Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1918-08-21
ARTHURKNAPPLETTER

Mr.. A. L. Sherman,
Lancaster, Wise.
Friend All
/ was sorry to be unable to run up
to the Herald Office before leaving
Lancaster two weeks ago, and finish
the talk we began on the street. The
two days and a half I could spend in
Lancaster however, went by faster
than any like amount of time I ever
knew before, and leaving time came
as it does to all in the service-too
soon.
/ arrived in Cambridge last Sat
urday afternoon with twenty-six rad
10 men from Dunwoody. We had a
special car and fast trains all the
way out here and it was an ideal
trip. We had special meals served
us on the diner and the Pullmans
were beauties with the best of SER
vice. The Navy certainly treats its
men we'll when they travel. Also /
must praise the Red Cross here and
before going any further. Mem
bers of the Red Cross met our car at
every important stop and gave us
stamped postals, sandwiches, candy,
matches, tobacco and cigarettes. At
Detroit they had a big chicken din
ner ready for us. At our first stop
in Canada a representative of the
Windsor Committee of Welcome came
in and handed us more post cards
and tobacco. All these things are
deeply appreciated by the men and
we usually gave the navy "Sky Rock
ct" in their honor-which seemed to
please them.
We came out here to Harvard col
lege from Boston via the subway-on-
ly eight minutes ride. After check
ing in and being assigned to temper
airy quarters we were given liberty
until Monday morning, whereupon we
proceeded to cd the most natural
thing Western boys would do-beat
it right back to Boston and made a
bee line for the edge of the Atlantic
ocean.
The ocean was all there all right
but all we could see was harbor-so
we climbed or a boat and rode out
where we could look around. / be-
lieve the boat fare was IA cents-but
to US landsmen it was worth four
teen dollars for there in the big
harbor lay boats of every descrip-
ton, all comouf1aged in the widest
colOrs and designs, just like you
read about, and a nice wicked look
ing gun at each end. One boat looked
exactly as though the middle part
of it was absent, but as we drew near
er it finally materialized all right
just a clever piece of painting made
it look gone" at first. These boats
must present a very difficult mark
out on the surging Atlantic, and the
ever watchful gun crews at the stem
and stern beside the quick moving
cannons would be a disconcerting
sight to a Hun I should think.
Our boat passed very close to a
battleship lying at anchor. The Jack
les On board waved to us and we sure
envied them. 1t made the four months
school here at Harvard before we can
go aboard ship, loom up twice as
long.
Our boat steamed up to a wharf
where a train awaited us, and took
us on to Revere Beach, an amuse-
ment park and beach combined We
saw lots of English sailors here, and
they were having a grand time rid
ing on roller-cOasters, Whirling plat
forms and all that sort of thing. The
English sailors are of a markedly
different type than the American
Jacks. Their uniform is dark blue
with a lighter blue collar and their
hats have a more exaggerated rib
bon bow and a narrow white fat
crown. They are nearly all short
and stocky with the typical British
complexion and they do not wear
their hair short like we do. The
Yankees as a type show up beside
them in that they are inclined to be
be taller and Simmer and pretty we'll
tanned up. / think our uniforms are
a good deal heater. The English
lads are as brave as they make them,
but the Yankees are not a bit behind
on that as the following incident told
to us by a sailor seems to illustrate.
When he S. S. President Lincoln
was torpedoed and the life boats fill
ed with sailors were floating around
helpless and far from land, the SUBJ
marine that did the work came nm
and tried to locate the captain in he
boats. They trained a machine i
on one boat and of course the men
who were armed with nothing but
the oars expected the Germans would
Kill them all in cold blood as this is
one OF their favorite amusements. A
chaplain very properly knelt down
in the stern of the life-boat and he
gan to commend their lives to their
maker-but the Yankee sailors didn't
seem to pay as much attention to the
chaplain as they did the Huns-they
got up and guyed them and used pro-
family and dared them to shoot.
Picking out various choice targets on
their W personal anatomy thew
leaned as far out as possible over the
side OF the boat toward the sub and
yelled Come on Won sn1aro~hoaas