The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1918-10-03
Stirring Scenes and Incidents
OF Great World Struggle Des-
Cf-ibed BY Fl. ID. MendenhaIl

received the following interesting let
ter from their son, Mr. H. D. Men
denhall, which they have kindly give
us the privilege Of printing:
1873 Cours de Medoc, Sept. Z, 1915
Dear Folks:
1t has been two weeks since ] las
wrote, and in the meantime lette
has come from you; also some Liter
airy Digests. Started to write las
Sunday, but got to reading the His
tory Of France, and couldn't stop.
, have few moments of leisure nov
in the office and will start, hoping tt
finish tomorrow.
was very much shocked to hea,
that Fred Hatch had been killed, didn't
even know that he was over here. !
wonder why he didn't communicate
with me.
There is a sergeant here in tow.
who some soldiers have told me of, as
knowing me and living in Lakeland
but up to now I haven't seen him nor
learned his name.
All France is now wildly elated oy-
er the succession Of victories. They
still insist that all Of the good fortune
is due OF the inspiration given them
by the presence of the Americans. T
suppose that is in large part true
They feel that there is some good
reason tn keep up their spirits now
Everyone is especially elated over the
promise of the Liberty motor and
planes. Men who have seen the
tests and comparisons state that If
Tar excels anything now in the =
The last several afternoons, some dar.
ing youngster has been doing STUNT,
over this city. He has the American
and from the antics he pulls
III, ne must be showing off Liberty
'lane. He will fly along perfectly
oberly a few moments, then calmly
urn over and fly upside down. right
ng hlmself again only to apparently
ose control, slip sideways, capslze.
nd then swoop aroun0 right side up
nee more. Then he will spiral up-
'ards for several thousand feet, and
tart straight down, spinning and
opping around as though smashed
p all to strike you speeches. by
ettlng control and righting himself
rev feet above the housetops. These
elbows will do things that buzzards
'ould never think of doing-but I ,
oppose buzzard doesn't have to !,
ain himself to attack or escaipe an
1emy. All of those stunts are used ,
COMBAT occasionally, and have to )
> learned before qualifying as a 4
YER have seen several Frenchmen ;
the air at one time doing gym. '
astlques," as they call it. 6
IL you can get hold of it, try to ger a
lltchener's Mob" by James Norman v
all. He is quite writer, who earlv n
the war Joined the British army G
nile there he wrote his life in the Il
enches, until wounded. It is very b
teresting. After convalescing, he Il
med the French Lafayette Esca- "
lille, and became a noted flyer. t.
men we came into the war ne trans G.
RED to the American Flying Corps h,
captain and flew until he fell he e,
ID the German lines, was wounded Ell
taken prisoner. Clara knew him di
y we'll, and has seen letters from Ell
since ne has been captured. When he
'tured he was writing book, that be
being published in the Atlantic co
hthly' called High Adventure 3" 10
u may have read some of them sa
is a sort OF protege of RMS. Chase it
We had a small touch of war orr VIZ
yes few evenings ago. While at in,
per- there suddenly began a ire, 10,
adous bombarding. We hear It Of TIL
among during the day, but not in fra
evening. Naturally we at first tn,
ught the Huns were pulling off an or;
raid but even that got to be too sh,
ilar, so | left the dinner table to res
estlgate, When in the open I saw fro
enormous yellow cloud of gas and wit
Ike, and a violent series of explo- thr
s. Further inquiry revealed that gu
as small munitions factory tina, to
burning. There was lots Of ex. for
nent, but the loss was not ex- get
i've, as they usually keep the fac mo
IS in small units. A big bunch