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[Page 32]
Ligne de Roquefort
3/4/16
Early morning rather foggy but later sun shone warmly. Platoon drill second parade in pleasant small meadow dotted with wild flowers and full of trees. Arranged with Monsieur Lombard pasturage for my horse for 1 franc per day. Here they put saltpetre all over the grass for fertilizing reasons and horses are unable to eat it as a consequence. The hedges are becoming very green and the whole country will be robed in leaf soon.
Route marched as a Battalion in the afternoon but struck little new ground. Came down pretty lanes beside the Chateau de Roquefort which in its time judging by the grounds has been a fine place.
In the evening called in and received orders for moving off in the morning we marched into billets 10 miles away and complete the whole journey in 3 days. Great deal of beer flying round – had 11 absentees for parade & shot 7 into guard room drunk to sober up and had 4 dealt with tonight.
In the evening the road from here to the other village was one drunk shewn stretch and I heard one thick voice proclaim "Plach'd, never see a cobber pinched". We shall be very sorry to leave LIGNE in this pretty place we were quite happy. Told the family "partin demaine" and had great jokes with madam and mademoiselle and great arguments in bad French.
A mail arrived today and it is not yet fully sorted. The army rations are very good. Boiled meat, marmalade and bread & cheese for breakfast, bacon and ditto for lunch and meat, butter &c for tea.
Several aeroplanes over today, one of them German. Arranged with Steward for a new horse, mine having gone lame. All the cows here are kept in stalls and handfed until May. They are shut away in darkness and one would never know they were there. A great deal of farm work is done by women stacking hay milking cleaning stables feeding &c and today I saw a woman ploughing. This cannot but have a beneficial effect on the race. All able bodied men are away – only decrepit and unfit are left.
Encountered a fine echo today in the woods of Chateau de Roquefort, the music of the band was flung back with interest. Had [indecipherable] on up and issued orders for platoon commanders for the shift tomorrow.
Couchez 2300.