Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 19??-1918, 1918-12-09
SOLDIER LETTERS
From Albert NJ. Allyn
October 20,

oCoA EOAhos
am at last well settled so that
have little time to write letters.
We have been moving continually
ever since We landed in France on
October 15, but now are through
moving for a while.
| am going to a signal school and
will probably be here for about six
weeks. The school is on an old es-
tate and the grounds are Just like a
park and very pretty-great big
shade trees Of all kinds and pretty
walks and drives and 1t makes an
ideal place for school,. We do most
of our signal work out on the
grounds and It surely is nice place
to work. We are just about mile
from the little town OF st. Afghan.
not the st. Afghan, however. which
is straight east OF Paris.
l went into town last Saturday
and 1t was very interesting. The
streets are only about as wide as our
alleys and most of the shops are
little dinky affairs. There is an
old castle in the town that Is very
interesting. You can only go through
on Saturday afternons with a "Y"
man, and / was too late for the Sat
.urday trip but / intend to see It
some other time IL I possibly can.
They say 1t is 1000 Years old. 1t
is way up on a high hill. all terraced
up and is a typical old castle.
went part way up and the grounds
and view from there were beautiful.
There wasn't much else in the
town of special interest. OF course
everything is so very different from
what we have been used to. There
are no plumbing or sewage systems
and no modern improvements what
ever. A lot Of our men are billited
in the French homes in the upper
story and they have to get in by
climbing a ladder on the outside.
guess very few of the houses have
inside stairs.
We are living in new barracks
here and 1t is a lot better than we
have had since we have been here.
The grub" is the best we have had
also, so ] am well satisfied.
I haven't received any mail yet
but we have been moving around SO
much that I suppose our mail hasn't
had a chance to catch up with us.
haven't met anybody I know. al
though have talked with men from
nearly every part OF the United
States.
The country here reminds me a
whole lot Of Grants Pass. You can
see hills on all sides, and the gen.
eral slope Of the country is about
the same as where you are. They
raise a lot OF grapes here, too. to
make their wines out OF and the
grapes make me think OF the Pass
OF course all Of the work is done by
the women, the old men, and you
very seldom see middle aged man
not in uniform.
The war news we get certainly
sounds encouraging now and we are
all hoping 1t will be settled soon.
suppose this letter will reach you Q
little before Thanksgiving and ! sure
would like to be with 1t although
am thankful we are not going to bt
in some of the places we have beer
in since we left the States.
/ must stop now, as I want tt
shave before go to bed. Dom
worry about me because I am get
ting along fine and am we'll salts
fled with everything. Just forget
the previous address and use the one
below.
November 3
Dear Folks:
1t is raining this afternoon and II
good time to write letters. W.
haven't a thing to do on Sunday
here, except eat and look after oui
wants. wrote to Marney thii
morning and this afternoon ! in
tend to shave and take a bath. W.
have stoves in our barracks SO tha
we can heat water for shaving. ant
thereas a. place, down the road wher'