The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947, 1918-02-23
ENGINEER TELLS
OF over THERE
SEES NOTHING TO EQUAL
AMERICA But Unity
LADIES'"

AAe AOkNC
paper, was written by H. Q. Stiles,
a nephew of Walter and Albert
Stiles Of Goldfield who is a private
in the 10th regiment of engineers,
now in France:
France, Dec. Is, 1917.
Dear Folks:
1 received all of your back mail
yesterday. There we're 13 letters
for me dated before Sept. 10, ex-
cept me-, some bonehead that could
not tell the difference between a
sack of mail and a sack of sugar
had packed them in with the sup
plies and they have been stored
away in some %storehouse ever since.
l don't know whether l have given
YOU my impression of France or
net but knowing you will be in
terested whether l make a few repe-
.itions or not l will try and tell
you what l saw and how it impress
sed me, as far as the censor will
permit. Of course the first big diff
ference to notice, is you: inability
to talk to n one on accel:t CT the
difference in our languages.
The next thing o will notice
is the buildings, everything con-
structed of stone, even the houses
in the small towns have stone shin
gIes, or course lumber Is scarce
and rock plantiful, so the latter was
the logical material to build with.
The streets in the French towns
we're not built with the idea of
reaching any particular point, but
as far as l can figure out the build
ings were put up first and the
streets wrapped around them for it
goes in angles and circles and then
turns into another one built on the
same plan. You can walk along a
sidewalk for a block or two and
then run into a building with n
corner jutting out into the street
and of course the sidewalk ends.
This does not cause any inconven-
fence, however, as the people use
the streets more than the sidewalks
anyway. Street cars are only found
in the larger cities and the way
they are run and the style of the
car they use l don't see that they
are of much benefit to the public.
The stores are all very small and
with few exceptions the grocery
stores don't carry a stock of goods
to exceed two hundred dollars, and
nearly every place of business sells
wines and liquors. There are no
saloons in France such as We have
in the States.
Bath tubs are about as numerous
as hens teeth and none of the
.OIels have them with the eA.o.
ton of a few in the larger places
that cater to the Americans. In a
fair sized town a bath may be had
at a regular bath house at the cost
of N franc.
The greatest little institution of
torture yet devised is a French
barber shop. The chairs are flimsy
and straight backed, greatly re-
scmbling an ordinary office chair.
When you are seated the barber
puts a nightgown on you pinning
it around you and the chair. After
getting you at his mercy he bends
your head back ove the sharp edge
OF the chair and begins to shave you
in much the same measure that we
whittle shavings. When this Oper-
alton is finished he sOaks up an
old sponge and washes your face,
which goes against the grain of the
average American who is used to
the sanitary shops of the U. S. Hot
towels cost extra but they are a
poor rig here. The only one | tried
was a failure for the barber was so
afraid he would burn me hat he
let the towel get cold before apply
ing it, and then he pulled 1t right
of for fear of getting my face wet.
There are no big beveled mirrors
i'll the shops with rows of bottles
containing all kinds of tonics such
as we have at home, and l always
thought that France was the home
of toilet articles.
The people here are very good to
the American soldiers and treat
them really better than they de-
serve to be, for if a foreigner pulled
off some of the stuff in America,
that the boys do here they would
get cleaned out in a minute. All
the able bodied men are at the
front ond q man of fiOhtinU age