River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1918-11-07

AICuduSO4J NQSoI1S
Friday, Sept. 81.
My dear Carol:
What do you think of my globe
trotting!" We had three weeks
stay in England, and / managed to
cover quite section of the coun-
try. made regular triangular
trip. For the greater part of the
time we were stationed not far from
London. | got down to the town a
couple Of times, and tried to see
some of the places Of interest and
those famous in olden times, but
the most of them were all closed at
the time. l saw Westminster Alb
hey from the outside; was in ST.
Paul's Cathedral; went through the
Parliament district; saw Trofolgar
Square; London Bridge, and Lon
don Tower, and several of the we'll
known streets, such as Picadilly,
Rotton Row, etc. London, in COM
parison with most other places, is
very quiet now, but there are still
the places of gayety. You can go
to these places and forget there eyer
was a war, and SO few miles from
the front, too. AS rule, though,
outside of London, the entire popu-
lace feels the effects of the war.
There are many wounded there and
the country, of course, is on the
war ration, which does away with
most of the delicacies. You must
have a signed certificate to buy
steak or any meat at hotel or res
taurant and then it doesn't amount
to much. They eat great deal of
fish and mutton there; also loads of
jams. Of course, they are we'll sup
piled with liquors of all sorts and
the tea, for which the country is
famous, We had our tea every af-
ternoon with them. They are a very
social lot. didn't care very much
for the fish or mutton, so l almost
lived on bread and jam, the former,
Of course, war bread.
| really started a letter to you
soon after we first landed, but never
got time to finish it, as our advance
party was called back to the Regi-
ment only few days before we
would have sailed for sunny
France. We don't belong to the
85th Division any more. They all
tell US that it is a great honor to be
sent here. I would much rather
have gone to France. / had always
planned on it and looked forward to
when would arrive there, but this
place never entered my mind. Pm
perfectly satisfied, though, to go
wherever sent, as we can't choose
in this life. We will have different
experiences and places to tell of
when it's all over and that's some.
thing.
We had very quiet voyage here
from England. 1t took us. almost
as long as it did to cross the Allan
tic. 1t was quite cold for a few
days when we were in the most
northern waters, as we were much
above the Arctic Circle. We are on
the same line as the central part of
Alaska now. We saw the midnight
sun several nights on the way; also
ice and snow on the first land we
sighted.
When we steamed into the harbor
here, thought Archangel looked
like quite town from the distance,
with all its churches with their far
cy domes and steeples, and most of
the buildings looked quite modern
and clean. thought our
stay was going to be quite
all right after all. but when
really was in the town, things were
altogether different. The buildings
are very old and shabby. The coun-
try is all swampy; there is no drain
age in the streets, and it's very
muddy all the time, as it rains al
most every other dav. Some of the
streets are cobble-stoned, but very
poorly. Take it altogether, the
town and inhabitants are in a mis-