The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-06-16
WITH THE BOYS N CAMP
ALL ARE WELL AND HAPPY
inspected In Heavy Marching Ordsr-A
Fine Body Of Men Physscany-Thsy
Do Not eesm to RSaliss
That War Il On.

Great Falls. June 15.-This morning
John French. the civil engineer, re-
ceived . letter from his son. Charles.
who 10 nrst lieutenant Of Company A.
now At Camp Merritt near San Fran
cisco. The letter in part reads as fol-
lows:
I'VE are all well here and have not
had . man from u regiment In the
hospital yet that 1 know of. The boys
OF ~ company are all well and happy.
we nave received our arms and ord
nance supplies. but have not drawn any
clothing yet. although we expect to get
some soon. 1t makes II bad for us, as
we cannot make q good appearance un-
til III men are all uniformed.
w were inspected to-day in heavy
marching order. We have knapsacks.
h~aversacks, canteens, meat cans and
cups. and every man had to appear for
inspection with everything packed.
ready for the field n with his belt
filled with cartridges. It vas our first
experience OF the kind. but we got
along first rate. The inspector said we
were a fine body Of men physically. II
We only had our uniforms we would
be all right.
1T has been a disagreeable day, with
a heavy fog coming from the ocean
that IL almost a rain, n the fog
horns at the Golden Gate are blowing
almost continuously as / write.
This afternoon the major marched
our battalion through Golden Gate
park. and we stacked arms In front Of
h museum. being dismissed for over
an hour while we went through 1t on
a tour of inspection. 1t Is a large
building and fully equipped, but we
rnv,Id mt aaa nAor all that u,o 20 ha
seen In the time we had. I am going
again on Sunday and will look through
II again.
IT do not know what I can write
about the boys except that they are
all we'll. None of us seem to realize
h a any war is going on. The novelty
of our life has worn of. and we take
everything as 1t comes. Emmett Haw-
kin Is company Quartermaster, as
vol know, and is doing first rate. Howe
is getting along all right, but is having
his hands full in keeping the recruits
up to the mark. We are all anxiously
awaiting pay day. 1 have got two bits
left, and I borrowed that. but j a "
as much as the most of them. 1 think:
but as We expect to draw two months
pay on Saturday we will be all right.
Our pay rolls were sent in last week,
and we expected to be paid before this.
I am in first class heath and never en-
joyed myself more in my life thar /
am doing now. although we don have
much time to get away during the day.
w get up at 5 o'clock and n of the
three officers has to take the reveille
roll call and report to the adjutant. We
have breakfast at 6, and at S:45 we go
OIL. for a drill, which lasts until II. We
go out again from lis until 4. and from
s until $50 we have to attend officers
school,. One of us has to attend re-
treat roll call at 7, and that ends the
day. but you can see that we can't be
away from camp much during the day.
1T is quite a sight to see the camps.
They make quite a city. The tents are
pitched so close that looking at them
from a distance you can't see anything
but At night when the tents
are all lighted up 1t looks fine"