The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1917-10-12
CHEERFUL LETTERS FROM
The BOYS IN WAR CAMPS

tell him he will get some tomorrow,
and then he says ooh I don't believe
will get any at ALL" The reason I
feel so sorry for him is, that he is al
ways writing letters and does not
seem to get any in reply. No never
mind about the cake, like to get the
mail. / have lost my sweet tooth, and
eat meats and vegetables now. Yes,
when l receive the kodak, you will
be getting pictures every day.
l have written you about the fort
here and will now tell you a little
about other things and conditions
here, some of them seemed very
queer to me at first All the traffic
goes on the left side of the street,
and every auto, buggy, wagon, bicycle
end even baby carriages must have
Panama license. Now what would
the people in the States think if they
had to put license tag on their baby
cabs. and then you should see the
women running up and down the
streets with heavy baskets on their
heads loaded down with fruits, etc.
They never think of carrying their
their head. do not see how they can
balance them on their head, and
sometimes they have heavy loads too.
Labor down here gets 80 cents per
day, but they really are not worth
that much, as they have that lazy
shiftless movement to everything
they do, all a bunch of happy go lucky
fellows, and I am getting to feel lazy
| and tired here also, but am in excel
lent health, and as dark as a darby.
The other day in Panama City fell
low came up to me and asked me if
could talk English. l was so tanned
up l looked like "Spick," that is
what they call the Spaniards down
here, he thought l was one.
Yes, l would like to have Uncle
Dick down here to go fishing for
sharks and to go hunting. Tell him
that l had two days pass the other
day, and went into the "Jungles"
hunting, and brought back two deer,
which supplied venison for our COM
pany for three days. l saw a large
bull boa constructor, and as soon as
l turned my light on him he sneaked
| away. We hunt all night with "Jack
light" We saw a lot of wild hogs and
wild cats, and heard a lot of others
making all kinds of noises Oh it was
great, but at the same time l was glad
to get out of there, but | bet Uncle
Dick would be in his glory to be
down here and see all that wild game,
| and also the ducks are very numerous
here and it seems shame to shoot
them in such numbers as they do just
| for the fun of shooting. I am back
from the island now, but will go out
again in December and spend Christ
| mas there. We have a week off for
Christmas and also week off for
| New Years day. Yes, I received a
letter from Miss Ida Nitzkowski for
the Methodist Episcopal church, and
I have already answered that. Yes,
nothing would tickle me more than
to have dad down here on his vaca-
ticn. Can you picture him on a large
rock trying to land a big baby shark ?
Ha ha! I guess dad you would get
wet, and picture him trying to talk
Spanish to the natives. Ha ha that
makes me laugh. guess he would try
to talk Welsh to them. Say, did you
| ever see water spout? I saw one
yesterday and they say there is
enough water in an ordinary spout to
| wreck whole city block Yes if I
can bring the monkey home I will do
/ so. Never mind about the cigars, but
they have better ones down here than
in the States, and are cheaper Thanks
just the same. With love to ALL
Owen
Mrs. A. M. Matteson received this
letter from her son, Corporal Leslie
E. Mattson, Camp Cody:
Camp Cody, New Mexico, October
4, 1917. Dear Mother and Sister.
Well we arrived Tuesday night
and are just about settled in
our new camp. 1t took us five days
end five nights to come down here
from good old Minnesota.
We sure saw some beautiful seem
cry on the way. We saw oil wells and
coal mines and cotton fields and sugar
plantations. And travelling over noun
tainS and rivers, around lakes and
through tunnels was sure grand.
That was before we hit Texas or
''Hell's half-acre" as we call it.
1t all changed into sands and rocks,
cactus and mosquitoes. We are now
up in the mountains of New Mexico,
$500 feet above sea level.
You couldn't call the scenery here
at all beautiful. The mountains are all
rocks and sand. On our camp grounds
the sand is over our shoe tops.
Nothing green grows here but
cactus and horned toads. At that the
mountains don't look so worse. You
can sec mountains as far away as
two hundred miles. The further away
the better they look.
Our camp is sure fixed up swell
though. Better than last year. Only
we have no lake to swim in, only
shower baths. Have the Y NJ. G.. A.
back of our officers tents. Have
fine mess house, fairly good grub and
everything is lighted with electricity.
Have bunch of officers here from
the training camps. We got three of
them so far They are here for the
experience guess. From the talk here
we are to get bunch of drafted men,
enough to make each company a
total of 25O men. AS we have 1876
men we would use ia of them. That
will make some Company H if they
do.
We hear that we are to get a stiff