Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-02-09


Dauphin aviator. whose training in
France now has fitted him for battle
work over the Hun lines, has arrived
at the home of his parents, Mr.. and
Mrs. Charles S. Shaffer. The young
aviator expects to take part in ac-
tive aerial work within a short time.
HIS letter follows:
Somewhere in France.
Dec. 20, 1918.
This writing a letter before meals
is probably bad idea, for you know
how a man feels before meals, but
L have not written to you for some
time and since l am now on the
Front l know you will be anxious
to hear from me-Oh no, nothing
has happened to me yet, and neither
have l seen a German plane. Never
theless, l am quite busy trying out
my machine, incidentally getting
called down by the Captain of the
esCadrille for trying acrobatics at
low attitudes, a lot of which were
not done on purpose, besides, | had
no altimeter, l was only trying
vertical virages" which is a neat
little stunt done by standing the
plane upon one wing tip, pulling on
the stick, and chasing your tail like
little stunt-if done right. Only
1 did not do it right and fell into
a couple of side slips, naturally COM
ing out close to the ground. This
was what got the Captains goat, for
according to him l was only up 800
meters and he feared for my safety.
Probably l would have to if l had
had an altimeter, for l was eau
toned later never never to try
1, nEar
you see l was pretty far under the
mark. 1t quite ticlled the French
men in the escadrille when they
came home for dinner to tell me the
Captain wanted to see me immedi-
ately after lunch, and one of them
who spoke some English wanted to
know What l had done now" Just
as if I had been committing crimes
all along, and he was the good little
boy. 1 wondered myself what 1 had
done, but finding a Frenchman who
spoke English l soon found out l
had come down in a nose dive with
full motor and leveled- out too quick
ly. which l was told was liable to
take both wings off. And then he
jumped me for doing acrobatics. He
told me all this in a kindly spirit
though, but as l went away l Won
dered how in Sam Hill 1 was going
to go Boche hunting if l couldn't
stand her on her nose. How else
could ] plug a Boche? l mentioned
some of these thoughts to the Eng
disappearing Frenchman, and he
assured me it could be done. That
put my mind at ease, so I'll try not
to give the captain heart-failure
again.
Three Weeks ut Plessis
Three weeks at Plessis-Bellville,
(my last SCHOOL, was quite enough
for me and l sure was pleased TO
leave it-even for the Front. Never
having been to the Front, it had
no terrors Tor me, and for that mat
ter. has none yet, although l hear
number of "booms bifitv-bangs
once in awhile. which remind me of
some belated firecrackers going off.
The way they sent us out of Plessis
was what got my goat, as four or
five pilotes rode on one ticket-and
FTenchman got the ticket. This
meant that whenever that frogeater
got ready to go, we had to go also,
and the other American and / want
ed two days in Paris. Who would
MT. 1 had not had a bath in three
weeks, besides l had all of 40 francs
(SS) to spend, and l needed lot
of things besides a bath. But the
Frenchy declared he was going to
leave day later and no amount OF
pressure would change his decision.
Result was the other American
stayed another day anyway, but l,
not knowing any French, showed up
at the appointed time and place, for
the police are. becoming very strict
lately, and have a habit of stopping
soldiers and aviators in particular
and wishing to see their permission
papers. Woe betide the boy who
has none. It's the jug for his
mighty quick!
The aviators are the ones thai
they are after. they having raised SC
much merry H-ll lately, as to get
whole tribe in bad. A permission
paper was merely a scrap of paper
in their life and not deemed neces-
sary-by them, if they were in q
hurry. Two gold braided officers
caught me the day l was leaving
and wanted to see my permission
OF course, had none so gave them
the only paper l received at Plessis
"a receipt for my pay-spouted q
little French about being on my way
to the station, both of which they
seemed to think tres bien" and
let me go.
Hard to Bathe
Even after arriving in Paris ]
the baths weer closed at s p. NJ
at the Y. NJ. c. A. Hotel. where
was staying, and ] did not get there
until 4. NJ. l was hungry, so had
to eat first and by the time l haC
gone to my room it was 10. And
then it was 1 discovered the sac
news, which didn't deterr me any
from making a holler to the office
Say" said I, over the phone from
my room, 81 have not had batf
for a month and 1 think one neces-
sary now" He probably thought &c
too, after thinking what l might dc
to the bed linen, for l got the BATH
and hot water too. Gee! I'd like
to scald myself, so hot did l make
that water, but / don't think l evel
spent a more enjoyable two hours
Being so dirty, one naturally had tC
Law in soak, and 1 did-only my nose
above water-Stomach to much fol
me. Too hungry TO write more. Ano
now that I'm finished eating I'm toe
| full to continue. There's one thint
| I'll say for the French-they sure
treat their aviators great. While
we're speaking of eating let me say
| q word about those little fishes
once spoke of watching Frenchmer
| fishing so ardently for. Those littl,
ones, you know, which l compared
| to sardines. They serve them like
French-fried potatoes over here
Simply roll them in cracker dust
head, tail and all the rest-and FRY
them thusly, and then if your i'm
| agination is not too great you'll
enjoy the dish as 1 did. L had then
served at the Y. NJ. C. A. Hotel
| there being a choice of eggs or tbs
| little fishes. and fishes being cheap
| est we got them since the waitres
| ala MT uait for us to chOOSe-fo