TRANSCRIBED FROM THE PRESCOTT DAILY NEWS JANUARY 23, 1918, P. 2
Camp Pike, Jan. 15, 1918.
My Dearest Mother:
Both your letter of the 10th and 12th received and read with much pleasure. They are always welcome.
Am mighty sorry it got so cold down there. Was in hopes we were getting it all at Camp Pike. We got our share of it alright but the sun is shining beautifully today and it is lots warmer and everything is pretty. While the ground is all covered with snow, still it seems almost like spring today.
I received the sweater Mrs. Bemis made for me yesterday, and it is certainly a beauty. It is well knit and it fits me like she had a pattern to make it by.
I'm gradually being made more comfortable every day. I didn't get cold when the weather was 8 degrees below zero, so I now feel more confident than ever that I will suffer no severe hardships on account of the weather. I found a big fellow that the large sweater I had would fit, so I gave it to him a couple of days ago.
No, mamma, I don't have any drilling to do, and I'm rather glad of it. I may have to drill some day, but if I should I will do it as cheerfully as if I were sitting down to a six o'clock dinner. I'm in this war to do my part, whatever that may be, and to do it willingly and gladly. If I am given a disagreeable job to do, I will do it with the feeling that is for Uncle Sam and Liberty, and also with the feeling that by doing it myself I'm saving some other fellow from having it to do, and the disagreeableness of it will thereby be removed. However, I haven't come in contact with anything disagreeable yet.
Tell Irvin I am receiving the Daily regular now, and I appreciate it too. I wrote him today but forgot to tell him I am receiving it O.K. I noticed in yesterday's daily that one of Mrs. John A. Davis' children died. That is certainly too bad, and I was mighty sorry to hear it.
I wouldn't worry about Mark if I were you. He may be going up where it is cold, but that may be the very thinfi for him. It will be a dryer cold anyway and won't give him those dog-gone colds he always had at home. I believe it's going to do him good; and as for never seeing him again, that's all imagination on your part. Sure you will see him again. He may go to France and I may go, but we will both come marching home one of these days, and great will be the reunion we will have, oh, my!
I've been in the army a little over a month now and have no kick to make yet, so I think I will pull through o.k.
Tell Dad I enjoyed his letter very much and hope he will drop me a few lines again some time, when he has time.
With much love to all, I am,
Your loving son,
Bernard Blakely.
NOTES: Bernard Dalrymple Blakely was born in Arkansas on December 18, 1894 and died on May 4, 1951 in San Francisco, California.
TRANSCRIBED BY LAEL HARROD
Camp Pike, Jan. 15, 1918.
My Dearest Mother:
Both your letter of the 10th and 12th received and read with much pleasure. They are always welcome.
Am mighty sorry it got so cold down there. Was in hopes we were getting it all at Camp Pike. We got our share of it alright but the sun is shining beautifully today and it is lots warmer and everything is pretty. While the ground is all covered with snow, still it seems almost like spring today.
I received the sweater Mrs. Bemis made for me yesterday, and it is certainly a beauty. It is well knit and it fits me like she had a pattern to make it by.
I'm gradually being made more comfortable every day. I didn't get cold when the weather was 8 degrees below zero, so I now feel more confident than ever that I will suffer no severe hardships on account of the weather. I found a big fellow that the large sweater I had would fit, so I gave it to him a couple of days ago.
No, mamma, I don't have any drilling to do, and I'm rather glad of it. I may have to drill some day, but if I should I will do it as cheerfully as if I were sitting down to a six o'clock dinner. I'm in this war to do my part, whatever that may be, and to do it willingly and gladly. If I am given a disagreeable job to do, I will do it with the feeling that is for Uncle Sam and Liberty, and also with the feeling that by doing it myself I'm saving some other fellow from having it to do, and the disagreeableness of it will thereby be removed. However, I haven't come in contact with anything disagreeable yet.
Tell Irvin I am receiving the Daily regular now, and I appreciate it too. I wrote him today but forgot to tell him I am receiving it O.K. I noticed in yesterday's daily that one of Mrs. John A. Davis' children died. That is certainly too bad, and I was mighty sorry to hear it.
I wouldn't worry about Mark if I were you. He may be going up where it is cold, but that may be the very thinfi for him. It will be a dryer cold anyway and won't give him those dog-gone colds he always had at home. I believe it's going to do him good; and as for never seeing him again, that's all imagination on your part. Sure you will see him again. He may go to France and I may go, but we will both come marching home one of these days, and great will be the reunion we will have, oh, my!
I've been in the army a little over a month now and have no kick to make yet, so I think I will pull through o.k.
Tell Dad I enjoyed his letter very much and hope he will drop me a few lines again some time, when he has time.
With much love to all, I am,
Your loving son,
Bernard Blakely.
NOTES: Bernard Dalrymple Blakely was born in Arkansas on December 18, 1894 and died on May 4, 1951 in San Francisco, California.
TRANSCRIBED BY LAEL HARROD