Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1918-01-10

house having its own yar0, one mousse
Joins another, similar to the business
sections of our cities. The stables
have their usual accompaniment OF
manure piles, and are placed right
near the front door, You see they used
to used these as a sign of wealth; l. e.,
the larger the pile the weather. the
people. When our boys took the town
over, however, they soon rid the place
of these nuisances, not without strug-
gle, though, for the peasants hated to
see their visible signs of wealth dis
appear.
The costumes are very odd, and OF
course interesting to US. For in
stance, the small boys wear their fun
ny French caps, scarf around their
neck, a scarf around their neck, an
apron and wooden shoes or "sabots."
They wear a pair of carpet slippers
under the sabots, which are left out
side when they enter a house. When
we first heard them come gathering
down the pavement behind us we
thought that some horse had broken
loose. The wooden shoes seem to be
typical of the French peasant.
Another peculiar sight anG a very
laughable one is to see the comblna-
tions they use in hauling their wagons.
The other day one passed here which
had a dry cow between the shafts,
bull and horse team for swing team
and a very small jackass in the lead.
The Jack was only about three feet
high and one wondered what good 1t
was. Don't you think that quite
combination? I am sorry didn't have
nv kodak ready so as to get a picture,
for that was we'll worth keeping.
We have a. dandy place here, two
large rooms, we'll lighted and, more
important, we'll heated. | use one for
both an office and a bed room, and my
assistant and striker uses the other
for similar purposes. 1t certainly is a
change from the last billet we had.
There we had a large, poorly lighted
room that was too large to heat, fire
place that did nothing but smoke, and
@ bed apiece that was full Of bugs, or,
to use the varnacuIar, "cOOties." Con-
eeouently we were nearly frozen, extra
ordinarily we'll bitten up and smoked
like a dried ham. 1t was very pleas
ant sensation when we moved. When
7 got here I thought I was in heaven,
for | could put on my slippers OF an
evening without freezing my feet.
Last, but by no means least, we were
located between two cow stables and
it didn't make any difference which
way the wind blew.
| must tell you Of an amusing Incl
dent that happened here. An Amerl~
can negro had been serving with the
French Algerian troops and when he
heard American troops were in the vi
cinity he was tickled to death. He
came over to the Y. M. c. A. and
picked I'D one of the newspapers and
started to read for dear life, probably
the first one he had seen in long
time. When someone asked him II
he could read English he said, mo
sab, but I cain read American Alright"
(
came about that he had been discharg-
ed and wanted to get back home. This
evidently worried him, for he was
afraid of subs. He turned to one OF
the boys and said, "Say, Boss, do you
know how | kin walk back to Texas?'
He was a comicaI looking sight in his
uniform. Imagine a great tall negro
with curly hair. small red fez stuck
on back of his head, tight blue coat,
big baggy red trousers, short putees,
and last but not least an immense pair
of feet. Wouldn't that make" you
| laugh? And I didn't blame him for
wanting to walk back to Texas.
The holidays, or what were the holi-
| days are nearly here and no one can
get the idea through his head. There
is a total lack Of holiday spirit, nat
+ urally, but coupled with this until yes
! terday we had no snow. Then we got
= a bare two inches, but don't think it
| isn't cold. Br-r-r-r. We have to keep
| our fires going continuously. Our chap
| lain took up a collection from officers
and men for Christmas tree for the
. children of the town, and | imagine it
/ will be one like they never saw be-
fore or will again, unless Americans
! are here next Christmas.
We are having a great time studying
! French. First we used phrase books,
but now l am attending regular
j French class given by one of our cap
I tains. We are picking it up readily
! much more so than we would IN the
states. as we have occasion to use
what we do know daily. have quite
a few civilian French patients, so
get a good deal of practice on them
The other day l had five French WON
en- up here at one time and believe me
! had my hands full for few minutes
until I could get forceps in their
mouths and give them something to
talk about. 1t doesn't seem necessary
to have anything to talk about, but
just let go, the one having the loudest
| voice and most wind wins. Talk about
your marathons.
<~,~I m