in our outposts up on the hillside; in the daytime sleep, or foraging
in the ruined villages, loafing in the pretty garden of the chateau,
or reading up in the library. We have cleaned this up now,
and it is an altogether curious sensation to recline here in an easy-chair,
reading some fine old book, and just taking the precaution
not to stay in front of the glassless windows through which
the sharpshooters can snipe at you from their posts in the thickets
on the slopes of the plateau, not six hundred metres away.
Sometimes our artillery opens up and then you lay down your book for a while,
and, looking through a peek-hole, watch the 75's and 120's
throw up fountains of dirt and debris all along the line
of the enemy's trenches.
==

"Spring has come here at last," so the letter closes, "and we are having
beautiful weather. I am going in swimming in the Aisne this afternoon
for the first time. In fine health and spirits."

During the summer, the Legion was moved about a good deal
from sector to sector, and Alan often found himself in pleasant places,
and got a good deal of positive enjoyment out of his life.
On June 18, 1915, he wrote to his mother:

==
You must not be anxious about my not coming back. The chances are
about ten to one that I will. But if I should not, you must be proud,
like a Spartan mother, and feel that it is your contribution
to the triumph of the cause whose righteousness you feel so keenly.
Everybody should take part in this struggle which is to have
so decisive an effect, not only on the nations engaged but on all humanity.