The Leader, enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1915-1921, 1918-06-26
WILLIAM MOSHER WRITES
FROM FRANCE

Editors Note-The writer is
nephew of Mr.. J. M. Mosher and
wrote his friend in Kansas. The letter
contains so good description of
section in France and its customs
that we print it for the information of
| our readers:
Somewhere in France.
May "a, 1918
Mr.. G. W. Hous1ey, Cherryvale,
Kansas-Dear Friend George: Your
welcome letter received yesterday,
finding me in good health and the
best of spirits, only longing for the.
time to come when Kaiser William
will be no more and return to civil
liam life in the states. The weather
the past few weeks has been ideal,
Old Sol making his appearance daily
and putting forth as much heat as he
! ever dared to in the Sunhower state
My skin is tanned to perfection from
the effects. Methods and modes in
this section of France are of the time
of our grandfathers in America. The
old two-wheeled oxcart is still in gen
eral use by the peasants throughout
rural France; the motive power is at
tached to them in tandem fashion.
sometimes you see as many as four
animals to one cart which will not
have load for one good horse in the
States. Here is a sample of the outfits
you see: horse in the shafts, then
COW, then another horse, with another
COW hooked on in advance of the sec
ond horse. 1t takes an acre to turn
| such an outfit around in. I have come
to the conclusion that the number of
| animals used on a cart or wagon bv
the owner is governed by the number
ne is fortunate enough to own. If he
| possesses only one horse he uses one,
| IT he has two he uses two, and if he
is lucky enough to own a pair of
horses and as many cows he uses that
number. The farming machinery in
general is also very crude and out of
date. The wooden harrow and the
plow with moleboard of wood are
still to be seen in large numbers. Wo
men are doing big share of the out
door work during these war times.
Instead of driving the horses as in
America they lead them at snail
like pace back and forth across the
field. I am afraid that / would lose
my religion trying to farm with the
outfits in use here. The majority
of the peasants or farmers are very
content and show willingness to
undergo anything to drive the invad-
ing Huns from their native land, and
that is the kind of spirit to have to
win this war. Wooden shoes are also
worn in abundance instead of leather
shoes. I suppose to help prolong
their life. I will bring you pair
when l return to America l imagine
the effects from a spanking with one
of them would be far more severe
than from the leather slippers the ia
theirs of America use for punishment,
of boys for wrong-doings. Snails
/ thrive in great numbers and are con-
sidered very fancy dish for the table
by the French. They are much larger
than the specie that inhabit the wilds
of Kansas, being as large as a walnut
in size. believe would prefer meet
ing or facing the Huns largest guns
to dish of them on the table. Ca
mails traverse the whole country, form
ing network by which quite per
centage of the transportation of
freight is made from one point to an
other. They are lined on each side
by rows of big trees and are very
beautiful.
The Y. M. C. A. is doing a great
work over here and deserves all the
praise that can be given them in every
way Through them the soldiers are
now able to obtain tobacco, cigars,
ETC., at very reasonable prices. They
also furnish plenty of stationery and
reading matter. I will bring this to
close, hoping to be able to visit you
in person soon, / am, your friend
VIM. R. Mosher,
Co. B, 9Th U. S. Engineers, A. f. F.