The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-09-26
BUSINESS OF LIVING
BY MRS. EVA Lee NARD

Bertram Details the Latest Events at
the American Camp in France.
Dear Folks at Home:
This has been a great day at camp.
Gene Pershing and the commander
in-chief of the French armies, Cen
eral Petain, have been here to inspect
u.s. tthink told you that the famous
crack chasseur division has been
training the men this last month. The
review of that division by the COM
mander-in-c was the most spec
taculGr thing l have seen First was
the very creditable showing of the in
fantry. but soldiers on foot have not
the chance for show that the cavalry
mas L WISH l could make you see il
all 1t was day of brilliant sunshine
and great silver French airplane
c1rcled above us all during the review
10 make sure that no enemy should
drop bomb on the mass of soldiers
assembled
THE most picturesque feature of
the whole thing was the division artil-
lery ru hing by with horses, at fast
trot, and behind them the cavalry at
full gallop. 1 do not wonder that SOL
diering was popular in the times when
the cavalry had a conspicuous part
of play, for it certainly is an inspiring
sight to see the slime horses so well
groomed and the riders in superb uni
forms. One seldom sees good riding
THESE CSyS ana II was a S1Snl. l can
tell you After the review was over
! three of the chasseur bands played
the Marseillaise and the Star Spangled
Banner. Then followed the bestowing
of decoration on the chasseurs. There
was quite a crowd of peasants around
the edge of the field in which the
maneuvers took place. Petain went
among them patting little boys on the
head and kissing the little girls who
| brought him flowers.
I'VE were speaking of the superb
| dash of the cavalry while at dinner in
| the officers tent and one of the
! colonels said with the French shrug
| of his shoulders: 1t is good that
| there is one place where the cavalry
! is still to be seen to advantage. Most
of the cavalry dashes l have been in.
| have led leading my horse knee deep
/ in water. Surely all romance has been
| knocked out of the army by modern
methods of warfare
| "'Only the bird men have any ro-
| nance or dash in their lives. Think
of the thrill it must have given that
young lieutenant the other day to drop
bombs into the German ammunition
| dump 1t was captain who spoke.
" Yes, and what must have been
his surprise when the explosion turned
/ him completely over in the air. re-
marked another. 1T took him a good
/, thirty seconds to maneuver himself
into position again. and all the while
the search lights were playing on him.
1t is a wonder he was not brought TO
| earth. He would have been had not
the entire camp been demoralized
| from the explosion
Then they went on to tell what
| queer looking machines the Germans
are turning out nowadays; queer in
| color, l mean. Many have red bod
les and startling green or yellow
wings, and some have wings of diff
ferent colors; one white and the 9TH
er black; or they will be orange at
the bottom and be edged with green
! or blue or purple. The idea seems
| to be to make them look as horrible
frightfulness, 1 suppose. The airmen
| on both sides are doing very daring
/ things. Some of them start out ev-
cry morning like the knights of old
in search of adventure and they us
ually find it. Their exploits make
thrilling reading all right. OF course
the day flights are far more danger
| Gus than those made by night, be-
cause the searchlights can locate a
: machine but it can not follow its mo-
tons and when they fire where they
| think it is they are usually wasting
! derful things this war will make pos
sible is the common use of airplanes.
mo letter came from America last
week, much to my disappointment.
Tell Jack Uncle Bertram expects him
| to do his full duty in the matter of
| letters, if the rest of you are SO busy
that you can not scratch a line. Let
/ tiers mean more at a camp than any
where else on earth I believe.
Goodbye. and success to you. /
have not heard as much about the
\ new position as l should wish.
LAS ever yours.
"BERTRAM."
(To be continued.)