Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1918-09-03
LETTER FROM RUSSELL COOK

County Clerk and Mrs. L. H. Cook
received the following interesting let
ter, from their son, Private Russell
Cook, who is in Supply Company 31S,
somewhere in France"
France,
August 7, 1918.
Today is my first day on French
soil. We arrived in port yesterday
afternoon, but stayed on the transport
over night. Part of the troops on
board helped unload part of the grain,
etc, that we had in the holds.
We are now stationed in old bar
racks that were the permanent bar
| racks of French troops during peace
times. They are quite old and run
down; built OF stone and the walls
are about two and one-half feet thick
| The roof is of slate and this barracks
is quite cool. All the buildings that 1
have seen are OF stone or brick.
We passed through what one might
call the residential part of town. Here
we saw mostly women and children.
| There were some old men. The peo-
| pie that looked as though they were
able to serve were, sailors, and they
are probably exempted from serving
| 1t seemed strange not to see any
young men on the street. The motor
men are old and the conductors are
women. The women run all stores
and wine shops. The little children
| for the most part are shod with wood
en- shoes, and as they run over the
pavement they clatter in great shape.
Nearly all the French youngsters ask
| for pennies and as soon as they get
one they run and give it to their
mothers, who are generally near.
People who can afford to dress pretty
fair are poorly dressed to the average
| American. 1t would do some of the
American youngsters good to go
through part of what the French chill
dren do. There is no skimping of
patches here.
There are some signs of mourning
on all the people and some look ridicu-
lous, for instance, long black rib
bon down the back of an elderly gem
tleman, suspended from his hat.
We are about three miles from
town according to my guess. The
rural districts have no farm houses.
The people come out from the city
to little patches of ground, which are
divided by mounds of earth instead
OF, fences. The land about here is very
rolling and also very picturesque.
The scene as far as the eye can see
looks like an uneven checkerboard
with different colored squares due to
divided plots and different crops grown
thereon.
Z The camp here. l don't know the
name, and if 1 did, wouldn't be al
lowed to let you know, is surrounded
by a high stone wall. There are lots
of things that / would like to say,
but it would be useless because the
lcensors scissors would eliminate it.
Don't know how long we will be here,
but l hope for short period only,
as we are some few, and then some
miles from the firing line.
| had five dollars changed into
French money. You can get paper
money down to 10 cents, the equivalent
in American money 1t is called fifty
Icentimes. The Franc is the standard
piece here like the dollar is in Amer
lean money. bought a French phrase
book. price deux francs, or two francs.
Tor forty cents American money. The
leentime is one-fifth of a cent, and a
twenty-five centime piece. equal to q
nickel, has a hole in the centre. The
bills are small and very fragile, and
a wad as big as your fss, might only
be few cents in American money.
The salt water of the ocean had
the same effect upon my hands as the
brine down at the Packing plant. Right
now my hands are well peeled. but
not the least bit sore. We had ocean
water to wash in.
I Hope my next letter win be from
some point nearer the firing lire.