Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1918-04-04
Letters From H. E. Thompson

Mrs. George Thompson, Sixth street,
has received the following letters from
her son, H. G. Thompson, of the engi-
neers' service, who is somewhere in
France.
February II, 1918.
Dear Sister: I received your letter
yesterday and as today is Sunday we
have-it all to ourselves, so | will spend
the day in writing letters. | am feel
ing fine and I am undergoing no hard
ships whatever, and I certainly am
enjoying myself. We are in Southern
France, about (censored) miles from
the ocean, about (censored) miles
from one of the largest cities in France
and over (censOred) miles from the
front. We are numbering at the pres
ent, cutting logs and saving them up
for lumber. We erected the first
American saw mill ever run in France.
| have been driving four horses in the
woods, but now I have a wagon and l
haul supplies to camp. It surely takes
plenty Of supplies to keep hungry
bunch of lumber jacks" fed.
l cannot understand why you have
not received any mail from me, but l
suppose that you have ~ this time.
We certainly are having some nice
weather now. There was about two
inches Of snow on the ground when we
first came here, but it only lasted for
about one day. There is a river close
to our camp, and We can take a bath
in it, but it is still little cool. We
are all learning to speak French as
fast as possible, and the French peO-
pie are willing to help us as much as
possible,
We are also located in the turpen-
tine industry, but this is not the right
time of the year for the mar ,facture
Of it, However they have arted to
tap the trees, so | suppOF that we
will know something of + manufac-
ture of turpentine before we leave
here.
[ have been in several interesting
places since | have been here. We
will have a long talk about them all
when I get home G.. had ought to see
how they railroad here; it is somewhat
different than in the states. [ can
tell him all about it when [ come
home.
Plenty of excitement here in camp
while ago. Someone tied a tin can
to dogs tail, and l think from the
way that he was going who7 I saw
him that he n l5s be IN the ss7&es by
this time.
Well as it is most dinner time and
1 expect to take little trip this after
noon, will close, hoping to hear from
you soon. Your dear brother, HI.
P. S. Cigarettes are awfully scarce
! in France.
Another letter dated February 10
reads in part as follows:
Dear Mother: We got mail few
days ago, and you do not know how
, good it seemed. l got two letters and
, I know that there are some more
some place But [ was satisfied; dc
not think that | was not. You all say
in your letters that you do not hear
| from me. | hope that you have by
/
! ones, as all the boys are telling me
: that none of their letters written il
! France have reached the States as
yet. *.I
| There are worlds of things that
! would like to tell you; enough to fl
a book. But l will tell you all wher
l come home.
! Last Sunday was sure a fine day
the sun hone SO bright A friend an(
I got up early and walked around al
day. Took a walk down the river an(
looked over the work which is beint
done We had our dinner with some
French people. 1t consisted of bread
potatoes, meat and wine. It was yer.
plain but nevertheless it tasted yer.
good. On the way back we ran acros
] new camp and had quite a talk witt
the men. However, we did not fin
anyone that we knew, as most of tn
! men were from Washington and Cal
fornia, only few being from Wiscor
sim
I suppose that it is awfully cold i
| Wisconsin now, as we read in a pape
that there was plenty of snow in Wi:
consin.
: Well, here comes my wash woma
with my laundry She is trying
: pronounce my name.
We had pay day yesterday and a
= got a pass for 80 hours. | stayed
: camp, as I expect to take a trip mex