The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1918-04-11
Letter From Abroad.

land his experiences during his stay
in the land of the Briton. The letter
was written from London on Febru-
ary 20, and reached Bemberg a few
days ago. 1t. Copelands address is
as follows: civil Engineer D. G.
Copeland, U. S. Navy, American
Expeditionary Forces Abroad"
Portions of the letter follow:
My trip across was not at all
pleasant-in fact it was very, very,
disagreeable; disagreeably cold, and
although l was not sea sick, felt so
rotten as not to be able to do any
thing. 1t was quite an experience
through, especially when we reached
the war zone. l can't say that l
liked that part of the voyage at all.
One feels so absolutely helpless. Any
one with the least stamina can face
the roughest kind of fight without
fear, but this thing of knowing that
dozens of Huns sharks are all
around and may get in a shot at you
any minute without you even seeing
them is, to say the least of it, bit
discomforting. You go to bed with
the thought that possibly the second
you go to sleep torpedo will wake
you up; you take a'.bath and at
least hope you will be able to dress
before the torpedo strikes. And so
it goes-an unforeseen foe with
most powerful engines of destruction
against you and practically helpless
to help yourself.
$50 say it was bit tense and we
all hailed with delight the appear
ance of an American convoy who
skilfully piloted US through "Boche"
mine fields and guarded us against
submarines, finally taking us into
Liverpool all safe and sound and
quite happy.
Liverpool is a city of about mil
lion inhabitants, and quite unlike our
cities. From what I've heard, it
must resemble Pittsburg for the
buildings are fearfully dirty. Every
thing black and smoked. An army
officer whom I met on board secured
machine and took me over the city.
Visited the parks which were pretty
and green and largely given over to
the cultivation of vegetables. Food
is somewhat scarce, that is compared
to the conditions in the States. You
can get, plenty but cannot gorge
yourself. Meatless and wheatless
days are vigorously observed. But
ter is scarce and there is no sugar
at all. For breakfast one morning
in Liverpool, I asked for oatmeal,
which was served without sugar.
told the waiter to take it out, and a
British officer sitting at the next .ta~
BILE offered me teaspoonful from a
small bag he was carrying in his poe
ket.
''The climate over here is not un-
like ours Temperature at present
is about As degrees, which isn't bad
except there are no fires at all. You
may imagine how rather unpleasant
it is to stay indoors when I tell you
that every morning while dressing I
can see my BREATH
"The trains are fine and service
excellentA though the cost is great.
However. the government pays for it.
Arrived in London day before yes
terday and expect to move on to-
morrow. Expect to have very pleas
ant duty, though I cannot say much
about. it. London, like Liverpool, is
fearfully dirty, and, in addition, full
of fog. Day and night are very
similar on account of lack of light.
Fog keeps light away by day and
street lights and window illumina-
tion are shaded by night on account
of air raids, keeps everything in
darkness The streets are extremely
busy and full of people. There ate
no street cars and street travel is
by bus and taxi There are only a
few of the latter, however, as ev-
erything has been taken over and
utilized in the war. Gasoline is
$3.50 a gallon and it is not fur
nished to private cars at all.
"The people here have given up
everything for the war, and America
doesn't know any hardships yet.
hope the war will be over before it
strikes home in the States, but rath-
er fear that it will not.
Haven't seen many of the sights
yet as l have been occupied every
minute. Went through Westmins-
ter Abbey yesterday and enjoyed the
L