The Greeneville daily sun. (Greeneville, Tenn.) 1918-1920, 1918-10-14
CLARENCE coBBLE
WRITES TO HIS MOTHER
sept. %, l918.


Il How are you all today? / am just
/ fine. / just returned at IL o'clock
from a 24-hour pass in New York
City. certainly had fine time,
We boared an electrical train at
Hampstead at 2:14 yesterday after
noon and arri~d at Pennsylvania
station at 3 p. m. This station is
partly on oath street. My partner and
I started south on that street, at
Sixth avenue. We separated, my
partner taking a sub. for down town.
/ kept straight ahead, studying the
streets to prevent getting lost At
Third avenue | decided / had learned
how they were laid out, and turned to
the west on Lexington avenue. |
had not gone far when a portly man
of about my weight overlook me. He
was dressed in gray, wore tan shoes,
and a very sensible style hat. He
spoke and began to inquire about
my experience as a soldier and as to
whether ! was going to spend the
night in New York. So / told him
/ was, and then he asked me where
l had started just then. / told him
| was looking for library, and he
told me where to find one. 1t was
just short ways ahead on 21st st.
SO we walked on together to goth
street, where he told me he had an
Office, and he invited me to 60 with
him to his Office for company. This,
of course, sounded suspicious, but
/ kept awake, and after some con-
sideration / decided to go with him.
Then he wanted to know what in
formation l was looking for. And
/ told him | wanted to find out what
| could about the city. And he as
sured me that there was not much
about the city of interest that he
couldn't tell me. Then he began to
tell me where such and such were To-
Gated. Finally we entered his office,
and he transacted little business,
all the time taking great care in ex-
planning anything ] would ask him.
And o'clock soon rolled around. He
then invited me to go with him to
his home in New Jersey for dinner
and luckily / understood what he
meant. This, of course, appealed to
me very much, but thought ! could
see more to stay in New York. So |
was reluctant to say whether would
go or not. Then he told me how
glad his mother would be to have me
to dinner, and how much I reminded
him of his brother who is in France,
and had just been wounded. An ex-
ploding grenade tore his right hand
off. So / decided to go with him.
We then went to soda fountain and
he bought us ice cream. We then
caught bus and started out down
Fifth avenue, viewing the large build
ings, such as the great Silver Store,
Millionaire club, New York public
library, Hotels, while the record
breaking aeroplane sailed over our
heads. Soon everything began to
clear the street, and most unexpect-
eddy. President Wilson came in sight
and passed on, the crowds cheering
after him. Finally we reached Broad
way. Leaving that thoroughfare we
sped down Riverside Drive. Here
we could get a good view of the large
steamers. Here our bus stopped and
we caught another to return to 29th
street. By the time we got back it
was too late to reach New Jersey for
dinner, so my new friend knew of
private French boarding house." and
went to the phone and ordered our
dinner as it was. There was much
amused to hear three French officers
talking, but they had nothing on
Walter Terrill, for he could speak
French, but they could speak English.
But what amused me none the less
was little French girl, think about
eight years of age. She could under
stand both English and French. We
were served several different kinds of
food and they had wine a-plenty. We
had intended to go straight to Rah-
way, N. j., but while we were eating
something was said about theatres,
and he learned | had never seen any
plays given by real actors, and he
said we must go unless l would
rather 60 on to Railway. And we
decided to go to the theatre. So he