Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-10-12
Railroad near Albert torn up by Huns


than anything else. There is alb
solutely nothing you get here to
read except an occasional copy OF
the London Daily Mail, which ar
riyes from two to four days late
and which is no better to an
american than any other foreign
paper after you get ii. Haven't had
any mail for over a month now,
either, and am naturally getting
anxious to hear from home once
more. We are hoping to get some
nail in from France this week il
We have good luck
"A couple of US went to a show at
one of the theatres the other even
ing and had a lot of fun out of it
ii we didn't know what it was all
about. Think it was supposed to
be a sort Of local hit on the city of
Milan and we could get the idea
Cuce in a while, but they cracked
some sort of a joke about the
Americans and everyone in the
place turned around and looked at
US, and we didn't know whether to
appear highly pleased or look in
suited. There have been very few
american soldiers down here, and
an American uniform is still a
good deal of d curiosity. People
Will turn to look at US on the
streets, and keep talking about US
On the cars, but all we can under
stand is that they are trying to de-
c.dcd whether we are Englese CT
AmeTicanOs.
Weather is very warm in the
middle of the day, and with these
little overseas caps our faces are
being burned to Il crisp, but the
nights are always cool and fine.
Haven't seen anything of a mos
quito, and flies don't appear to
bother much, although there is no
such thing as a screen in the place.
Have been here 10 days now and
haven't seen a cloud in the sky yet,
although they claim that it can
> rain properly on occasion The 9TH
CT day was supposed to have been
the hottest in the history of the To-
cal weather bureau, and when Can
( tn told me, | explained that that
was a regular thing in the states,
and that I had been experiencing
/ the hottest and coolest and wettest
and dryest days in good many
/ cities since l had been in the army.
/ This afternoon l am going out
/ tC the races. 1t seems that they
always have horse races here on
/ Sunday afternoons, and that the en-
tire population that has the price
! goes out to the track, not so much
! LC see the races as TO see the peO-
/ pie. We want to do the same.
/ Cant think of anything else to
write about now, and am getting
down to the bottom of the sheet,
So will call this a letter and write
more next time Wish l could get
( some letters or papers or some
thing to tell what is going on at
/ home. These people don't even
/ know there is a United States,
/ Judging by their papers. All news
YOU see comes from either Paris,
F Rome or London, and it is very sell
/ dom that one sees a New York
date line.
/ Please give my regards to all the
folks and tell them that III have
a lot of wonderful things to tell
about when | get back, even if l
can't write them now.
Love to all,
VICTOR"
Thursday. Aug. 29.-Just a line
or two to let you know that yester
dav turned out TO be a mail day,
/ and l received your letters of July
10. is and 20, all together, and that
all Of them were very welcome, in
deed.
There hasn't been anything TO
write about from here and l have
been kept busy with regular rOu-
tine work. both here in the office
and out at the factory. 1t is good
work though. and l am thoroughly
enjoying it every day. Seems a lot
more like play than real work so
far. but may get more serious be
fore we get through. Haven't seen
u cloud in the sky yet, and the days
get pretty warm round about noon
This Italian sun is fierce in the
middle of the day, especially with
no more protection than one OF
these overseas monkey" caps
which we wear now. There is prac-
ticalIy no bushes done in the city
of Milan between the hours of / :
and 8. but of course the factory
works right along, and il is not hot
{ at All OllCt you Get IL LL4E oAAtAtlt
Nights are always nice and cool
and that helps a lot. Yesterday
was clear day, and from the fac
tory we could look out TO the snow
on the mountains as plain as il
they had been in the next man S
field, but I believe they are some
thing like 25 or 80 miles away
They look wonderfully cool on &
hot day.
Tho Italian rate Of exchange
KEEPS on changing all the time. and
il keeps one constantly gambling
with prices OF commodities What
70 worth 81 today, may be worth
MY SIS tomorrow ar II mar havA