The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-03-28
LETTERS ON LEAVE
Lieut.. Jan McHail b
l5ist (Kumharsen) T.. n. j.
utkaltl, via Tharanda,

Hakaltl, via Tharanda.
l Assam.
DEAR ON MAS: Your handwriting is
,,,.o than ever. hut as far as | can
80 among the loops and fishhooks
-, are lonesome and want To Toe COM
.,,ed with q letter. | knew You
hint write to M unless you
- something. You don't tell me
n,, Won have left your rcgim mt. but
,..r what YOU say about my bat
,ai,n my men, and SO forth. 1t
,,.rs as II you were raising military
.,r.,e FOR the benefit of the Chins. If
mrs the case | congratulate you.
rbo nav is good. GUESS writes to me
from some new fort something or
s,her SAYING he has struggled into IA
lille, Of Rs. 200 military Police, and
instead IT being chased 10y writer's as
h. used to Dee Is ravagins the country
round Shil,ong in search of a wife. ]
m, very sorry for the Mrs. Ouless Of
.hc future.
That doesn't matter. You probably
,rov more about the boys yonder
Than I do. If youll only send me from
lime TO time some records of their
movements I'll try to tell you of
ihIngs on this side of the water. You
,ly YOU don't know what 1t is to
hear from town" say You don't
know what it is to hear from the
'dehat." Now and again men drift in
With VS.. but | don't like not
weather ~khubber. It's all of the do
nestle occurrence kind. Old Hat Con-
stable came to see me the other day.
You remember the click in his throat
before he begins to speak. He sal still,
clicking at quarter hour intervals. and
after each click he'd say: Dye re-
member Mistress So-an'-So? Well,
she's dead O. typhoid at Naogong."
Wren Il wasn't Mistress So-an'-So"
il was a man. I stood four clicks and
four deaths and then ! asked him to
,pars me the rest. You Sc m 10 have
bad a bad season taking 1t al, round;
md the seem TO have suffered
most. Is that so?
We don't die In London. We go out
Of town. and we make as much fuss
about II as if we were going TO the
Yeva. Now I understand why the
transport Is the first thing to break
down when our army takes the field.
The Englishman is cumbrous in his
movements and very particular about
bis baskets and hampers and trunks
10, less than sever of each-for n fifty
mile journey. Leave eason began
srne wrecks ago. and there is a burra-
thoop along the streets hat you could
.An,..f .atl .,n Ill NhA ynAAn1A
tha, say they are everybody have gone
quite 200 miles away. Some of 'em
are even on the Continent-and the
tubs are full Of strange folk. / found
Reform man at the Savage a week
ago. He didn't say what his business
was. but he was dusty and looked
hungry. ! suppose he had come in
for food and shelter.
Like the rest, I'm on leave too. I
converted myself into a Government
Secretary. awarded myself one month
en- full pay. with the chance of an eX-
tension, and went off. Then it rained
md hailed and rained again and ! ran
" and down this tiny country In
trains trying to find a dry place. After
ter days | came back To town, having
been stopped by the sea four times. l
vas rather like a kitten at the bottom
o. a bucket chasing its W tail. So
I'm sitting here under a gray, muggy
ky wondering what sort of time they
are having at Simla. Its August now.
The rains would be nearly over, all the
iheatr!cals would be in full swing and
Iakko Hill would be just paradise.
You're probably pink with prickly
heat, Sit down quietly under the
punkah and think Of Umballa station.
hot as an oven at 1 in the morning.
Think Of the dak-gharry soldering in