Lady Fraser thinks that the residents who so kindly sent her subscriptions for the Princess Mary's Fund will be interested in the following extracts from a letter beaded "Ist Connaught Rangers, Indian Contingent, B. E. F., France, January 16, 1915," which reached her yesterday from Captain H. G. C. Perry-Ayscough, recently in the Chinese Postal Service I have just been reading the North-China Herald" and saw that it was partly owing to the kindness of the ladies of Shanghai that we all received such welcome Christmas presents from Princess Thank you all so very much. I can assure you that when we gave out Princess Mary's and the King and Queen's Christmas presents on Christmas Day, the men were simply like big children, so delighted were they (and the officers too!) and it would have gladdened your heart have heard the cheers that they gave.
"The Regiment, the Connaught Rangers, I am posted to for the war has lost more officers killed, wounded, ete., than any other Irish Regiment—Wwell over fifty. We are now having a rest some miles behind the trenches, sufficiently near, however, to hear the guns, and we are liable to be sent up at any moment.
We are in such a quaint old-fashioned village and are so comfortably billeted—the French being so good to us.
"Our mess is in a 15th century convent, the former occupants having cleared out.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.