Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-04-26
Somewhere in France"

Somewhere in France"
Mar. z, 1918.
Dear Mother: Frenchmen had q
big celebration last night because oi
the two Boches shot down some time
ago. In honor of the occasion, the
rabbit was Killed, we had baked po-
tatoes-and carrots new way, also
some turnips, and naturally wine
and liquors galore. 1t would no
De banquet without wine for a
trenchman, and it wasn't one for
me with it-and carrots.
After the meal though the fun com
menced, with the Frenchmen in
slsting on we four Americans sing
ing song. Being such wonderful
singers, 1t naturally took some coax
ing, but we finally gave them the
Star Spangled Banner Fortunate
1t was that there were four of us,
Tor when one forgot the words an
other remembered them, and the
same with the tune. Thus, help
ing each other out, we were fairly
successful. AT least, the Frenchmen
thought so; one even thinking my
voice the best of them all, an accu-
satlon l was quick to deny else they
call on me for a solo. No, my
voice has not improved that much
and l have. not become a Caruso-
I'm not getting conceited about it
anyway, like one Frenchman. who
was asked to sing, and when they
got MIN started he would not stop.
The sad part of it was he had no
more voice for music than Billy.
he had to be stopped forcibly be-
lore peace and goodwill were restor-
ed. There was more singing at
- =
singers was one of the head mechan-
les who played the violin very we'll.
lie seems to be an artist in numer-
Gus lines, for he it is, who paints our
escadrille emblem of two blue mar
tins on gold background, on each
zang and he can make a good stab
at singing too. But that is not un-
usual. Every Frenchman likes to
slnS whether he can or not, and be-
lleNe me, we Americans suffer a lot.
Tor their singing at times is surely
one OF the horrors of war. The pc
cullar thing-to me-about their
singing is that there seems to be no
harmony in it. The song seems to
be made only to help the singer get
as many words in as possible-that's
the way it sounds to me, but the
tact that 1 don't understand the
words may account for ii.
Travelling Light
The other day we all went to Cha
ions sur-Marne, and on the way we
passed a large number of Singlese.
turks, Italians and a few Anna
mite soldiers. They were walking,
and travelling light, whether from
necessity or preference, 1 don't
know; but, some had no socks and
others only one pant-leg. We even
saw one black fellow sitting under
tree taking off his shoes and
stockings, and little later he could
De seen walking happily down the
muddy road, socks in one hand and
shoes in the other. His idea was
good, although a little chilly on the
Ieet; because the day was rainy and
naturally mud was deep, sticky and
everywhere, at least that eccentric
soldier Kept his shoes and dry.
But how long his feet kept warm is
a question, for we were in the truc<
with sweaters and fur coats ON
Believe me, the crowd had a hearty
laugh watching him stopping non
chalantly down the road. We had
quite some shopping to do, mostly
consisting of eatables. We soon he
came separated in the town, as we
went on our different errands. When
we met the truck again, one Amer
lean had acquired some cheese, pots
ana pans, shoes and eggs, also a
stew and being "beansoup zigzag."
as the F'renchmen say, he asked
me 10 carry the eggs, knowing that
| didn't drink and was therefore So
Der enough to get them home safe
For reward l ate two the nexl
morning, boiled to a turn and mixed
with lots of butter. That night Put
man cooked up some cheese and
condensed milk. which we ate with
bread. 1t would have been a dish
Ut Tor king If the condensed milk
had not been sweetened. 1t being
too sweet, we tried to overcome
that by killing it with salt, a stunt
that was about as successful as my
sweetening hot chocolate with mo-
lasses.
Settling an Argument
IL has been growing warm enough
or late to open the window at night.
It's been too cold before; for / am
not that much of a fresh air crank.
and then again, 1 am not as con-
sistently against it as the French
men, which reminds me of the story
of two Americans and a Frenchman
who slept in the same room at Pau.
Naturally. the Americans opened the
window at night, and naturally, the
Frenchman didn't like it; so one day
he came around and showed them
a paper on which he had it all fig
ured out by mathematics, that there
were enough cubic inches of air in
that room to last three men all
night without opening the window.
Did the Americans put his arithme-
tic to the test -? They did not
they kicked him out.
At last my Fang is nearly ready.
and l may fly tomorrow. Incident
ally an order has gone forth that piI-
OTIS are forbidden to do acrobatics
anymore, anywhere. This order
came about because eight aero
planes were smashed yesterday.
causing three deaths; all because of
pilots doing stunts. We had our les
son here with our lieutenant's death,
caused by acrobatics. Nothing
daunted. one of our pilots yesterday
was trying the same things. Now,
however, it is forbidden, and the
penalty is radiation, which means
being sent back to the trenches; and
is quite strong enough to make the
most foolish hesitate.
Here's hoping L fly tomorrow, and