Evening journal., 1918-02-08
AMERICAN AVIATOR In ITALY
TELLS OF AIR EXPERIENCES

An interesting letter under date Of
December %. has been received from
George C. Herring. Jr. son Of former
Representative and Mrs George C. Her
ing. OF FELTON,. Del, who is training in
the Aviation Section, Signal Corps,
United States Army. In Italy.
After an eight weeks course Of
training at Princeton. n. j.. he sailed
October 81, for further training az
Campo d'Aviazione. Sud. Foggia. Italy,
arriving al the latter place. November
20 The letter gives an account Of a
trip to Naples at Christmas. and reads
as follows:
December %. 1917.
Dear Father and Mother: Ever since
returning from Naples ! have been in
tending 10 write and give you a short
account Of my trip. After a ffteen-hOur
ride on an Italian express train in a
compartment with seven other fellows,
when there should have been six. we
finished the journey Of nearly one hum
dred miles at about a. m. on the oath
Afy side partner, a fellow from New
York City. and ] obtained rooms al the
Hotel Royal and went to bed. 10 was
such luxury TO be in a bed once more
that we did not set up TN p m We
then enjoyed the luxury Of the llrst hot
bath In six weeks When we finally
found time TO look out the window. we
found we had fine view Of the Bay
Of Naples, the Island Of Capri and Of
3 Mt Vesuvlus. The latter, as usual was
belchlng forth smoke and steam After
lunch at the hotel, we started out to
see the town and do a little shopping
We excited the greatest curiosity !
ever saw any similar bunch cause No
doubt they had never seen any like
us. Guides Of all kinds fell over them
selves trying to show us around They
acted as though they thought we were
milllonaires. We walked around the
streets, bought a few things such as
shoes. goggles. etc. 70 being Christ
mas o. verifying closed at p. m
The O. es did not even open We
walked around through the city. the ar
cade. etc. and around the bay. This
was ono Of the most beautiful sights !
ever saw. The bay was quiet the moon
shining brightly, the Island OF Capri
and the Castle Of The Egg were In
plain view, and the lights Of Naples
glistened and were reflected In the
water in a semi-circle around us We
susius was IN plain view and back Of
us the city loomed up on the hills The
place was almost deserted At this sea-
son Of the year. before the war 10 would
have been crowded with tourists. but
now not a tourist Is in sight Almost
all the hotels. and there are hundreds
OF them, are closed. The Royal Is among
the best and had one walter and a
walter bell boy on the Job The waiter
was going 20 enter the army the fol- /
lowing week We came In early that !
night wrote a few post cards and went
to bed Christmas morning was a warm
balmy morning, much too warm for
overcoais. The sun shone brightly. We
had our breakfasts at the hotel and set
out TO Cooks tourists office TO take
the trip to Nesuvus Since we had such
a fine view OF Nesuvms and had such
a short time to spend In Naples they
persuaded US TO take another trip
Cooks ONCE Is usually not open but
two OF the former guides had gone
down on Christmas day with the nope
OF making a few lire We had a very
fine guide He had lived in New York
for ten years and spoke English very
well. He works In a munltion plant and
expected to be In the army IN two
weeks. We went by tram car and by
little two-wheeled cabs to what is
known among tourists as Little Vesu-
Vius"
Eve wound around through little
villages Of poverty-stricken people who
looked on us with awe. on the way We
were shown The location Of plinys fleet
at the destruction Of Pompeli. Monte
NouVo or the New Mountain. which
appeared one morning on the exact
sight OF the town Of Ire Pergole The
town disappeared during the night and
no sign Of IL has ever been found
After winding around lakes and hills.
passing through lanes Of trees laden
with oranges and lemons, we finally
reached the entrance Of the crater of
Solfoiara or Lite NesuVlus. This vol
cano Is still active. When we entered
the crater we found boiling sand, fumes
Of sulphur with steam and smoke gush-
ing forth from crevices and assures In
the rocks. The ground is hollow and
sounds hollow when a heavy stone Is
thrown on t. The ground Is caylng In
and we had to be careful or we would
fall into the boiling water which we
heard running below. In many places
we walked on sand which was so hot 70