's 85th, or Young Bucks, Regiment of Infantry; whose hearts beat high at the sound of the drum, and who have an inclination above servile employment; Let them repair with the spirit of their nation to their countrymen, Capt. Kirby, where they will enter into present pay, and good quarters.  Now is the time, my lads, step forth, the War will soon be over; consider your advantages to be then free in any Town in His Majesty's Dominions, together with your wives and children, enjoy the pleasures of military life, only perhaps for a few months.  Consider, my Bucks.  What a liberal bounty you'll receive merely to go on a party of Pleasure!!!
            God Save the King!
        Huzza! Huzza! Huzza!
            G (ROYAL ARMS) R
    Two years' Wages Advanced or
        Twenty Guineas for a
            Day's Pay.
    Lincolnshire Heroes having always been remarkable for zealously supporting their King and Country, they are now presented with a glorious and never returning opportunity of distinguishing themselves in the Loyal Lincolnshire.
            REGIMENT OF FOOT
                Commanded by
            Colonel Edward Letherland
    Now stationed at the flourishing city of Lincoln.  Let all those who delight in the honorable possession of arms and distain the DRUDGERY OF SERVITUDE repair without loss of time to Ensign Gilmer of the above Regiment.
    At this rendezvous, the Black Swan, Newark, where they may exchange their whips and smock for laced Coats and Silver Hilted Swords.
    Spirited lads of size, character and qualifications may acquit themselves of all women laboring with child and young children, and enter into direct road to Honor and Preferment.
    N.B. - Recruits who enlist their comrades shall received Two Guineas Reward.
            GOD SAVE THE KING
           (And Damn the Enemy)

Orangeville Banner dated 26-Apr-1917 Page 7, Column 2
ALEX BOWLES WOUNDED
    In a despatch recently sent from London, England, Lieut. Alexander C. Bowles, son of Mr. Isaac G. Bowles of 142 Glenholme avenue, Toronto, is reported to have been admitted in the D.O.E. Hospital at London.  No official word, however, has been received from Ottawa as yet to show how seriously he has been injured but according to the despatch he and two other officers, Lieut. Kingstone and Lieut. Bunting who were admitted at the same time were all in good spirits and doing well.
    Lieut. Bowles, who attended Orangeville High School a number of years ago, left for overseas in September 1915, and since his arrival in France won the Military Cross for conspicuous bravery during the Coucelette battle.  Before enlisted he worked for the Imperial Life Insurance Company.  He was 25 years of age last Friday.  He was born near Mono Road, and came to Toronto about ten years ago with his parents.
    The fact that he was taken to England creates the belief that he is not seriously wounded, but his brother, Mr. F. M. Bowles, of 960 St. Clair avenue west, has cable to the officer in charge of the hospital for particulars.  Lieut. Bowles is a nephew of Dr. Bowles and Mrs. W. M. Green of this town.

Orangeville Banner dated 26-Apr-1917 Page 7, Column 4
MILITARY NOTES
    Dr. Wm. Stubbs, of Caledon, has received word that his son, Dr. W. F. R. Stubbs, has landed safely overseas.
    Sergts. W. Stuckey and Austin Duffy, two Grand Valley members of the 164th, were left at headquarters to help train recruits for Canada's Home Defence Army.
    Capt. Woodcock, Chaplain of the 164th Battalion, was appointed Chaplain of the Brigade before going overseas.  The Brigade we understand consists of the 227th, 208th, 177th and 164th Battalions.
    It transpires that Lieut. G. E. Kacklin, a former officer of the 164th, who was reported wounded in last week's issue, was only slightly wounded and was able to remain on duty.
    Pte. Albert Kennedy, formerly employed on the Bolton Enterprise staff received a contusion of the hip while fighting the Huns on the French front.  The young man, who is a son of Mr. H. Kennedy, of Bolton, enlisted in December 1915.
    Sergt. John Brawley, who enlisted in the 164th from Grand Valley, is in a hospital in Halifax with rheumatism from which he had been troubled for some time.  He was transferred to "casualties" and was left behind when the battalion sailed.
    The list of wounded in the fighting of Vimy Ridge included the name of Lieut. N. Clarke Wallace, a son of the late Hon. N. Clarke Wallace of Woodbridge.  Lieut. Wallace enlisted early in the war and has been in France for several months. He was wounded in the hip.
    Capt. (Rev.) G. P. Duncan of Port Credit, who spoke at one or more recruiting meetings in Orangeville, received word recently that his son, Lieut. Wallace Duncan, had been seriously wounded.  Wallace was a medical student at Toronto University prior to going overseas.  Capt. Duncan's eldest son, Lieut. Gordon Duncan, was killed early in the war.
    Sergt. Geo. Kemp, of Toronto, a nephew of Mr. B. McGuire of the Banner, was reported wounded in the casualty lists on Monday.  This is the third time Sergt. Kemp has been wounded in action.  He went overseas in August 1915 and has been in the firing line for a year.  Sergt. Kemp is 21 years of age and was born in Kingston, but had lived in Toronto for fourteen years.  He is a member of the Kew Beach Presbyterian Church.
    Mr. and Mrs. David Riley received the following message last Friday relative to their son, Pte. Harry Riley, who was recently reported wounded: "Sincerely regret to inform you 681775: Pte. Harry Colbourne Riley, infantry, officially reported admitted 13 general hospital, Boulogne, April 11th, 1917, gunshot wound left shoulder, legs severely wounded, will send further particulars when received."
                Officer in charge Record Office.
    Mr. and Mrs. Jas. A. Patterson received a telegram from Ottawa on Monday informing them that their son, Pte. Fred Patterson had been admitted to the Australian General Hospital at Winereu, France, on April 11th, slightly wounded from a gunshot in the shoulder.  Pte. Patterson enlisted with the 201st in Toronto a year ago, was transferred to the 170th later and went overseas last October.  In England he was drafted to the 75th and went to France about December 1st.
    On Saturday, Mr. Jno. Welwood, of Mono Mills was informed by wire from Ottawa that his son Pte. Norman Welwood, had been wounded in the left thigh and was in the hospital at Etaples, France.  Later Mr. Welwood had a cable from another son, Dr. R. T. Welwood, who is also at the front, conveying the cheering news that his brother was doing well.  Pte. Welwood enlisted with the 116th in Toronto on January 1916, went overseas in July, was drafted to the 19th in England and crossed to France in August.

