The portrait given below is that of Sergt. Richardson, an Accrington soldier now in hospital at Aberdeen suffering from Trench fever. Before that war he was employed at Owen Street laundry and joined the "pals" battalion in January in 1915 but was subsequently drafted to another East Lancashire regiment, with which he has taken part in much severe fighting in France. He was well known at Wallet- Road congregational school, which he attended with other members of the family and his father was the late Mr. William Richardson, a concertina player of some repute who died a few months ago. Sergt. RichardsonÕs wife and 3 children live at 12 Annie Street, and his younger brother, Stanley, is in the "Pals" reserve battalion. His wife is the brother to James Kenyon, a prisoner of war, who was at one time officially reported, killed in a mine explosion but afterwards wrote home from Germany conveying what, under the circumstances, was the glad news that he was taken prisoner.

Sergt. Richardson has had a lengthy and exacting experience of the fighting in France and has kept up a regular correspondence with his wife in which he has given a connected and interested account of what he has witnessed. Mrs Richardson has been kind enough to handover many of the letters - quite a budget infact - for our inspection. Some of them run to 8 to 10 pages of closely written matter, much of which, of course, relate to personal and family affairs and it has rarely been our pleasure to peruse a soldiers letters written in more "newsy" style and containing so many entertaining touches. In addition to the tender messages to wife and children the kind enquiries and information about friends, the letters give a stirring account of the great events in France in which the writer has taken part and convey some fine word pictures of his experiences. The spirit of cheery optimism and confidence in the success f the Allies, which animates all the letters, is a fine tribute to the sergeant. The extracts published below, which have been selected more or less at random, will be read with interest.

"ALL right" In the Trenches

Writing on September 12th from "somewhere in France", Sergt. Richardson says- "It is beautiful here at night, as the moon is shining full and it is very pleasant, even in the trenches. We are quite all right here as there is little fighting going on. Sometimes there may be a bit of gas attack but we are well prepared for that. I noticed in the "Observer" about an aeroplane causing a bit of commotion at home. My word! You should see them here; about 20 upon a time, going on a bombing raid somewhere. The Huns fire at them just as they were over our lines, and the shrapnel, which misses the planes, comes down to earth, but fortunately we are always out of the way so that none of us get hit". In one of the letters Mrs Richardson had made some references to clogs he used to wear and in his reply the sergeant remarked: "How I laughed when I read about the clogs. I don't suppose I shall ever want to wear them again even when I get home, as I have had nothing but shoes for the last 2 years and I shall continue to wear them. The Lancashire lads here are always talking about punching the---- back to Berlin if they were provided with clogs. And they would have a good try too!" Comparison is often made between the light-heartedness and confidence of the soldiers at the front and the depression and pessimisms of the people at home. Sergt. Richardson is no exception to the rule bidden by his wife to cheer up and not be down-hearted he replied " I only wish you at home were as happy as I am. If you could only be here and hear the lads singing, you would not think there was a war on. It reminds me of those times we used to spend together singing those favourite ballads"

Shivering Huns

In the early autumn when the Germans were being so severely peppered on the Somme, there was a general expectation among the Tommies that Christmas would see the end to the war. Sergt. Richardson shared n that opinion. One of his letters written in a dugout on September 17th runs as follows "If you were here now you could not tell there was a war on. Everything is quiet as can be and the only things to be seen are a few broken down houses and row upon rows of barbed wire. I think the Huns have had enough, but yet they don't come across and give themselves up. I dare say a few of them were shivering about 1 o'clock this morning. We were bombarding them terribly and it was a fine site to see that shells bursting and sand bags, parapets and dirt all flying through the air with the various coloured lights that were sent up during the night. It was like being at Belle Vue only more realistic. I have no doubt the poor beggars had got what we call the "wind up" and would be expecting us to go across any minute, but at present we are quite content where we are. No doubt you will have seen in the paper about the great success the British have had lately well I can assure you that that success is all along the line, and I don't doubt for a moment that if the weather continues in our favour, the war will be over by Christmas, as we have proved ourselves superior to the enemy in every respect. The way in which our artillery goes into action is a credit to Kitchener's army. When they start no living man can withstand the terrible fine. It is quite interesting to watch the large shells come over from the Germans and to run and dodge them and hour well we can do this is shown but the fact that we have only had one man hurt by them during twelve days in the front line; So you can judge for yourself who is winning. By the way, I am writing this letter you will think I am trying to be a war correspondent but I am just expressing my views so that you may not get down-hearted and have confidence that we shall be home for Christmas."

