Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-08-08

officers want them to repeat It on
the 14th-Bastile Day"
The mail service is rotten-worse
than that. I've had one letter from
the States in the last four weeks.
1 don't understand 1t at all. (Charley
Taft just came in to tell me that
there are some letters over at the
school for mo so I'll suspend fur
ther imprecations until l discover
what goes on)."
Near the Big Guns
Captain Edward ]. Stackpole, Jr.,
of Company NJ. 10th Regiment, In
fantry. writes from a point near the
front under date of July 2. "
The Germans haven't spotted us yet
| from outward indications although
we can frequently hear shells burst
ing in the neighboring towns and
several times daily we find 1t neces-
sary to stop our drill and take
| cover to avoid flying Boches> We
saw them bring down German
plane to-day. French troops pass
here in large numbers and the town
in which we are billeted is almost
bare of civilians.
Day after tomorrow being July
TIL dIll Sclus 10 pTONlQe Ineln
! (the company with pies and pud-
ding, If the Y. NJ. C. A. men can get
me the ingredients from Paris in
time If they are late, We'll cele-
| brate the Fourth from the viewpoint
of the stomach at a later date.
:"
There is a Y. NJ. c. A. canteen
with our battalion permanently now
and it is a great help in keeping the
men satisfied in their rest hours.
Service is their motto all right and
the work they are doing is greatly
! appreciated by officers and men
alike We only realize their value
when they are not available and the
men have no tobacco or writing pa
/ per.
| This army game is a busy one, ]
| find. Just as soon as a pile of ac-
cumulated work is plowed through
and you think 1t is going to be easy
sailing for day or so, along comes
batch of orders and memoranda
and you wallow in work again up to
the neck"
4 Poor Joke
Under date of July 10 Captain
Stackpole writes from In the Woods
of France" that the previous night
was spent ten or fifteen feet under
battalion commander. French infau-
try with whose organization he was
spending few days acquiring useful
| knowledge and observing Boche ter
ritory from the hills. He says fur
ther: There have been nightly
bombardments, but always on the
part of the French. so that the
whistling shells that pass constantly
over the woods where 1 dwell have a
pleasing sound rather than terrify-
ing. One sleeps here in day time
and keeps awake at night, but not
from choice"
He tells of intensive artillery fire
of the French and of the breaking
down of the walls of town less than
mile distant; also of eating with
French officers in a camouflaged
room at a camouflaged table. He
also narrates interesting experiences
with a French adjutant and his
amusing efforts to acquire American
slang.
Two French soldiers of this regi-
ment, who were captured by the
Boche early in June. escaped and re-
turned to their regiment TODAY.
They declare that they were treated
badly and given leaves instead Of
vegetables. They say also that the
German officers are doping it out to
their men that there are no Amer
lean soldiers in France; that we are
English. 1t is a poor joke at best
and will make the German staff sick
some day soon"