The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1916-08-31
NORTH DAKOTA OFFICERS
St SEEK HOMES IN MERCEDES
CONTINUED from Pa &c ~

lCOuLluueQ ITOlu rage ~
Dakota families when they arrive. OF
course In Mercedes folk won't let
them In on the ground floor They
consider the troops from the north
are providence's gift to them, and
they get up early to fight for their
share Of the mama. But there are
mOney-making opportunities for stran-
gers too. Skillful seamstresses are
In demand. All the big camps have
sweet teeth that are never satisfied.
know Mercedes woman who each
Saturday bakes an oven full OF white
icing cakes, each subscribed for by
hungry officer. II she should ever
fail to do her Saturday baking, be-
lieve they would haul her before a
court martial.
It's a question whether the Merce.
des children can be persuaded to go
to school when classes are opened
next month. Almost every youngster
over four years Of age is making
money There are drivers of two
bitneys" not IL years old. Boys tend
soda fountains, sell candy, papers,
magazines and Mexican souvenirs.
They collect laundry and distribute it.
/ think they would guide you into
Mexico and Introduce you to Villa If
you offered them money to do 1t.
Some of the little bootblacks are max
ing $1.50 day. Augustine, a ten
year-old Mexican, tells me he has
saved $40 since the soldiers CAME. He
makes enough in three days to pay
the rent of the family home for q
month.
With the high school being used as
the North Dakota field hospital, it's
a question whether pupils or patients
will fill its halls this fall. Probably
the school trustees think they should
get their bite of the golden egg which
the American eagle laid in the lower
valley of the Rio Grande. With a
climate like this, should think an
outdoor school would be pleasant
enough. Latin and history could be
studied under the palms and the alge-
bra boards planted in the grass. But,
at present, the youngsters OF Merce-
res never think Of classes. They are
too busy accommodating dimes.
Soldiers throng the little Catholic
church in Mercedes each Sunday
morning. Father Henri Janvier, the
little priest of the mission, radiates
the sunniest good will, the mellowest
happiness. Most of the North Dako-
tans who visited his little church the
first Sunday after their arrival on the
border mistook Father Janvier's dark
skin and his accent for Spanish. He
is French, and his kin are fighting
across the Atlantic. His sister-ln.law,
who is housekeeper, lost brother in
one of the first battles in Belgium. IL
it were not for his deep interest in
his own mission, Father Janvier's
heart would follow the battles over
the sea with greater concern than
the battle clouds on the border
Clouds which,. apparently, daily lose
more of their thunder).
A little group of North Dakota
guards called on the priest yesterday,
and the soldiers were made welcome
in the cool little parish house, as spic
and span as a barracks on inspection
early days at this mission, to which
he came almost directly from Liege,
where he studied for three years.
There we're no railroads in the coun.
try and he made the circuit Of the
little towns and the ranch houses on
horseback. II belonged to Christ's
cavalry" he said.
The father is unwilling to discuss
the international situation much. but
he frankly tells his belief that no man
who has tried to govern Mexico since
Diaz has been the man for she posi-
ton. 1t Is his belief, think, that
either there must be, "big-brother"
Intervention by the United States, or
some strong man must rise up in Mex
leo. "And l know none at present
who is proving his power" he said.