The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-10-01

(42d) Division, American Expeditionary Forces"
 There should be no effort to designate the location of the unit.
 It might be supposed that so simple g thing as addressing a letter would cause no trouble. yet hundreds come to our camp every day that make one admire They contain every variety of address and some of them hardly any at all.
 VALUE OF A LETTER
 No one but soldier can realize what valuable thing a letter is. Those who write them can hardly understand the eagerness with which they will be re- ceived. The daily distribution of mall is the only thing I can think of that will make a man late for his dinner And when a regiment takes the field, the value of its mail increases. The farther a man gets from home and CIV ilization the dearer become those things that connect him with home. When soldier gets down to living under cam paign conditions. mail time becomes the most important moment in the day For this reason our friends should be careful to address our mail correctly.
 The average soldier, by the way, Is an inveterate letter writer, and as com sumner of post cards. he has no equal. The Y NJ C. A. tent in every regiment is the favorite field of his literary ex- ploits for it is never without pen, Ink and paper for all who apply. And through the long evenings the ''Y is croWoea with stoiling soldier men, laboriously scrawiing letters to the folks at home Many of these writers are of the post card variety, and like all devotees or that form of epistle, insist that II IS by far the better means or cores pondence. Some of them point out that by sending ones girl postcard. he sends not only letter, but Q picture, too. An other valuable feature of the postcaro is its brevtty. For hands that are more ,,s familiar with the t'feer' of a Springnelo rifle than that of pen. brevfty Is in- deed the soul of wit. And speaking or wit. what better chance Is there TOT the display of a spright1y humor than that which lies in a well chosen post card?
 The choice of the post card depenus upon the man, and 1t most often runs to the sentimental type, with the al leEed comic varietry close secoho' The ordinary type of card. showing a view of the Brooklyn bridge. or some other New York marvel. Is third choice. The soldier, 1t seems, wants something q little more personal
 STARTING CORRESPONDENCE
 This habit of letter writing leads naturally to a desire for someone 70 whom the efforts may be dedicated. This explains the shower of cards and small bits of paper that soldiers throw out of troop train windows when regiment changes station. The ycon- ain the name and address or the soI- Her, and are cast upon the four "inds n the hope that some fair one may ind and read them. Who can tell what .omances have developed from such or how many tender af- airs of the heart have followedf The genius who originated this custom IS unknown, but 1t Is safe to say that 10 other person has been the means ,f burdening the mails as much as he las. The Fourth Alabama has sown he names of it's men across the con .inent, and as a consequence has reaped ], rich harvest of mail. Girls from iozen states have contributed letters n a steady stream to men whom they nave never seen. Who will dare say that romance is dead?
 This letter writing habit presents some queer turns sometimes. For in stance. last summer, while the troops were guarding bridges and tunnels, soldier who had been stationed
  ordered into the camp at Montgomery t being decided that his long tour of guard duty entitled him to rest. To lis captains surprise he requested that le be allowed to stay where he was.
 It developed that for sometime the soldier had been carrying on an ardent sourtship by mail, and had called upon , comrade to aid him. As the friend wrote a better hand than the love sick one, 1t was decided that he should not only compose the letters, but should write them as well. The affair pro- gressed smoothly, until the order came ,alling the suitor to another post. Such a move naturally meant that the vooing must cease. for 1t would never To to change the hand writing of the etters so suddenly. The matter was ex- ,lained to the captain, who promptly 'ecalled the order, with the advice that Il future the correspondence be con-