The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1918-11-05
A LETTER FROM FRANCE
Hdqs. Med. bet. 315th Engineers,
American E. F.. Sept. 10.

To a few of my best friends of
whom | frequently think and to whom
| / would like to write Individually did
time permit:
| |. trust you will not be disappointed
that | tell you of none of the horrors
| of war; in fact, we have seen little of
| it, but even if we had-"orders is or
ders' particularly in this division.
Then, too, you should know me well
enough to expect me to consume more
time in the description of rose gar
den than of gas attack.
cannot realize that we are already
in September; in fact, there seems to
have been no summer. | nave worn
my heavy clothes, overcoat and all,
most of the time, and hereafter, when
i"Sunny France" is mentioned, | shall
think of Greenland's icy mountains.
/ / left the United States with two
trunks, a bullying bed roll and hand
bag. One trunk has failed to show
up and | have mentally consigned it
to the salvage dump. Ere departing
from our summer training station, |
i was ordered to dispose of the other
trunk along with the most of my re-
lnaining belongings, and, in COM
pliance, shipped same to Paris, bid
ding a fond adieu to such insignifi
cant articles as $40 pair of boots,
perfectly good blankets, etc. Since
, that time we have Systematically shed
some articles of comfort at each new
station, and by winter | expect to be
utterly exposed to the elements. If
you know of any one coming over, adj
, wise him for me to bring naught be-
yond what he can carry on his back
J for a ten-mile hike.
Il Wish / could point out to you on
the map the charming little village in
: which we spent July and most of Au-
] gust. Everything in it spoke of the
middle Notwithstanding customs
and evn the bent and time-worn men
and women who were it's ownly inhab-
, itants until we came.
!. 1t nestled securely in a peaceful
VALLEY, shut in by grain covered hills,
seemingly. far removed from war,
) even tho the sound of the big guns
! came to US in the still hours. Leading
: tree bordered and smooth as pave
/ lments, invited one to investigate their
$ alluring charms. No matter which
: one you took, whether it wandered
e DER vale or hill, through village or
through poppy -strewn wheat fields, it
led fro none unending beauty to an
:. other.
. Each foot of ground has its crop,
whether it be potatoes, grapes, grain
o. plantations of forest trees. / was
. glad for our American boys to see the
: systematic way in which France
grows and guards her timber. Each
tract of land must produce a certain
amount of timber, and one cannot fell
J a tree in his own yard without gov.
= eminent permission. Since the war the
wild boar which prior to that time in
l. habited these forests in small num-
bers, have become more or less q
: menace and the officers had great
y sport hunting them in the early morn.
y ing hours.
; In this country no one lives on the
:. land but all congregate in villages
people, horses. cattle and sheep
: sometimes in alarmingly close prox.
unity. From any hill one can count
six or eight of these villages in 9
e radius of half as many miles. Each
: lis more or less like the other, with its
}. church, dating back to the Crusaders
l it's chateau with it's air of ownership
and . protection, and its rambling
:. stone-roofed buildings, moss covered
softened and beautified by time-barn
;, shop and dwelling, all joined end OF
= end and hugging the narrow winding
= streets as tho space was the most
= priceless commodity. Still there wa:
ALWAYS room for flowers, either on the
window sill, the roof, or else they
sprang from the very rocks thai
formed the door-ways. | was amazed
: to find French roses as beautiful al
those of Oregon and dahlias six an6
eight feet tall with blossoms thai
rival our finest chrysanthemums. My
first French sentence was request
Il to enter the garden and see the flow.
~ ers. Soon the dear old souls, eager
le to show their kindly feelings. discov
{. cred my failing and my room became
an ever changing bower of bloom. Ny
duties included the care of the civilian
sick, and these bent and time-worn ole
women came to me with their tales Of
q aches and pains. In gratitude for thu
q meager relief / gave them, they
l. brought gifts of flowers, fruit, wine
and honey. One. as a special favor
gave me pair of century-old candle
sticks, which also now repose in tha
!. same trunk in Paris. (By the way,
VI imagine that these army trunks viii
be finding their way back to the state.
t. for the next hundred years. If you
t. happen to see one marked ar. D. A.
q by all means seize upon it,
L And so life went at the training
station. But one day the bugle sound
ed before day one morning, and off W.
! started for the front, leaving our goot
friends weeping, just as our own deal
ones had done on the other side. For