Lieutenant Lawrence Browning Rogers, aged 37, travelled to the front lines of World War One as a medic in the Fifth Canadian Mounted Rifles in 1915. He left behind his wife, May, his ten-year-old daughter, Aileen, and his seven-year-old son, Howard. The family exchanged hundreds of letters, many of which were kept by their descendents. This is one of them.
Aileen’s Christmas report card
May 4, 1917
Dear Aileen
I received a letter from mother today enclosing a copy of your Easter report. It was fine and Dad was so proud of it. He showed it to all the boys and Dan came in and of course I had to show it to him, he was almost as pleased as I was.
I received the Easter parcel yesterday so was able to give Dan his bunny card also the bunch of grapes, which he and I are eating now. He had never seen anything like them before so was very pleased with them.
I would liked to have had Howard’s report too. It must have been fine and I am very much stuck up about you both.
The weather is sure lovely just now and the sun is fine and warm and as you know I like warm weather. It looks good to me.
I want to enclose a letter to Howard and so will finish this one.
Lots of love for you all from
Daddy
The Rogers family’s story is preserved in the picture book A Bear in War. For more information, including more letters, visit www.abearinwar.com.