The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-10-13

the wichita Be&cOn-)
Sunday. Sept. 2. 1917.
Well, here we are in Paris again
after 1900 miles in an auto. I have
just eabled you and 1 feel that in
few hours you Will be over any anx-
iety yeu may have felt for me while
1 was out of Paris. Saturdays trip
as an automobile ride was the most
wonderful and most beautiful of all
one of the most beautiful rides I
ever took.
We left the front early in the morn
ing and for five hours passed a mov-
ing army-eue division moving out of
the trenches (after eighteen days
of hard work, where they covered
themselves with undSing glory, and
captured a most vital position,( and
another army fresh and effthusiastfe,
moving in from long rest Each
army was moving Its guns and camp
outfit. It's Whole Patap henalia of WIT.
1t seemed as though we were passing
two ifiterminable Circus parades. The
soldiers were in great trucks-less
than a thousand of the 100000 men
who seemed to be moving in and out
of the war Zone marched. But tfieus-
ahds of trucks swung By filled with
singing soldiers or sleeping sehdieFs,
but afwayS cheerful. well-fsd soldiers
| wife seemed te be enjoying the bUsi-
ness of war The transfer Of these
divisions had been going on four days
and for all 1 know may be still in
| progress
Road That saved France.
We rode during the. day over the
famous. road from Bar-Le-DGc 70 Yer
dun. 1t was still jammed with the
/ implements and inpedimenta of war.
But it is q. great highway; no better
I1n
| ether French highways, and no more
crowded with wars press of business
The sun came out today after five
| days of rain-which we enjoyed as
much as the sun. and as the ma chine
| moved further from the front the hilly
! country left US and We came on Great
wide plain. 1 have no idea where We
| were-on the map But the arehitec-
| tHre Of the country changed The signs
on the cafes indicated that we We're
getting somewhere south and SOME
where near the seal for the air grew
soft and mild and the eomplexons OF
| ehe people darkened. 1t was 1 O'Clock
in the afternoon before we came TO
the last post of the ambulance corps
| which was en- repose with the army
division to which it was attached. We
| had lunch there and met q lot of fine
boys; some of them from the west who
greeted as as old army friends.
Well Dressed Women Rarely Seen.
Henry and 1 Ioafed through the
town and enjoyed the shop windows.
it was a country town about the size of
! of Eureka and had in it three milf
merry stores. Every hat displayed was
a black hat-dead black and mostly
| purple iii it, That, more than any
thing else tells the story. Of Franeei
Another thing that tells the story of
Francs is the shabby dressing of the
! French women. The weH-dressed
| woman is rare. Black prevails. The
| eolors of the mems Uniforms that
blaze everywhere, give the note OF gay
| ETY. to Paris.
An the afternoon we rode thru
F-rance-rnostIy northward-thru a
| beautiful land. How many. many
! times we have exclaimed la Belle
! France" 1t is the only phrase that
! expresses the exquisite beauty of the
land. Every acre of it seems com
pesed for picture. At every turn of
/ the road we saw The Cleaners
cleaning The Man With the Hoe
! might have stood in any field Corot
, Could have sat at any angle OF any
| road to find his wonderful trees and
clouds. Yet il is all so livable, so al
lsring. that I want 10 come back and
leaf thru it in the ear. As 1 rode thru
the villages I thought how fine 1t
would be to live for few days or a
/ few weeks or a few months in each
of the sections of Franee-to live not
at the hotels of the towns but to take
| n house IN q village and live with the
1 folks; learning about the ce1ntry and
| its habits, ard. writing about the
I French and their French life. The
/ title THAT came to me fer sach book
was France From Ford" which
( expresses exactly the point of view
( one s41orid assume. Some day III
do it,
Z Americans Too Humorous.
! The French feel the war very seri-
I ousIy: American hunor bothers them
The boys in the. Ambulance corps sec
I ton are unable to get much UNDER
/ stahdine Out 81 the French heuten-
ants who have charge of the various
I corps. The boys who face death every
! hour of the day while they are on duty
I laugh all the time In one section,
I apparently. the Frenchrnan fad re-
/ belled. For the little devils Had wrft-
I ten in chalk over his door:
/ Defense absolument de Rirer"
at is absolutely f6rbidden to iaHgh. IS
which was the American way of reply
ing to his complaints
We got in last night at 10 o'clock.
tired and hungry and after supper
and a hot bstf=hot water IS only al
/ lowed in Paris Saturday and Sundays
we went to bed. And here 1 am
| writing this letter so glad to be at
least this much nearer horne ana she
hope of a letter or cable soon that
Q %uII hf,vr