Orangeville Banner dated 17-May-1917 Page 6, Column 4
AT VIMY RIDGE
Prisoners Began to Come in Twenty Minutes After Attack Started
Pte. H. E. Stinson Writes Interesting Letter to Caledon Representative.
    Miss Reta Laughlin, daughter of Mr. W. H. Laughlin, of Belfountain has received the following letter from her cousin, Pte. H. E. Stinson, who is with the Canadians on the Western front.  Pte. Stinson is a son of Mr. Abram B. Stinson, of Toronto, formerly of Caledon.
                    April 17th, 1917.
Dear Cousin. --
    Just a line to let you know that everything is going fine after our first big spring advance.
    I don't suppose that I need tell you much about it as you will have the news long before this, but I just want to say that the Canadians have made a name for themselves this time. The night out boys went over the top to take Vimy Ridge it was raining and a very high wind was blowing, but the bombardment was fine.  You never saw fireworks as nice and the shells were just lighting ahead of our boys and every inch of the ground was covered by our artillery.
    In about twenty minutes after the boys went over the prisoners started to come back.  We followed right after the infantry and did the dressing right out in the open.  We did not lose a man, so you will know how the Germans were retreating when we did not lose any men. The Germans sent up several distress signals when they found our boys were coming over, but they could not get reinforcements forward for our artillery opened up behind them so that the reinforcements could not advance.  We are expecting to take a couple more important towns at any time and I hope we will have them before this letter reaches you. I might say that we put through a number of wounded Germans and some of them say that Germany is just about ready to give up.  Others say that she is not and can stand it just as long as we can.  However, I only hope that we get to German soil and give them back a little of what they gave to France.  I tell you it is cruel the way the Germans used the civilian population in the towns that have been in their hands for two years or more.  When the Germans find out they cannot hold a town they burn it or do as much damage to it as they can before they leave.  In some place where there had been towns of 4,000 or 5,000 population, you would never know that there had been a town from the way the ground has been plowed up with the shells.  Our billet, where we were short time ago, was shelled by the Germans and a few holes put through it, so that we had to get out.  I was hit by some snow and dirt and almost got hit by a stick about 18 inches long and 6 inches thick, when a shell hit in a woodpile near the billet.  Several of the fellows thought I was gone when they saw it coming, but I am still here.  Of course I have had lots of shrapnel flying around me since, but we do not mind that.  Would rather get hit with shrapnel than have a stick of wood come down on me, but I think Fritz has fired the shell with my number on it and he has not got any more. The part of the line which we are holding is nothing but that French chalk and it sticks right to a fellow.  It snowed here the day before yesterday and it is raining today, so you will have a little idea what the mud is like, but it does not stop our progress any.  When the battalions are coming out of the trenches you hear the English battalions' flute bands playing the sea-songs of England, you hear the Canadians singing, "The Little Gray Home in the West," and they you hear the Scottish battalions coming singing "Far awa' in bonnie Scotland where the heather and the bluebell grows."  Well I had better quite writing or you will be tired reading what you already know, as the newspapers give you most of the news.  In fact, I think you in Canada know more of what is going on that we do out here.
                    Your cousin,
                            H. E. STINSON