Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1918-12-05

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peace? Till the return? Till the mus
/ tering outi'
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Two Months in France.
Daniel c. Ballore writes from
France under date of Nov. /, To Mrs,
Ralore Two months ago today
landed IN France. having spent a few
weeks in England, ana believe me,
the has been many, many great
things crowded into those months
of my life Ii is an interesting fact
to know that a mild and unlntcrested
man, going into the American traR-
ing camp may not be or feel like a
fighting man, but by the time he re-
ceivcs some training at home and
then spends short time abroad, |
am here to tell you, he Will fight ut
the drop of hat, and anything from
the "Boche" fills him with pep to
burn, so from the care free American
boy, he becomes serious minded
eager to- fight Yankee soldier In a
mighty short time. But after he has
discharged his duty, he rs out for
real fun. But say, folks, the real
French soldier is a splendid one and
you cannot but admire his wonder
full qualities, as a soldier and com
rade. II would seem after four
years OF fighting he would want to
drop out of the game, but instead he
is always in excellent spirits and de-
termined to finish the Boche to a
fare you well am in the Signal
service, as you perhaps know, and
just at present a few of us signal
men are taking mess at French
field kitchen and believe me Its
mighty fine. An odd part Of it Is,
they insist on serving the meals in
courses. OF course all the French
do not feed that way, but there be
ing only about dozen of us, we are
very lucky to get all this good mess.
The soldier Of France speaks Of the
American soldier as a good soldier
soldat" and Bon comarade." All
the boys are mighty anxious to get
crack at the Hun. have been in
the trenches almost four weeks and
| must say, l prefer life at the front
to that in rest billet, | have been
living in dugout about thirty five
feet underground am satisfied
quite well with this life In every
respect, but with one exception and
that is the rats seem to have taken
possession just before we moved In
and don't want to understand that
we can run things better than they.
A few nights ago, ! was awakened
by the rattle Of paper and for a
moment it stopped and then started
across the floor, sounded rather
funny, so | reached my searchlight,
flashed it on him and my great sur
prise, Mr.. Rat was going across the
floor with my Cosmopolitan maya
zine" / tried to rescue the maya
zine but he was entirely too fast ont
his feet. You asked me what ]
wanted in my Christmas box. Wen,
you may send all candy. 1T Is al
most impossible to get any candy
from the Y. NJ. c. A. You cannot
imagine what wonderful organiza
ton the Y. NJ G. A. is, and / really
don't know what we would do with
out it. But even at that, they can
not SATISFY the desires Of our sweet
teeth. You ask about the moral life
Of the American soldier in France.
For two months at least, ! have seen
the conditions under which our fell
lows habitually live, both in and out
of the trenches, and ! can honestly
say that the folks at home haven't
to worry about so far as
morals are concerned. In big
sense, they are living on a plane,
such as men seldom attain. In point
Of devotion, cheer under hardships,
and a spirit of courage, really they
would make the folks at home feel
ashamed because they Condemn their
morals. AS far as drsskenness is
have seen many, many
troops, and haven't seen
any man under the influence Of liz
uor. OF course, the troops are not
saints by any means, but they are
all human fellows, living a life -ou
may all be proud Of.
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