The Tupelo journal., 1918-02-22
LETTER FROM v. H. WITT
Somewhere in France,
Dec. 10, 1917.

GHnMl
Dearest Mother and Family:
! will answer your kind and well
come letters of 18th and 18th of No
vember. which | received a few days
ago and was glad to hear from home
again, and to know that you were all
we'll. Yes, / received Mr.. Floyd Rit-
ter's letter and also n from Cousin
John Witt. j was glad to hear from
them, though / haven't had time to
answer their letters yet. / think |
will get to them right away. | re-
ceived my Christmas boxes you sent
me on the 18th. They sure were nice,
though two of them were crushed
pretty bad. The fountain pen you
sent is the very thing | had been
wishing for. You can't get anything
like it here and it sure is a good one.
Mother, Iwish you would get me a
bottle Of writing fluid and send me.
I am where l can't get anything over
here, we are not close to any towns
and | haven't been on leave yet and
don't know when | will be able to get
where I could get any. You asked
me if we ever get any papers-yes,
we get an English paper daily and you
would be allowed to send me a daily
paper but / don't care for it as |
would only get it once or twice a
month. Some of my mates get pa
pers from home so | have about all
the reading matter / have time to
read. / am working every day IL to
IA hours-that's the reason / neg
lected answering your letter of the
18th. Say, mother, | am going to
take some insurance. am going to
take 100000 worth, that will al
low me a 100000 to you and papa
and each of the children. l think it
is a pretty good idea don't you for |
would throw away the money ittakes
to pay the insurance any way. This
isn't like most insurance as instead
of paying it all at nee it would come
along Ike a pension for 240 months.
The reason they handle it that way is
because there are so many people
that would run through with it in a
year or so and have nothing to show
for it.
Last week you asked me what you
could write. You can write most any
thing you want to over there so you
don't give any information regarding
military movements. Nothing from
your letters have been cut out. re-
ceived my sweater, scarf and socks
and they sure are good ones. You
asked what l could buy here-where
| am at present l can't get anything
hanrdly. Yes l received the tobacco
you sent me and also some Prime Al
bert from some one-the name Of the
sender was torn off but | was very
glad to get it even though | don't
know whom l am to thank. / am
glad you are getting the allotment,
that was September's allotment
you received was it not?
| can hear the guns going all the
time and see lots Of them-they light
up the horizon at night when the ar
tilllery is in action, there are so ma
ny of them and they shoot SO fast
until the reports from them goes more
like the beating of a huge drum than
anything else. That is how fast they
are firing sometimes. Some Of the
enemy's shells come quite close to us
on one occasion and landed in u
Company Street, though it didn't hurt
anyone. They send smoke and earth
hundreds of feet in the air and tear
a huge hole in the ground. | saw an
enemy air ship shot down by an Eng
lish anti-air gun a few days ago, and
have seen a battle in the air by Eng
lish and German air planes. | have
seen some of the enemy prisoners of
war. They all have a sallow, yell
low complexion and physically they
don't look like they r able to walk
much less fight. They say themselves
they only get meat once and twice per
week. Well / guess | had better tell