Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1918-04-25
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in the painting of The French land
scape artists, Carrot and others.
The ~ has erected basket-ba ll
courts and there are to be games
Tomorrow. We also have baseball
and football. The athletic field is
just back of our billet. There were
movies at The Y again last night,
and attracted quite a crowd of the
natives. | am sure some of them
never saw movies before. At last
| am getting fat and all OF my
clothes arc getting uncOmfortably
tight. We get good food and plenty
of il now that we are in a regular
company and We buy many deli
cics ON the side. get quart of
milk every evening and have bread
and milk before going to bed. The
other day | got pound of butter
freshly churned for three francs.
The first Cow butter" that have
tasted since leaving the states.
think shall buy two-pound pot
Of strained honey tonight. 1t costs
! francs and is certainly delicious.
The old man who owns our billet
has il for sale. One can get lots of
good things to eat after he gets
acquainted with these French poo
pie. The fellows buy eggs for 5
trans per dozen but do not care
for eggs al all. got IS trans this
month. That is not so much con-
sidering the fact that the franc
goes about as far now as a nickel
does at home. Several of the fell
lows have received money from
home, sent thru the Adams Ex-
press Company. One fellows folks
sent him $500 for his birthday.
and the other day he got a notice
from the Paris office of the Ad-
ans Express Co., that 40 franc
had been cabeled him from the
New York office. He received a
money order for the amount and
can get the money at any postof-
flee without Identification. That
is a very convenient way of get
tins money. We can deposit any
sum we happen to have with the
paymaster and get it again at any
time. My money belt comes in
handy now to hold my French
bills.
One can get laundry done here
very chraply if one furnishes the
soap Il Very costly article now i'm
France. We are issued laundry
soap, so it costs us nothing. The
better laundrics launder the clo-
thcs beautifully and charge say 2
trans for a couple suits OF under
wear several pair of socks some
towels etc. have so little laundry
that do it myself. One of the viii
lagc wash houses is across the
street from our billet and when
ever | have a few soiled fowls or
handkerchiefs | take my soap and
Scrubbing brush and do them out
in a few minutes. The water is
cold of course but very cleansing.
y. NJ G. A. Fob. ~
These are rather Interesting days
here. We expect visit from the
Big Chief at any time. We have
bernNcry busy building bridges,
fixing roads, cleaning and white
fiXin Sroads cleaning and white
washing our billets etc, Every
thing is going to be i'm the very
best of order when he comes. We
are getting this place in such fine
condition and are getting so COM
fortably situated that | hate to
leave. However, if this is one of
The permanent rest camps as they
say il will be a pleasant place to
come back to. was on whitewash
ing detail yesterday and managed
to do a lot of damage. We had to
use chloride of lime and the fumes
are so bad in some of the billets
that the fellows can't sleep there
yet. And great many of The
rifles were badly rusted by the
action OF the chemical on the me-
tai. The weather is glorious. The
buds of the trees are swelling and
new flowers are blooming every
day. A friend and | took a fine
walk Sunday afternoon. Stopped
al a little village church a few mi
les away and stayed thru Benc-
dlctlon, a very simple but beauti-
ful service. The church must be
at least 600 years old. The Cap
tain wanted me for Company clerk
and | should have got the Job if I
could have run typewriter we'll.
However | am not sure the Job is
as good as it sounds. The clerk
does not get much Of any drill,
and yet is in dangerous position
anywhere and when the Company
goes TO the front. The outof- door
life is agreeing with me so we'll,
that do not want to do such con-
filming work as office work would
be. This is Lincoln's birthday and
our Major Chaplin is here to speak
to us so shall have something
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