The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1918-11-06

"a. W. iols <AHSi' H.
Sgt. James Chester Dermott, France
Roy Osterlund, of Vail, sent lis the
following letter which he received
from a friend who is in France. The
letter gives a good description Of the
country and customs. and will no
doubt interest our readers.
On active service with the Epedi'
tionary Forces, Oct. Is, 1918.
Dear Roy: .'.
received your letter October 10th
and was sure glad to hear from you.
1t was the first letter l received since
/ landed in France September 22d.
Mail has just started to come in.
Well l have seen little bit Of coun.
try in the last year. didn't get the
least bit seasick coming across and
we had four days of pretty rough
weather and the sea was quite rough.
We landed in England and stayed
there awhile and then came on over
to France. We have travelled quite a
ways since we have been in France.
We have slept in tents and rode in
box cars and have done almost every
thing except "go over the top" We
are now in a camp Camp de Saye)
near Bordeaux. There are few cap
tured German guns here in camp and
have seen several German prisoners.
Things are lot different over here
than in the U. S. A. A common French
scene is to see one horse hitched to
"a two wheeled cart. In fact most Of
the vehicles are two wheeled. When
thew do drive two horses they use "a
yoke, and | have seen several yoke OF
oxen. They use them mostly to farm
with. The railroad cars are much
smaller than ours, they only have four
wheels and they haul three tons to
the car load. The passenger cars
have running boards along the sides.
They are set off in little compartments
each compartment has two seats in
it. They face toward each other.
When the conductor goes from one
compartment to another he goes out
side on the running board and then
comes back in again. You can mag
inc what big engines they have. |
have been to Bordeaux since have
been here. 1t sure is some city. It is
next to Paris in size. You certainly
would be surprised to see town like
this 1t is some city for fashion. There
are lots of women in Bordeaux OF eV-
cry description.
The French people like to drink
wine You can buy it any place ana
pay any price you want to. l wish
YOU were over here to drink some.
There are some kinds if you drink
too much it will put you over your
shoes. The automobiles are peculiar
looking. They are built low on the
ground but they are pretty much TOR
speed The street care are double
decked. If you want to, ride above
you crawl up the ladder.
The first day landed in this camp
/ saw five boys from my home town
in Missouri. hadn't seen them since
| have been in the army. One of them
was Gordon Graham Well l wish |
could help you crib your corn crop.
hope you get it all in before it SHOWS.
lIf get back in time to help plant. corn
next spring will be doing good but
things are looking pretty favorable at
present.
We haven't had any cold weather
since we nave UccA IA oAASo' - :. ~
ed one night. The weather has been
pretty good except that it rains about
nine days out of the week. Airships
are quite common over here. You see
flock go over quite often. l would
like to send you, some souvenirs from
France, but it is hard to send them
through the mail but | am going to
try and bring some home with me-
Well guess l will close for this time;
be sure and write soon. Whenever
mail comes in it causes lots OF excite
ment. wouldn't have missed this
trip for anything. - -
Yours truly,
Sgt. James Chester Dermott.
Hdqrs. 312 Ammn. Train,
Amer. E. F. .. j.