The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-01-21
First Two Letters Received Yesterday-One C III e From Captain and One
 From Private
OF
 THOSE BACK HOME IS
 STIRRING INCENTIVE
Thousands of the Kits Were Distributed Among Boys in France by Red Cross
 Christmas Day

The Age-Herald yesterday received the first two formal acknowledgements of the re- ceipt of tobacco fund kits by the boys in France.
 One letter was by Ted Sullivan of Chicago, private in the 18th rail way engineers, and the other was from Capt. John G. Rankin of De- troit, commanding the 52d aero squadron.
 Thousands of the tobacco kits purchased by The Age-Herald and by the thousands of people who have contributed to this fund in Alabama were distributed on Christmas day to the soldier boys in France by the Red Cross.
 IF each 20 cent kit, which contains 45 cents worth of smokes, there was a stamped postcard containing the name of the giver, and those who subscribed to the fund will probably begin to receive trese cards in acknowledgment in in- CT casing numbers.
 The Age Herald tobacco fund is still open, and every 25 cents contributed sends a 45 cent kit to one of the boys over there.
 Here is the letter of Private Ted Sul- livan:
 Somewhere in France, December 2s, 1917. ITO the Editor of The Age Herald:
 'If tobacco received by others of the A. F. F. is as greatly appreciated as your package was by the writer you can rest assured that your campaign in our interest is in every sense of the word a success. Words of appreciation in an effort to express that feeling within the heart fail me and all I can say is, God bless and thank you one and all.' can add no more, but accept that from the depth of my heart.
 "Cersorship prohibits relating in detail some of the experiences I have encoun- tered and undergone, and bearing this in mind I shall try and tell a few of the happenings while Somewhere in France
 ''As I write the buzz-buzz-buzz of the
  uous. It is daytime, the airplane excites no interest now, but with the coming of the night. with the coming of the moon in all it's one-time romantic glory of fiction and song, that buzz-b -buzz-buzz puts one on the alert with gas masks and steel helmet handy for dive into the water-filled frozen trench or dugout A.. .t;II plane to drop his messages of destruc- ton and death. And l might add that on these cold nights that it is no pleasure to spen6 the greater part of the night below ground just waiting, where one is not allowed to even smoke, to say the least, carry on conversation. One just waits in silence until the feeling of as- surance comes that the basket of bombs were not intended for this neighborhood.
 LONG FOR SILENCE
 Artillery fire. Folks, we go to sleep with it's music and are awakened oft are located in. It seems that it Will never let up, it goes on day and night until it fairly gets on ones nerves and we wish fer moments let up, just lit tie silence, but on and on it goes, tell ing a story that will only be written in the pages of history.
 What do think of France? Geei but I'm glad and mighty dog-gone proud that I'm an American, that's all l can say It's wonderful country, but can't compare with our beloved United States. It's people are lovable and try their very best to make us feel at home, but we sure will be mighty glad to get back 'home,' nc matter where that might be, and tho sooner the better, but we'll just have to settle this affair before we can think of that, and in the meantime there is only one thing we can do:
 BUCK UP.
 Buck up, boy, it ain't so bad,
 Dog-gone it, it might be worse, A soldiers alive until he's dead,
 So why climb into the hearse. Of course. you're takin' gamblers
 chance,
 But it's a hundred to one you'll win, So, buck up, boy, it ain't so bad, Just accept it all with a grin. You wanta go back? Well, so do I. And it's that thatll make you fight, But you can't give in to the inner man, And expect to do things right Why. cuss it, kid, think of the guy
 Who ain seen home in years,