Dear Steve: France, Nov 5 1918

Your favor of Oct. 6 followed me up and reached me today. I am at present taking a course, general intelligence work, and it is naturally a welcome respite after the grind of the last few months.

The capitulation of the enemy powers seems to have assumed an epidemic nature and Turkey and Austria have followed the example of the Bulgaria, mention of which was made in your letter. I hope it is not too much to look for Germany’s final "cave-in" by the time this reaches you. There seems to be some come back in the arch hypocrite yet but doubtless Austria’s action will cause some heart searching among the Hohenzollerns and their satellites. Why the German nation persists in an apparently hopeless struggle against the inevitable I fail to see but then Bosche psychology was ever a mystery to anyone but themselves, and whether the end takes days, weeks or months is only a matter of conjecture. Optimism is liable to expect a too sudden breakdown of the war monster now pretty well "holed-up" in his German lair. The end of hostilities can not come too soon for all of us.

 There is a French Canadian here who went to Hospital in July and there took up shorthand in his spare moments-Pitman at that and he claims to be able to take the Commandant’s notes in shorthand. He is the master of 7 languages all but 2 acquired since he enlisted less than two years ago. He is an object lesson to me for my dilatories after a fair degree of accomplishment previous to the war by using spare hours. I’m hoping to get on the Khaki University Staff if the war takes the proper course and soon, but it is almost too much to build on at present. Lloyed Alton wrote me of the same time as you and he is cheerful. I always like to get his letters. They are models of logical, general, economics. This letter is a bit dry. I’m afraid but I’m doing heavy reading- Carlyle’s "History of the French Revolution". So please pardon the chosen plane, I hope to be more conventional and cheerful next time.

Yours in F, L, & T, Cannon