The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1917-09-13
FRANCIS ROOL WRITES HOME
FROM WASHINGTON. d. {

FROM VASulNCTON. d. {.
The following 10 . letter from Fran
els X. Rook received recently by his
parents, Mr. and Mrs Or. c. ". Rook,
who live near Ovid and will be of in
terest to many Of our readers. Fran
els is located at the present time at
Washington d. c. in the Signal Corps
of the Government and is doing his
.bit" for his country:
Washington, d. c., Sept ), 1917.
Dear Folks at Home:-The last few
days have been rather strenuous.
Sunday, party of US in two cars went
over into Maryland about so miles to
a bathing beach. called Chapel PORT.
1t was my first glimpse Of salt water
and We sure had a dandy time. Mon
day. being Labor Day, We had holi-
day and the people at whose place l
room. took me out to see the falls in
the Potomac. We went up on the
Maryland side and then back through
Glen Echo Park. an amusement par<,
and then we finished up the day by
driving ever to Fort Meyer in Virgin
ia, where the young men are training
to become officers. We got there in
time to sec the entire post parade, the
flag lowered, and the sunset gun fired.
There are fine young fellows ov-
er there working hard to gain COM
missions in the army.
Then today was held the parade in
honor of the drafted men. The War
Departr.ent and also the other depart.
ments excused those who wished to
march, but as ! wanted to take some
pictures I didn't march. took sever
al and in few days hope to send you
some.
The parade was headed by the fin
est band in the country, the U. S. Ma
rine Band and then came the Com
mander-in-C Chief of the Army and
Navy, Woodrow Wilson. He carried
an American flag and wore straw
hat, palm beach trousers and blue
coat, which contrasted sharply with
the conventional black of those immed-
lately following him. He repeatedly
raised his hat and smiled at the cmc,r-
ing people and while the lines Of care
showed plainly in his face, he walled
with a quick swinging step almost ex-
actly like the stride of the army man.
1t was wonderful parade, by far
the largest l have ever seen and
had the opportunity to see many OF
the big mer who are steering GU
"ships of State" in these troublesome
times. / surely wish you and all the
people in Julesburg could have had the
opportunity to see it. Some of the
notable men we read of, who were in
the parade were; Gen. Hugh L. Scott,
Chief of Staffof the Army; Sec. of
War Baker; Josephus Daniels. Sec. of
Navy; "Uncle Joe" Cannon; Champ
Clark; Mr.. Hoover, the Food Control
Ter, Capt. Phil Sheridan, Lieut.. Roosa-'
welt of the Aviation Corps, Gen Kuhn.
The Senate and the House attended in
a body. The drafted men were cheer
ed almost as much as the President
when they passed.
Every branch of the service was rep
resented; infantry, cavalry, medical
corps, field artillery, coast artillery,
engineers, marines and sailors.
The marines made an especially fire
showing. They carried with them on
carriages hundreds Of Lewis Machine
Rifles, the deadliest gun made. About
14OO of them, that is the marines,
came up from Quantico, where they
are stationed, to take part in the par
4 ade.
The sailors also made fine show
ing and the jackies carried large
signs that stretched half way across
the street and had inscriptions on
them like this 81 have not yet begun
to fight" "You may fire when ready.
Gridley," Don't give up the ship,
I'VE have met the enemy and they are
ours" The one that got the most
applause was Damn the Torpedoes,
Go ahead"
One little incident that was both
humorous and pathetic was the play
ing by one of the bands when
leave the world behind
Every moment or two, some one IN
the crowd would see some one in the
ranks they knew and call out to them,
but the boys swung by as if they did
: MT notice or hear. but I'll bet my
months salary that they would have
liked to looked around and smiled.
All of the men in uniform today had
serious grin look on their faces and
as the thousands swung by me,
could see the determination in their
faces that was truly wonderful, and
what | saw was the kaisers "con-
temptable little army" | wonder
what he would have said if he could
have seen it today.
Well people, it is late so | must
close. Hope all of you are well and