An Arduous Fortnight

From October 10th to 25th Sergt. Richardson had a very arduous fortnight. Most of the time he was in the front trench and took parting several attacks on the enemyÕs lives. He kept a kind of diary of this stirring period, with dates, names of places and character of the operations upon which he was engaged and added a few notes very suggestive of what a fighting soldier is like. Here are a few extracts "On guard in wood" "Went in staff trench, front line, mud up to the waist"; Relived and went in tents"; "The great advance - over the top- towards -------"; "Went up the railway line to attack, Colonel killed. Dug trench on railway, captured three Germans, rained hard, nothing to eat or drink"; "October 19th birthday. Held on railway, and kept Huns off, still nothing to eat or drink. Relived late at night and went in German dugouts" (the latter phrase very significant of British success) Summarising those events, the sergeant wrote, "You can judge the terrible time we have had during the past fortnight when we go back to reserve billets. It is all work, as you find working parties for the line. There is not a man in the regiment that is well at present on account of the hard work we have been up to the waist in mud for three days at a time - just like flour after you get it stuck in your hand. Six of the ---died from exposure and it took six hours to dig one follow out. All the injury I have received is a scratch on the wrist from barbed wire, and the wound is doing well.

"All alone" in this dugout

Monday November 6th, Sergeant Richardson seated in his dugout indicting another letter to his wife. "But not the kind of dugout we saw in the pictures, as this one is a hole cut in some clay. There is plenty of mud and shellfire about, but I am quite safe. We are only about 300 yards from the Huns and should they happen to come across they will get a nice reception." The position was not quite so secure as the sergeant imagined, however for writing home again only three days late he described how owing to the heavy rain, his dugout had been washed in and he was left, as the old song said, "All alone and nowhere to go". But as usual he made the best of matters and he was not the only one that suffered by the rain.

Friends and relatives sending parcels to soldiers at the front may get some useful hints from Sergeant Richardson as to the kind of articles most acceptable to our fighting men. The sergeant was very modest I his request to his family, with the view to spring any unnecessary expenses, and pointed out the advisability of sending the commonest articles in case they were lost or stolen. But some of the things he asked for are such as anyone may include in their parcels. For instance, humbugs or anything that is hot and handy to starve and greatly appreciated by soldiers when suffering from cold, and ointment is always useful for dressing the scars (of which Tommy gets plenty) Early application may prevent blood poisoning. Flashlights, matches etc. are of course indispensable. Tinned foods are not very popular as they are cold eating, but Sergt Richardson had a decided fancy for his wife's own baked current cakes. And his particular prediction in that respect will be fully endorsed by married soldiers.

July Experiences as Nothing

In the middle of November, Sergt. Richardson had another lively tie min the trenches, and compared with which his experiences in the July push were as nothing. "The East Lancashire" he remarked, "did as well as any of the regiments who too part in the advance, but lost a few good officers and men. My platoon came out well - only one man was killed. Although we were under the German shellfire for two days we had remarkably small losses. One of my worst experiences was that of walking right into a German machine gun. How we escaped alive, God alone knows, but we got away all right. I can confidently say, however that the Germans are not there now. In one place it was getting very hot and I decided to get a little further down. No sooner had we got away then the trench was blown in and two men were killed, including a pal of mine. I had great confidence that I should return quite safe because I went in the good twelfth" Later Supt. Richardson had his first experience f being inside a "rank"

AT Aberdeen with Trench Fever

The good fortune, which has so far attended the sergeant, deserted him, to some extent, at the beginning of December, when he was attached by Trench feet or Trench Fever, and the outcome was that he found himself under order for "Blightly". He had a terrible 22 hours journey in the train from hospital to the French coast. He was placed on the rack "to be used for light articles only" and was in great agony, while to make matters worse, when the men were carrying him from the train to the boat they dropped the stretcher on his head and "dinged a little". The consequence was that instead if crossing to England he was rushed off to hospital and did not sail until the following morning. "When I was on the boat they asked me where I would like to go and I said "near Manchester". And here I am up in the North near Aberdeen! It took about 17 hours on the train from Southampton to here so you can guess I was just about tired and weary. But I am stopping here until I get better. I am not improving well as I would like and I have "mi doots" about being home for Christmas." This letter was written on December 14th and it is to be regretted the sergeants doubts as to spending Christmas at Accrington were realised. Everybody will wish him a speedy recovery, however, and that he will soon have the pleasure of rejoining his wife and family and meeting his many friends at home.