==
. . . After two weeks here and less than two months from enlistment,
we are actually going at last to the firing line. By the time
you receive this we shall already perhaps have had our `bapteme de feu'.
We have been engaged in the hardest kind of hard work
-- two weeks of beautiful autumn weather on the whole,
frosty nights and sunny days and beautiful coloring on the sparse foliage
that breaks here and there the wide rolling expanses of open country.
Every day, from the distance to the north, has come the booming of the cannon
around Reims and the lines along the Meuse. . . . But imagine how thrilling
it will be tomorrow and the following days, marching toward the front
with the noise of battle growing continually louder before us.
I could tell you where we are going, but I do not want to run any risk
of having this letter stopped by the censor. The whole regiment is going,
four battalions, about 4000 men. You have no idea how beautiful it is to see
the troops undulating along the road in front of one, in `colonnes par quatre'
as far as the eye can see, with the captains and lieutenants on horseback
at the head of their companies. . . . Tomorrow the real hardship
and privations begin. But I go into action with the lightest of light hearts.
The hard work and moments of frightful fatigue have not broken
but hardened me, and I am in excellent health and spirits. . . .
I am happy and full of excitement over the wonderful days that are ahead.
It was such a comfort to receive your letter, and know that you approved
of my action.
==

In a post-card of October 20, postmarked "Vertus", he says:

==