When the Battalion went into the line near Berles-au-Bois, the Canteen was set up as usual. There it narrowly escaped a violent death. A shell entered by the roof one day and blew out a side of the shelter, wounding a man who was there, and scattering the cash which was being counted at the time. During the terribly cold weather of that period, hot coffee and rum were supplied free to many a half-frozen man. Senechal Farm and the Ferme du Bois Sector provided plenty of scope for the Canteen’s initiative. Good shopping centres were plentiful in the district, and supplies easily procurable. “Hawking” goods in the front line became quite an institution there, and it was continued in the Cordonnerie Sector. In the line near Hulluch the facilities were not so good. A Canteen was set up near Battalion H.Q., but it was difficult to get goods up to it; and twice the staff was gassed out. Little could be done in the Nieuport Sector, though the Canteen still acted as a buying agency. But while the Battalion was training on the coast it was very active. There, whole-day training schemes were not uncommon, and it became customary for a limber to accompany the troops and set up a stall on the ground. The winter of 1917–18 was a very difficult period. There was never accommodation for a canteen when the Battalion was in the front line; but it was always at work during rest periods. Its presence in the Westhoek Dugouts was a great success; beer was never lacking during that rest period. The sudden order to move from Maida Camp, early in April, 1918, caused much consternation, for the Canteen was particularly well stocked at the time. However, the stock was somehow cleared, and the takings on the last day in that area amounted to 4,500 francs--a Battalion record. Little business was possible during the Battles of the Lys and Mont Kemmel, but an increase in trade followed the Battalion’s return to the neighbourhood of Ypres. Trade again declined when the Battalion went into battle in the autumn; but the indefatigable Sergt. Smith succeeded in getting a large supply of cigarettes up to the Battalion in Vordon Wood--at a time when there was not a cigarette to be had for miles around. During the Armistice, trade was good at Auby, in spite of the competition of a number of estaminets and shops which were soon opened in the village. There Sergt. F. Smith laid down his duties and devoted himself to education for the short period before he was demobilised. Yet, right up to the end, the Canteen survived at Douai.