Mexico Missouri message., 1918-01-24
LETTER FROM FIGHTING FRONT.
CALVIN TILTON, FORMER NC
MILAN STUDENT WRITES FROM
COVER THERE.

Calvin Tilton, brother of Mrs. w.
A. Shullenberger, formerly Of this
city, writes the following interesting
letter to ]. l.. Marshall of Grant
City, Mo. "Cal,", as he was known in
Mexico, is a graduate of Mcmillan
| High School, and while in school
here, he was yell leader and one of
the most popular boys in the stud
ent body.
Nov. 25, 1917.
Mr.. ]. Lamar Marshall,
Grant City, Mo.
Dear John"
This is a nice day. One Of the few
nice days we have out here behind
the lines" ClJ , Pluvius has
just put up barrage of six days
rain. He came lover the top" last
night with a ninety mile per hour
wind. Some bell tents were lost and
few bits of equipment. However a
| L"tA6 uS oQudu COuuJSI dJJdCheu J0lS
morning and all lost property was
retaken. Our positions have been re-
inforced. Perhaps I am more FORUM
ate than some of the boys-anyhow 1
have nice little hut to live in. When
| am off duty l can sneak into my
mansion" and dry my feet and warm
up. 1t has not been very cold out
here yet, but it is so "bally" wet you
almost drown. You don't mind be-
ing wet only it is such a dreadful
nuisance to get sick. You see, there
is no heart to the Army. 1t is a cold
blooded proposition. There is no
sympathy or nothing of a sentimental
nature. We are in the field, you
know, and we are here for a purpose.
That is-win the war You must go
as long as you can, and be darn sure
you can't go any farther before you
give up. 1t is a great game The
army is a big machine. The men are
merely the intricate parts. When one
part breaks down a new one takes its
place. OF course it is up to the own
ers of the machine to take good care
Of the parts because they are expens-
i've. AS far as mans personal feel
ings are concerned, they are nothing.
You do your bit. If you can stand
the pace, you are lucky. Because,
only the fittest survive. I have done
remarkably we'll up to date. By
changing socks three times a day
taking fourteen hours exercise each
day and watching closely my diet
and other things appertaining tc
ones general health, have escaped
every kind of sickness. But you see
1 have it better than most of the lads
out here. | don't know how I would
; stand up under the strain if had tC
pull through the life in the trenches
Those poor beggars live in mud and
water up to their waists. They CAM
get out of it. The greatest marvel OF
the war, to me, is how men stand the
physical exposure and strain of the
life in the line.
l shall be doing my turn in the line
before long, no doubt, but l hope il
don't come before next summer. You
can't imagine what it is like out here
and you will never know unless yol
come out and see it for yourself
can't describe it, nor can any man
Pictures can't even give you an ides
, of it. You can't conceive the misera
, BILE life we endure. You can rear bacl
in your office chair and picture t
yourself few million "Tommies
and Australians and New Zealander
and Canadians and Indians ant
South Africans and Belgians ant
J French and Germans and "Yanks
all tearing around on foot, in cars
trucks, trains, wagons, on horsebacb
motorcycles, aeroplanes, transports
dreadnaughts, submarines, destroy
ers, with a rattle, bang, boom, crasf
splash, cry, grnqn or hurrah and yo
j.. will have a small part of the natur
OF things in France.
= The big part of the life out here
: the miserable part, the part that kill
your spirit and breaks you down, tn
part Il at can't describe is spelle
with three letters NJ D; mud every
where. We used to think it &C
l muddy in Missouri, but Missouri is
desert compared to this country. An
then the folks back home expect U
to whip Fritz and drive him out {
Belgium and France in a day. Let tn
people of America recall that tn
Germans occupied all this country i
six weeks with little or no resist
ance because France was not prC