The Washington herald., 1917-11-22


pals for years in Washington, are
today bivouacing side by~side on the
battlefields of France. Immediately
after finding each other "over there.
the pair sat down and composed an
extraordinarily interesting and newsy
letter telling of their personal ex-
periences and general conditions on
the edge of the maelstrom
Each of the boys enlisted at differ
ent times and at different places going
over at different intervals, only to
have their paths converge at the
headquarters of the American expedi-
tionary force.
Write to Friends.
Naturally their first impulse was to
write and tell the rest of their bunch"
all about it and they have done so in
a graphic manner.
The bunch" to whom the letter is
addressed in care of Walter ]. Ca
hill, who is one of them, is probably
the most patriotic aggregation OF
young men in the city. OF the round
dozen in it, ten are already enlisted
in some branch of the service with
the remaining two already reading
over army manuals.
OF these are Joe Lyons and Patrick
Stanley, the latter a captain of the
Carroll Institute track team for sew
eral years, who are now bunkies in
a Coast Artillery Company; Lee Hart
and two twins, Howard and Farnum
Miller, who are in the ambulance
corps; two brothers, Frank and Leo
Flaherty. who are enlisted in the
aviation corps and Otto Naecker and
Earl Blumer. The letter follows:
Headquarters, American Expedi-
tionary Forces, France,
"Adjutant Generals Department.
September IL, 1917.
Dear Bunch:
II have been in France three
weeks now and this is the first real
opportunity 1 have had of writing
you, but 1 hope you will do better
by me, for I want to hear from
you as soon as possible. have not
forgotten you fellows of Carroll and
do not want to be forgotten by you,
for though I have been away from
Washington less than two months,
It seems like ages and wish 1
could be among you for an evening.
There is nothing 1 would not give
to sit in the library tonight and
knock and boost" and spread the
old 'bull' to my hearts content and
move toward the Garden and Strand
in a bunch. New York has its Win
ter Garden, Amsterdam Roof and
other diversions, Paris has it's AL
hambra, Folies Begere and numbers
of others, but Oh! for a chance to
watch Harold Lockwood or Douglas
at the Garden or Strand.
in fact, fellows, I believe am a
little homesick.
I'VE were thirteen days coming
over and the weather was all that
could be desired, except for two
days, the tenth and eleventh days
out, when the old ships tossed and
pitched and did everything thought
but sink. I would sit in the dining
room and one minute would see the
blue sky through the port hole and
next the blue water; then I would
HE to my stateroom to lie down
and hnd myself on the board parti-
tion instead of the bed. Well, to
make long story short, was so
damned seasick didn't care II the
ship sank or not.
I'VE were thirty-three hours reach
ing Paris on account of the poor
railroad connections, but this gave
US an opportunity to visit some of
the historic cathedrals, chateaux,
museums and other objects of inter-
est in Tours, Anglers and Nantes.
Praises French Capital
'In my humble opinion for beauty
and gaiety Paris is The City of the |
Universe, and it was a sorrowfuT |
crowd that pulled away from It about
ten or eleven days ago. We were
there ten days and they surely were
days Of bliss. The boulevards, build |
ings, bridges, etc, and the people |
are wonderful and me for there.
when the opportunity again arrives
about Christmas, or perhaps
sooner.
'Taxis are cheap in France: you
can ride an hour for about six or
seven francs, and, believe me, we
worked them to death. NY first ride
resulted In an argument with a |
French chauffeur. We had been stung
all the way up to Paris and were
beginning to get sore as we grew
wiser so I thought he was trying /
to slip me monkey because IS
eenttmes were marked up when I