Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1917-07-11

quarters and a beautiful, big sloping
yard The street the building faces
on seems to be the top of a hill.
stayed in Paris from Tuesday after
noon until Sunday morning. Paris
| is the most beautiful city in the
world l suppose. 1t is also one of the
most degenerate right now. All the
| fighters mostly are out Of town and
those who are back on leave are look
! ing for good time. When we got
to the headquarters they told us that
convois drivers, that is truck drivers,
were needed badly, and urged us to
be drivers. That looked better to me
than driving an ambulance so vol
unteered to be convois driver. The
rest of our % men wired home for
advise. Most Of them wanted to
drive convois too I left them while
they were waiting for advise. I came
out with about 70 other fellows to a
training camp. This part Of France
is very pretty. lived in tent with
five other fellows, two from N. w.
o. and the other three from Chica-
go. One was a married man. Here
is a sample of our daily schedule. At
six a. m. we get up: $3.50 breakfast
ESQ called, couple Of sardines,
bread and coffee At seven O'Clock
there is roll call. At about 1880 we
drill with guns for while. At about
leight o'clock we do odd jobs, then
they give us regular meal. Then
we get about / " hours rest. In the
afternoon we take long convoi
drive. It's dusty, hot proposition.
We practice turning around and
backing up too. Sometimes we drive
in the morning and go through the
other grind in the afternoon. The
driving is the most strenuous. A big
truck is harder to handle than an
Overland for instance, and maybe it
don't bump. The rest of the Mariet-1
ia boys got left in Paris and went
out to an ambulance camp Tuesday.
Two of them got left and came out
here to my camp Friday with one 9TH
Ter fellow. They stayed at our place
a day and then they told them to
move to another camp. / took the
other fellows place and we all came
over to another camp. The first
camp was IL or Is miles from the
first trenches. This camp is about
four miles nearer the front. We can
hear the distant boom of the big
guns We expect the rest of the Mar
ietta boys out here in a day or two.
l never get in bed before ten o'clock
or after and get along pretty we'll on
z or hours sleep. Sometimes I feel
badly in need Of nap though.
There is an American aviators camp
about two miles from here. Last
night they had fight near here ESQ
they say and brought down a Ger
man machine. 1t is hot here in the
day time and cold and damp at night
and stays light until nearly ten o.
clock Clight enough to read and
write) / live in a big sort Of shed
now, dirt floor and two rows Of beds.
/ do all my own housekeeping. This
is Sunday afternoon. / am going to
write letters, do washing, take bath
and a nap, as we have the afternoon
off.
p. S.-Address me at Fl Rue Ray
mond Paris; they will forward our
mail.
We get coffee for breakfast; wine
or tea; the wine is (Pinerd, pro-
nounced Peenaward,) is Dago red,
for lunch and supper Everybody
smokes cigarettes. The French ones
are stronger than U. s. cigarettes.
Most of the soldiers are either
young or old. A lot of the best have
been killed.
Did you have to pay &c for this let
ter? / can't get stamps here and
think the letters go free all the way.