Norwich bulletin., 1918-06-05

Benjamin Dawson has received an
 interesting letter from Walton Butter worth, an American soldier in France,
 in which he writes:
 Somewhere in France. April 24th 1918.
 Dear Ben:-
 Three of your letters have reached
 me and here l am just starting one back. The trouble is first, because for the last month or so we have been very much unsettled. I have been in this place about two weeks and have been pretty busy most of the time, and the three weeks preceding were and hiking over many kilometres of French roads.
 You spoke of souvenirs. Yes. there are plenty of things around that might serve that purpose, but not very in teresting in themselves. The French soldiers are great boys for embossing shell cases and making things of brass which they sold to our men, very oftel at high prices. Some of those fellows
 made more money in two weeks in
 embossed shell cases, cigarette light
 CTS and paper knives than the govern
 ment paid them in year. I did not DuN ally Ol lHG SHGll .CdSGS DSCduS6 OL
 weight and high prices. All that
 can get around here is shell frag-
 ments. I see many of those and also hear the whine of them. Even now as
 I write half d dozen just dropped out side the window m the street. Every now and then a couple come over landing in the field behind the house across the street, or, when they fall short. they usually land in an orchard about 20 yards to the rear of our house.
 There are eight of us, including the lieutenant in charge. Our sleeping quarters are in dugout dug down through the floor of a room. posts set up. floor laid. walls boarded and then just a little higher than the street level, SC that there was room for ct l window. the roof of steel rails, paving blocks and sandhags was laid. making an excellent dugout Of course this is within the stone walls of the room and coafeealed by what is left of a tile roof
 Through the regular entrance and
 I'D few steps and you are in the living room. dining room and wash room combined. II is a fair sized room
 with high ceiling, bare walls and a l hard dirt floor. The one large window | the other side of the room is the fire 1 place with it's broad stone hearth. When first we arrived a sixfoot | church pew was the only article of l furniture. There was much rubbish ! and along one side of the room lay | about ] 5 blanks.
 i In a short time the blanks were saw. l ed up and nailed into the forms of a i table. a wash stand a. cupboard and a i bench. With our table and benches in 1 the middle of the room and drawn a l little near the hearth. the well stocked i cupboard on the wall and the neat wash stand off to one side. all in the i glow of the fireside, it certainly does 1 look comfortable, when those of us off i duty are gathered about the fireplace 1 and talk of the folks back in the states and of the things we used to do. We l are getting so now that the hard ] times. the good times, and the things ] we used to do are more often the pop l ular subjects. When we talk of home l it seems like something of yesterday, 1 ali so clear in our minds, and yet in 1 that direction It is unapproachaole. My but we do live comfortably in i our pioneer quarters on the front. We l get our mess at a cook house hun dred yards up the street and we buy | cookies. chocolate, canned milk and 1 jam at the Y NJ C. A. canteen. One
 of the boys usually goes to the gun position every two or three days and the cook there sends down sugar and
 cocoa, which we boil up in our fire place in large baking powder can,
 and drink cocoa instead of the black
 coffee without milk. You see, we sure
 ly do enjoy our eats.
 As far as comfort is concerned. this ] place is the best that I have occupied
 and likewise with my work, which l proves to be pretty interesting at times when Fritz busies himself with his 1 ITS and 105s. am still on the tele- 1 phone end of the business: but while staying at this place I am pretty much