The Washington times., 1916-08-26
TROOPS FOOD GOOD,
SAYS MARYLANDER
Weird Stories From Border Be.
ing Disproved and Sensible
Stories Are Coming In.

HYATTSVILLE, Aug. 26-Members OF
Company F. First Maryland Infantry.
stationed at Eagle Pass. are becoming
accustomed to their surroundings. and
some Of the weird stories that came out
OF the West have been supplanted with
sensible letters.
One Of the most interesting and in
teliigent letters from Camp Ord was re-
ceived here recently from David b. Har-
man. a private In Company F. In this
letter Herman describes the local Of the
camp praises the food. speaks we'll of
the general physical condition Of the
men. tells of the drills, describing Texas
sunset. and praises his officers. The fol-
lowing are some Of extracts from the
letter:
Il will try to give you an idea OF our
camp. Our tents are pitched on plain.
hard soil and sandy: the surface IL
cut by hany fssures. ranging in depth
from three feet to eight feet. This plain
Is ideally situated for a camp. being
bounded on the north. east. and south
by numerous low. rock, brown hued
hills, from which gentle cooling breezs
blow through the day: the western
boundary Is narrow, shallow river. TO
which the plain slopes. One looking
today would hardly believe that It's site
WASH once q miniature jungle OF ctus.
Mosquito, chapparal. infested by poison
Gus rattlesnakes, vari-colored Lizards.
| ugly horned toads. fierce tarantula. and
insects too numerous to mention.
Food Wholesome and Plenty.
About the food he says:
IT have read several letters relating to
| the food furnished us. / wish to say
that any statement claiming we are
| stinted or starved Is a falsehood. Our
food is not of the fashy kind. nor are
we furnished with a hundred and one
side dishes. It Is wholesome and there
Is plenty Of IT,
He described sunset.
81 would like to give you a pen pic
ture of q sunset In Texas. but. words
would be Inadequate to describe 1t; in
fact, I doubt IL an artist could convey
the beauty Of It to canvas. Perhaps
you can form a haphazard idea from
the following description.
| AFTER 6 o'clock that golden disc has
| lost Its dazzling luster. and becomes a
ball Of lambent fire. The western sky
becomes a living, breathing flame: the
| eastern sky an ethereal blue. High up
| are the clouds, some white. some blue,
some purple tinted; others silvery with
fringes of gold, while others are painted
with the heavenly colors that have been
the despair OF artists. Slowly and silent
ly they float from realm of ethereal
blue to a realm of billowy flame.
| zone sees In them the shadows OF the
past, of the present, and the future.
They fascinate and hypnotize. Now a
change manifests itself: the curtain be-
gins to fall, the ball OF flame glows a
dull red. its glimering rays resting light
| ly on water and land. At last the pic
tuHe Is overt-he sun has passed behind
the Mexican hills. far to the west"
Heat Not Unbearable.
He concludes his letter:
| Many people think the heat here is
Of such a terrific nature as to make
life almost unbearable. They are mis-
taken. The sun is hot, teh temperature
often mounting to l10 degrees; but this
heat is tempered with an ll-day
breeze. making the day more pleasant
than a day in Maryland with tempera-
| ture 15 degrees lower. The fact Is that
no one ever hears of sunstroke or heat
| exhaustion in this part of the country,
| while we read of many such cases In
the North and East.
zone more word to thu folks at home.
4 Let them become reconciled to the fact
| that we are here. and cease to worry
about our welfare. i think all of us are
happy in the knowledge that we are
serving our country. We are we'll fed.
sleep In sanitary quarters. are treated
excellently by our officers. Such three
| officers acs Captain Greager and Lieu
| tenants Lyon and Fainter are a source
OF pride to any company. and we are
proud OF them. Very truly yours.
|