The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1917-10-23
.LETTERCfHom The |
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Mrs. John Dynes, 1894 Thirteenth
street north. received the following
very interesting letter from her son.
Elmer Dynes. dated at Norfolk, Va
He is q member OF the u. S. S. Rich
mond band. The letter:
Norfolk, Va. Oct. 13. 1877.
u. s. s. Richmond Band
Dear Mother:
Our new mess hall has just been
completed and we began using 1t
Thursday. 1t will seat, / should estl-
mate, about ten or twelve hundred
men. In the old mess hall we got our
tray, plate, knife, fork, etc.. at the
door and as we passed the serving
table we were served with out por-
tions. cafeteria style. In the new
mess hall the tables are set and our
plates filled when we go in. We al
| ways get enough to eat. The food
is not as tasty as home cooking. of
course. but ii is clean and wholesome
4 and the fellows here tell me that
am getting fat. ....
We are sleeping in bungalows now.
| There are ten fellows in each bunga-
| low and we have a good bunch in
,, ours. We have cots to sleep on now
so that we do not have to swing our
| hammocks. Anyone who has not
slept in one of these hammocks has
certainly missed one of the thrills Of
life. They are about as stable as a
| chip on the sea in a storm. / have
always succeeded in keeping on the
right side of mine though. 1t was
rather chilly here a few nights ago
and one of the fellows in nur bunga-
| low who had only one blanket.
thought that he would swing his
hammock as they At snug around one
and consequently blankets 20 far
Their. AS we have no billets vet in
the bungalows to swing hammocks on
he spent about half ain hour in find
ing a suitable place to swing from.
He finally got it strung up and hoist
ed himself in. He was hardly in.
however. before he found himself on
the floor with his blanket and mat
tress on top of him. He then decided
that the cot was good enough for
him.
We are so industrious here that
we get UP in the middle of the night
to begin work. l don't know whether
it is a war emergency measure or
not, but we are awakened at s o'clock.
We have our bedding out to air
every morning that the weather per-
mits and lash it up at noon. Our bed
ding is rolled up inside our ham
mocks and tied up with seven lashes
using the MARINE hitch. We have
mess at and muster at 1880. Those
Of us who play in the grinder band
then go out on the grinder" or drill
grounds and play for colors and
drill, Tuesday and Thursday after
moons we play two or three hours
for battalion drill. Whenever we are
not playing outside we are supposed
to be in the boiler factory" as we
have named the band barracks. 1t
certainly deserves the name as many
boiler factories are graveyards COM
pared to the noise up here some
times.
Our white uniforms are by no
means immune to dirt and as each
man is his own "washwoman" con-
siderable of our time is spent scrub
bling clothes. Then during our spare
time" or while we are resting we
can shave, mend clothes, sew on
buttons and a hundred and one other
little jobs incident to the life of an
unmarried man. Ordinarily these jobs
would not consume such great
amount of time but you should re-
member that our winter and summer
clothing and all of our earthly pos
sessions are kept in one small canvas
bag and even though we try to keep
frequently find that whatever we
want is at the bottom of the bag.
''Hammocks" is blown at 1880
every evening and after that we can
get down our cots and hammockS
and go to bed any time we wish. We
seldom get to bed much before the
lights go out at 8 o'clock.
This noon our yeoman brought us
the comforting information that aft
er Nov. we will have to put three
cents postage on our letters. AS my
salary has not been correspondtngly
increased l suppose l will have to
cut my correspondence down 30 per
cent to keep within my allowance.
It is q curious sight to see how
some of these mine-sweepers are
painted. They are painted in zig-zag,
irregular streaks and daubs of diff
ferent colors. white, green, gray and
brown predominating. When painted
in this manner l am told that these
ships are almost invisible when
a short distance away on the ocean. |
Yesterday l got the candy all o. |
K. Such sweets are especially appre-
ciated here as we do not get any
sugar, pastry, sweets and such |
things
/ still like it fine here, so we'll in |
ISCL I11dL i mate W Guluh
of going elsewhere. Haven't for a /
single minute ever regretted that I |
enlisted although if / were not COM |
ing in as musician or possibly a
woman or machinist l believe |
would choose the army as there is a
much greater chance there for ad-
vancement.
/ will try and write often while / |
am here as after leave here my |
mail viii have to pass the censor |
and they never read a letter OF more
than Ave pages.
AS ever,
III MTR