Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1918-02-20

Lieut. Howard Morley Ottawa boy
who left for France in January and re-.
ported his safe arrival al the some.
where port. January cath,
in his letter to his father, l.. H.
Motley, lC6 ". Superior street. the
Lieutenant says:
Somewhere in France,
January 80, 1918.
Dear Father.
This is my hfth letter and am
wondering how it tnds you all
Since writing YOU last We have
made quite move. Last Sunday
tas usual we left the ship. That
afternoon we had quite a time in the
French city. After putting our bag.
sage'on the tram and selecting our
compartment. we all left for town
TO get something 10 cat, Finally
We landed al the American T. NJ
C. A. building and having changed
some OF our money into French
coins. We sat down to quite q little
dinner. (hicken, French fried war
bread, apple pie and ice cream. Il
tasted great Then il was one
grand rush back to the train
which We just made and that's all,
We were given iirSt-class accom-.
modations Each coach Is divided
up into three sections. each section
reminding one of IA stage coach
and having room for six to eight
fellows. Seven landed in ours That
night We played cards, sang songs
and cot on at every French town.
AT one place in particular. we
jumped oil and ran INTO the sta
ton, where we found a large stack
OF prepared lunches for someone on
our train. All of us who were lucky
grabbed one; they cost rs -Four
francs tabout 75c. more or less)
The box contained oottle OF wine,
glass, a piece OF chicken, some
ham, war bread, which isn't half
bad. and a small knife and fork
! have met several fellows |
know Saw Gregory. fellow
buuked next to at Sheridan, The
next day we spent in looking at the
landscape, which is awlully pretty.
All the dwellings are so Old and
antique We certainly saw some
very pretty country
Our travel was SLOW. about fifteen
miles an hour Even IN the states
the troop trains are generally very
slow We generally get off at ever,
town The brakcmen have little tin
whistles hardly see how they
could use them in one Of our noisy
cities.
Everywhere we see French sol
diers and we have already talked 10
several who have been in The big
battles and have seen some OF the
badges given them for eallantly in
action
We have some great times trying
! 10 make ourselves understood and
/ ! very much fear il is almost hope
less.
On the afternoon Of the second
/ day We stopped for two hours and
a half for our train was to be brok
ferent directions. OF course, we al
went up town looking for eats f
that seems to be soldiers mail
ambition. In one place | bought a
chocolate bar and had an awful time
paying here. st last it was accom-
plished and we moved on to a store
with the sign "paiiscrean, or some
thing near TO that. which means
French pastry Sc your imagina
ton and you know what we did to it
Tobacco Is 1T a premium owe
here; or better than that, you can
purchase it, All the fellows arr
loaded up. but it is going fast AM
then will come the urgent appea
for tobacco.
This Is wonderful weather we ar,
having and it is just like our sprin
day. | am very much surprise
because ! have heard so much abou
the disagreoable weather of Franco
However, expect We viii eel
later on.
have pretty fair quarters nc
, fine. bui then wlll only BE- IN thel
for sleeping purposes so il won
be so bad Don't know how Ion