The Dickinson press., 1917-10-13
LETTER FROM FRANCE
TELLS OF EUROPEAN
FIGHTING CONDITIONS

MOtOr Co. The letter is interesting
from beginning to end and gives an
insight into real Paris life as viewed
by an American.
Paris, France, August 20, 1917.
My dear George:
Your letter reached me a few days
ago, and I was both pleased and sur
prised, because, frankly, I had given
up hope of hearing from either Of
you, and I was somewhat peeved too.
You cannot imagine the delight of
receiving letters from home, when
you're in a foreign land; the one
great event is when the mail arrives
and everything in the line of reading
matter is grabbed by everybody and
read thoroughly.
Well, perhaps you'd like a detailed
account of my doings and of Paris,
but time does not permit, and my do
ings can be disposed Of in a few
words. I have lead a comparatively
quiet life, and go to bed here much
earlier than I did at home. By the
time I'm through a days work I'm
too doggone tired to stay up half the
night seeing Partisan life,' and, be-
sides, everything here now, except the
theatres, closes at $3.50, and the
streets are as darks as the inside of a
COW. It is a very wonderful and ex-
quisitely beautiful city, and some
time you should really try and take
a trip over here. There are lots of
things I don't like, but generally
speaking they're offset by the beauti-
full, interesting and pleasant things.
The city is enormous, and to see 1t
all would require months; you a
~-o11. onJ .~xo11r 0ol xryo11r o-I ~ox,o,.
get out of some sort of a business
district, and the distances here are
very great. Of course, there are takes
and the subway "a wonderful n too)
but the taxi drivers are the original
highwaymen and you can't see a darn
thing from the subs, naturally.
Everything here shows it's great
age. The buildings are, for the most
part, nearly jet black with age and
dirt. In some cases it is rather at
tractive. First and last, Paris is
beautiful, and some of it's sights
really are beyond description. The
famous Avenue Champs Elysees, the
Arc de Triomphe, the Wonderful
Opera, the Tuileries Gardens, and the
thousands of cafes, are things that
must be seen. The city reminds you
greatly Of Washington with it's long,
wide streets, lined with handsome
trees, it's many parks, fountains,
statuary (you should see some of the
statuesD and it's handsome buildings.
You see great crowds here, especially
on Sundays. And uniforms! Well,
there are thousands Of them Of all
kinds, American, English, French,
Portuguese, Russian, etc., and it all
makes a very striking picture.
Paris is noted for it's women and
it's cafes, and they're. all l ever heard
they were. The chief feature of the
cafes, both large and small, are the
small tables on the pavement where
you can sit and have your coffee, or
other drinks, and watch the never
ending parade. There are, as I said,
a countless number Of them, large
and small, splendid and squalid. On
the Boulevard Des Capucines, which
is the Great White Way Of Paris,
there are some blocks where there are
four and five huge cafes, n right
after the other, and they're always
all crowded. Some of them are very
wonderful-and expensive. The fin
est ones, as we'll as the best theatres,
are on the Camps Elysees, which is
one of the most beautiful avenues
I've ever seen, about four times as
wide as any street you can imagine,
lined with four rows of trees, parks
and statuary, and continually thronged
with pedestrians and motors.
Have been to a number of theatres
and have thoroughly enjoyed them, al
though I couldn't understand a word
that was said or sung. Some of them
are very attractive, but strange to
say, the shows are not to be compared
for one minute with those you see at
home. They're almost amateurish at
times, and some of the singing 90
and dancing GU you see is awful.
You hear lots Of American rag time
music over. here, but mostly all very
old stuff. They have fine orchestras
in the theatres here, and strange GUS
toms.
I did hear some fine music last
Sunday afternoon in the Tuileries
Gardens. Every Sunday they hold an
immense open air orchestra and vocal
concert there, and it was great; an
orchestra of about so pieces and four
singers; all the best music and it was
a real treat. I'll venture to say. there
were 10000 or $4,000 people in the
mob.
1u0 S1flS-Well, IO O1AS 1lSCo W.
lonesome, believe me, if you want to
take the risk, and a risk it is too:
The majority of them are very good
looking, smartly dressed and made up
within an inch of their life-in fact,
every woman makes up here, and
some Of them are the limit. You
don't have to exercise any effort to
meet the fair sex-sometimes the ef-
fort has to be made to get away!
You see some stunning ones, and
some very good dressing.
Generally speaking, I don't care for
French people, and some of their GUS
toms and manners are, to my mind,
unspeakable. The general idea here
seems to be that anything that Is
natural; or considered natural, is alb
solutely all right, no matter where you
do it or when. It's absolutely nothing
to see a couple sitting on a bench in
broad daylight, or riding in a ma
chine, making love like mad; no one
pays any attention to it whatsoever.
/ think the finest thing I've seen
here. is Napoleon's Tomb, which is in
the Hotel Des Invalides, a perfectly
huge building, which has, in addition
to the Tomb, a wonderful chapel. and
an interesting collection of war relics,
such as captured airplanes, guns, ETC.,
etc. The Tomb is in a huge circular
rotunda, directly underneath a huge
DOME, and is a work Of art in white
marble, gold and mural paintings. In
the same rotunda is All magnificent