Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1918-03-06
ROBERT REEVES
VISITS FORT AND THE
BIG BATTLESH|PS
SON OF MR.. AND MRS. w. l..
REEVES TELLS EXPERIENCES
IN BALTIMORE

REEVES TELLS EXPERIENCES
IN BALTIMORE
toned at the Sanders Rife Range,
near Baltimore, Maryland, gives some
interesting information relative to
the efficiency of Uncle Sans fighting
forces:
Baltimore, Maryland,
February IL, 1918.
Dear Parents and Brother:
You may be sure was more than
glad to get your letters again with
lots of news from home.
( If, as you say, you have kept we'll
during this very cold weather, it is
remarkable. hope you are not wor-
rying too much about the dangen.we
may be in. 1t is peculiar that after
one gets in the service, the thought
of any danger is generally dismissed.
The folks back home feel the sense
of danger much more than we. 1t is
you who are paying the price for this
war, after all.
Our barracks are finished now, and
we are eating at tables in our mess
hall, at one end of which is galley
or kitchen. Not all are sleeping in
the barracks as only one side of the
U-shaped barracks is completed.
have enjoyed myself much more
this week as there are several Y
tents, well-heated, in camp now, and
l have spent my evenings largely
there reading and attending French
class. The instructor has been pro-
fessor of French in a college. | am
-. II IL
hope there is possibility of my using
something with which to occupy my
mind, and if / continue at varsity, /
shall make French the foreign Ian
guage study.
/ have been coaching all this week,
and, as usual have had a great deal
of pleasure meeting and talking with
men whose experience and knowledge
has been much broader than mine,
the really brilliant men of our coun-
try. | spent all last evening talking
with the man who secured the Wilson
delegation to the Baltimore conven-
ton from South Dakota. He was an
in fiuential newspaper man out there.
He refused $4,000 job in Washing
ton, and is now only a private in the
23rd engineers. The Canadian sold
Ter (Wren), who escaped from Ger
man prison camp with Edward Ed
wards, whose article appeared in the
Saturday Evening Post, is sergeant
in a company on the same street with
us at Saunders. am going over to
his tent and have a little talk with
him, with the plan in view of writing
an article for the home papers on the
personnel and Spirit of the Ameri-
can Engineer" They are a wonder
full bunch of men.
Ensign Grylls has ordered that no
more firing be done on Sunday, and
we have the day off now, so / am in
Baltimore with the Engemann boys,
writing in church parlor, after we
have had our usual round of wonder
ful<and new experiences. a
l was, as usual, invited out to din
ner today after church, but did not
accept, as / wanted to visit places of
interest about the city, the first be-
ing the old, original market-place of
Baltimore, which is simply an ola,
low ri1dely framed building, with
three or four wide aisles, with booths
on both sides of the aisles. Only a
few feet were allotted to each vender.
The structure has had to be reinforc-
\
makes one think of the South and
Southern ways of doing things, which
would be cast aside by us as unpro-
gressive and costly. There were
thousands of booths in the building,
containing nearly everything imagin-
able in the way of adibles and no
tions.
From the market-place we took the
car out to old Fort McHenry, the
historic old site of which retains its
original appearance, and is over 100
years old, as it was the scene of the
fight between the American and Brit
ish in September, 1914, which inspir-
ed the writing Of our National anthem
by Frances Scott Key. The flagstaff
still stands in the position where Key,
as a prisoner dimly saw old glory
triumphantly waving. The ram
parts" stand about IA feet high, and
the bases for guns have not been re-
moved, many of the guns also being
in place. We were fortunate in hav-
ing our picture taken on one of them,
the diameter of which would be at
least four or five feet at the base.
These guns do not compare with our
present day 14-inchers, but they
looked much more safe "from behind,
than from BEFORE" as Mike says.
There were tunnels leading from the
rear to front ramparts, built of COM
mon brick, very narrow, and dark.
1t was certainly an inspiration to
walk over this wonderful and his
toric fort, and to enter the little old,
UNCOVERED fort chapel of red brick
with its rude carvings and plain fur
nishings. There was an old sea cap
tain viewing the grounds while we
were there, but was unable to get
chance to ask him about the forts
more complete history.
We left the fort in time to get over
to the dock where a battleship was
anchored, and were lucky in being
able to board and be shown through
the same. My previous and conse-