Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-02-15

Thousands of mothers are anxious
to learn how Christmas is being
spent in the trenhes by the boys.
Walter Shaffer, the Dauphin aviator,
in letter to his mother, tells an in
teresting story of the Christmas he
spent somewhere in France" The
letter, which answers the question
of these thousands of mothers, fol-
lows:
Somewhere in France,
December 26, 1917.
Dear Mother
Twas the night after Christ
mas and all through the house,
every creature was groaning-in-
cluding the mouse" But not in
this house, for 1 had nary a chance
turkey and someone must have mis-
laid the cranberry sauce and the
mince pie, for it never appeared.
Pop would laugh aplenty if he knew
spent most of Christmas day
choppjng wood and the rest trying
to build fire, for these Frenchmen
are too lazy to do either, and since
there was no fire any where and 1
was so cold 1 was shivering, chop
ping wood was the only means 1
could think of that would make me
warm and keep me so. Therefore,
your brave son hunted up hatchet
and saw and boldly attacked the
woodpile. 1 sure had some inter
eSted audience, for there were SOL
diers camped in the cellar l was
| warming up" and they watched
me with awe and amusement. For
my hand had not forgotten the skill
taught it so painfully in my youth
| (you know how much 1 used to en-
| joy cutting woody and 1 soon had
quite a pile. This exhibition of am
bition was quite beyond the Poilus
! looking on, and l caught the word
! American" quite frequently in their
conversation, for they know their
! countrymen well enough to know
they never work like that. It's so
unnecessary, they think, since one
can wrap up in all his clothes and
do without fire So can /, but it
isn't a very happy. existence.
Unfortunately, none of the nu-
merous packages sent me for Christ
mas have arrived so 1 made the
1 beSl VI lIllnBS ny BelllllS lllOl OuSlliS
| warm for the first time in ten days
l did have hopes of celebrating the
| day with a bath, but the weather
was so unsettled, one minute snow
ing and the next blue sky showing
that I had no chance of going to
"Chalon-sur Marne," nearby to get
the much needed bath, as 1 might
be sent out on patrol duty any min
ute. Nothing like that happened
! however, and l sat around in my
armchair in my beautiful cold chat
eau wondering how long it had
been since 1 last had warm feet.
Now that 1 rarely get a bath,
can appreciate that old chestnut
about the Irishman who had n new
bathtub installed and remarked that
he could hardly wait until saturday
to try it. 1 suppose I'll have to dc
like one of my comrades-sew my
flannels on for the winter-He ever
remarked that he had had some OF
his clothes on for So long that the
buttons were getting rusty.
One of the Frenchmen got rea
ambitious to-day and cut a big stack
of wood, and it looks as if 1 car
sit by the open fireplace and dream
some more dreams tonight, a stun
not to my liking since my mint
generally turns to thoughts of choc
olate, cake, pie and ice cream
which don't get me anywhere, ex
cept to make my mouth waite:
enough for the use of a ''slobber'
bib, and make me think I am en-
tering my second childhood.
| Heard quite a lot of shootint