The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1918-06-26
MOTHERS DAY ON FIELDS OF FRANCE
NOTE-The following letter from Sergt Fred r. Moha! nephew
Of George Mann publisher Tribune originally published n
reprinted here because OF the general inter-
est in wi which II deals.

the Dubuque 1rIOunts lS rtpEIulet
est in the subjects with which 1t
That Mother is not forgotten =" by
the Sammies amid the terr0rs of the
shell-torn trenches, in the crash and
smash of the fight, nor in the strife
and stress of daily life lover there
is evidenced in a letter written by
Sergeant Fred r. Moffat, to his moth
er, Mrs. r. B. Moffat.
1t was penned on Mothers day.
and from the authors statement, 1t
is to be inferred that nearly all made
the occasion memorable by sending
a message to a lonely lady, bravely
Withholding the well Of tears gushing
to her eyes as she thinks of "her
boy" gtT @:@. d
Sergeant Moffat has been in France
for some time and consequently is
well acquainted with the country, it's
customs and people. OF these he
speaks interestingly. Queer, and COM
ical are q few tales he relates
French women, many of them old,
and decrepit, show a splendid spirit
of self-sacriflce. They forgo pleas
ures. Performing the customary du-
ties Of men. stopped and bent under
the burdens of war, they could be
classed as nothing else than heroines.
When Uncle Sans soldiers are around
however, theiriload is lightened.
i Appended to- Sergeant Moffat's let
ter, which follows, is a second mis-
save, that of Lieutenant H. N. Nory,
censor Of Co. B, It'll bat, Goth engi-
neers. He Is q brother of Mrs. A.
and M. Urbach OF Dubuque. He con-
graduates Mrs. MOffat on the char
acter of her son. ,...
= TRANSFERRING below are the letters:
r. May IL, 1918.
Dear Mamma: How many of the
boys. lover here" are writing Mothers
letters today, thousands I'm sure. We
had Mothers day service at the
'''Y'' tent this morning. The speaker,
af"Y" man, gave us fine talk. He
surely made us all realize what a
sacrifice the mothers of the country
are undergoing and the duty we owe
them and the women of our country,
In living clean life lover here"
His little talk; struck very close to
our hearts, and I'm sure there were
very few dry eyes among the boys
at the end. only wish he could
come to us more often with such mes
sages. 1t would surely encourage US
III keeping the life, which am sure
the majority Of us have decided within
,Sn n Land ~ &# @.F-s. \ ~ 1914 81 s.
THE company has at last settled in
d permanent camp: We expect to be
here for at least few months. The
~" tent is an innovation. Only ar
rived few days ago and isn't yet in
running order. When 1t does get 60
ing it will surely be big help.
It's been quite a spell since
heard from home. Haven't heard
whether you have received any OF my
letters. But we can't expect regular
letter periods over here. Z. " .
Beautiful Country.
= We are surely located in a pretty
section OF tie country, gently rolling
with beautiful estates and farms, and
the forest in the midst of it. We're just
an hours walk from quite a sizeable
town, and from half an hour to an
hours walk from several villages p
The people and their costumes seem
funny, 50 altogether different from the
states. To all appearances they stop
ped improving their methods of work
ing and living where we began. They
do all their travelling from place to
place in high, two wheeled carts
drawn by a single horse. The only
way to distinguish between the poor
and rich is the difference in the carts,
horses and harness. The rich have
fancy horses and harness, and rigs.
The poorer people Just common ordi-
nary rigs, often drawn by one poor
little jackass not much larger than a
Newfoundland dog. Talking Of dogs
they are also used to pull two wheeled
carts We have one cart which we
always like. to see pass by, buxom
French lassies perched atop of it, and
three large dogs haul it, and how they
ramble. On high" all the time, such
willing workers, and they truly seem
to enjoy it. You would be surprised
at the loads some OF them pull.
Women Work Hard.
l can't get used to the way the pool
old women have to work. The chic
occupation seems to be gathering
wood. They gather dead limbs from
the forest, put them in small two
wheeled carts and pull them home
And such loads. They often look larg'