Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1918-10-05
LETTERS FROM OUR SOLDIERS

The following letter from Lleuten-
ant wright l.. Felt, who was with
the Hope Engineering and Supply
company, and previous to that was
catcher with the Fort Smith base
ball team when there was a league
In this section. will be OF interest to
many OF his friends:
France. Sept. 4. 1918.
Mr.. Robert j. Lindsay, Tulsa Okla
Dear Lindsay:-Have had very
good intentions about writing to you
for several days but have been nut
ting 1t off for various reasons. You
have heard about that road that is
paved with good intentions. Guess
l gave 1t another paving block or
two. There Is so little here to write
that 1t very difficult to compose an
interesting letter. We are away back
here where practically nothing hap
pens and what does happen we are
not allowed to tell. The principal
things that are OF interest In
this country are those things that
are going up on the front about now.
or course you get the papers every
morning and probably have the news
before We do. We get the New York
Herald and the London Daily Mail
and the Chicago Tribune. all printed
in Paris, every morning. We get
| them at six-thirty In the evening
and | suppose you have the same
news in the morning. But anyway
what we are getting Is intensely in
teresting right at the present time
and Is encouraging. 1t seems that
the presence in France OF the Ameri-
cans has put the "old pep" into the
English and French and they are
giving Fritz a fit. The American
boys that mixed It with the boches
have done excellent work and have
cleared out lot of them, but they
seem TO have put new life and spirit
into the other allies at the same
time. This thing will be over about
this time next year and | will be
back 20 the states by Christmas, 1919.
Night before last we first saw
some search lights chasing back and
forth across the heavens north OF us
and later heard the siren blow for
lights out" In the next town north |
of us, Soon we heard four explo-
slons and then the hum OF a boche |
plane. The planes seemed to turn and |
go back right away. Next day while
l was in town / learned that they |
had dropped some bombs near an
aviation field that Is located near the |
town. They missed the target by a |
good margin, however, and did no |
damage whatever except dislOdge the |
steps from some small. buildings in
the field. Some joke.
Enclosed Is a snap taken by one |
OF the boys in the company who Is |
doing considerable Photographic |
work at the present. Kindly notice !
how thin this army life makes me. |
Ha, ha,
Guess that Tulsa must be going
some now. from the reports that I
hear from there. II amuses me to
think ot the old knockers that said
Tulsa would soon be through and die.
Fat chance now. That is surely some
town, and the people are surely
American. These Frenchmen are
Just the opposite, They believe in
living a very slow life and never take
any chances. They always play
safety first It gets on the Ameri-
cans nerve when they take so long
to do some things But they surely
liye long time. In the graveyards
II Is hard TO find any one who died
less than 80 years Of age. and the
greater part OF them run DIP to the
70's and SOS. This wine seems TO
agree with them. Believe me they
!
everything that is loose, but are very
crude In theI- method OF doing
things For instance. to pillow with a
one horse walking plow requires two
men--one leads while the other
runs the plow. One often sees them
working steers and usually they work
them with horses. Sometimes they
will hitch a horse and a steer in a
team and then put another horse out
in the lead They work steers with
harness just like horses.
All the towns look alike. The
houses are all made OF stone and are
built down both sides OF the street
and adjoining each other---a continu-
Gus line OF houses. The doors al
ternate, one large one for the stock
and wagons and small one for the
family, They all live under the same
root-chickens, pigs, horses. cows
and people. II is a very good sys-
tenn In the long, cold winters that !
understand they have In this section
They all take the manure which coll
lects in the stables and pile II up
very nicely in well kept piles right
In front OF the front door The rain
and the hot weather, of course
make a very pleasant odor and 1t
runs off down the gutter This is
piled up until they get a chance to
haul 1t out onto the fields. There are
places in lots OF these towns where
those piles must have stood in those
particular places for hundreds "
years. The peoples wealth is indl.
Gated by the size OF his bank" In
front Of his door. The Americans
have cleaned up some of the towns
but cannot get them all. or course
this is the smaller towns and the
peasantry am speaking OF, but there
are no large towns right through
here.
All Of the little towns have a big
stone church with tail spire and a
statue OF Joan OF Arc inside. That
parsonage is surely loved in this
country, and after reading Mark
Twains history of her life can
readily understand why. There are