Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-07-31

were supposed to be locked up in the
bottom of our ship. Heaven knows
there must have been burglary
aboard for the way pocketbooks and
indeed. They certainly did feed us
good on that boat. How good, we
| are just now realizing.
Came to the mouth of the Seine
| river at $50 a. m. Tuesday. At least
so I was told because l was down
; in my bunk snoozing away. Got on
deck by daylight and watched the
scenery as we rode along. 1t put one
in mind of riding up the Hudson as
some of the boys remarked that the
scenery was nearly the same as the
| Palisades l never saw them but
this scenery was sure pretty. Reach
ed Bordeaux by IL a. m. and, after
standing in line for an hour, got our
passports fixed up. Fortunately we
had an interpreter as only one of we
seven could speak French f1uently.
The Ride to Paris
With his aid we hired a donkey
cart, two-wheeled affair, upon
| which we dumped our luggage and
ourselves. 1t nearly broke down the
cart and what amused us so was that
when we shifted too much weight
to the rear the horse was lifted off
| his feet That was some ride, believe
| crowd wherever we went. 1t tickled
US just as much until we nearly
| skidded into a taxi Even that didn't
| dampen our spirits any, for the horse
was urged to greater speed. Tickets
were soon procured and baggage
| checked and then the bunch started
| out to see the town. Looking back
on it now. 1 can't say we saw lot
| of the scenery, at least no outside.
| nufSida cafes. If
sure was a thirsty crew. Ran out
| of gas every other block. And then
| into a sidewalk cafe to imbibe some
more energy. l lost count of the
| lemonades I drank, for the French
word for that was the first learned.
| Unfortunately, we landed in Bordeaux
on a meatless day and although we
| paid S1.20 for a meal, what we got
only made us hungry. Vegetables are
not very filling, you know. Two days
a week we can buy no meat in France.
Two days you can't get candy or
cake. The last hit me the hardest.
Rode to Paris by night train, TAX
| ing a second class compartment, since
the only difference between first and
| second class was the color OF the
plush on the seats. Seven of us filled
! the compartment "a thirteen-hour
ride, and sitting up all the way. We
| got what sleep we could in that po-
| sition, which was not much, and 1t
put a kink in my back which is not
gone yet. We had had no supper ana
we got no breakfast as diners are
| nearly as scarce as baths. One OF the
| fellows had a pint of brandy, so sew
| eral of the bunch made breakfast OH
| cigarets and brandy. incidentally
! the fellow who drank the most fell
down in the first exams and was
| turned down flat.) When dawn came
we sat up (excuse me, we were up),
and took notice of the surrounding
| country. Passed several AVIATION
schools and saw numerous aeroplanes
| in flight, one flying with our train
clear to Paris, probably because we
waved our American flags to him. he
saw us, too, because we saw him
| salute and then fly very low-nearly
on a level with the train-giving us
| a good view of the machine with its
machine gun mounted ready for bus
| mess. Reaching Paris, we piled into
taxis and soon arrived at our present
| abode, hot, dusty, dirty and hungry.
| After cleaning up and arranging Tor
| board and rooms, we wandered out 10
| discover some eats. Fortunately we
discovered a place where English was
spoken. 1t was still a meatless ana
i cakeless day, so all we could get was
bread. bItter and chocolate, which
| was ordered and eaten with relish.
The butter was great and so was the
| chocolate. but the bread. which came
by the yard and was so hard we We're
| given a sharp knife to cut 1t wlth'
was the finest l ever ate-eXceptins
! YOURS. l hear U. S. A. is going on
the same rations. Is that SO!
Severe Exam
i Renorted to Dr. Gros Immediately.
when we passed through considerable
red tape, the hardest thing about 1t
heinp the test for balance. This was
done by standing on one leg with the
other foot resting on the knee. one
was required to spread out MS arms
close his eyes and balance this way
I Fifteen seconds was considered good
I made eleven. One of our buncn
made thirty-eight and the one that
hunked made nothing at all. On the
.scond exam, tested me again for
balance. Made less than eleven tnal
time, so am practicing up on that
stunt for the final exam. All OF the
fellows have their uniforms picked
ont and are discussing what they VIII
do with their furloughs. Nothing like
that for me. One thing at time Is
NV motto, and the first thing on the
program Is to pass the maj exam
The rest may follow in due time. The
/
doc had a fake chart hanging up IN
his Office. After giving any weak
aved nerson a chance to commit the
| chart to memory, he lit small elec-
trtc light above it and then, by the
: ola Of a string, pulled a roll of paper
with different sizes of type at regular
intervals. around to the required size
7 uassed the first crack and even wltr
NV GOOD ewes | had to exert myself
as the type was only 10-point caps
ard had to be read at twenty feet
Ali the other fellows had trouble, fol
~ had to be read with one eye, the
other one being closed with glass
: 0na Of our bunch is nearly blind II
ooa ave and it's still doubtful II he
nassas All the rest had something
tha matter with one of their eyes
Nv ewes being my strongest point
I'm hoping it will pull me through.
The customs here are all very
strange and I bump inEo new ones
|, every time l go out. Yesterday go'
6ned for sitting on park chair.
They have subways in Paris, ou'
M elevated. l have not tried them
vet because it's too beautiful above
.. ground and such carriages and taxis
are as cheap as our street cars, why
eide under ground? When we Went
to ret our police permits, four of us
TOOK a taxi went to police headquar'
: ters. had him walt until we were
/. through and rode back home. 1t only
cost US one franc apiece GO eents)
, So YOU see how cheap they are. As
good as a jitney any day. Had &c
have two more pictures to get the