Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-03-06
Somewhere in France,

January IL, 1918
! Dear Mother:
Like a kid with new toy, here
am at it again, for this sure is
! some pen and besides its so com
/ Portable to sit here in a big arm chain
with one foot on a chair and the
other in the tire-that is necessary
for you know, since this doggone
! fire only makes enough heat to keeI
| the chimney warm-and one dom
need to bother dipping in the ink
! bottle every five seconds. The only
| trouble with this pen is the ink
which is about as near invisible aS
! any L have ever seen. Just as soon
as its empty, I'll get some of this
| French stuff in, which is dark enough
! to read through the envelope. You
remember that diary l told you
about? Well, l discovered one page
used for identification and I'll say
they certainly did not forget any
/ thing. Not only my name but the
size of my collar, shirt, shoes, hos
iery, gloves hat and even cuffs was
| deemed necessary. 1 did not fill III
! the last two, since the hat size Is
liable to change at a moments no
! tice, and as for cuffs, l never bought
! them that way, they always hooked
onto the shirt. It's a wonder they
! forget the size of my garter or the
] color scarf pin l wore. There was
even a blank space for my motor.
cycle, bicycle, automobile, and air
! plane number. OF course, not hav-
ing all those luXuries L couldn't til
them out but | put down my air
plane number, which is something
a lot of people can't do. In truth
a more complete diary could not be
found. Not only did every page
have place for weather and ther-
mometer, but in the back of the
/ book were numerous pages for Cash
account ending with cash or
! hand" That part of the book ha6
no interest" for me, for l know
] how much l have on hand without
referring to a book, and l never ge'
enough to start a cash account
thought the doggone book was q
] Bible when / first opened the pack
age. what with its gold edged leaves
and limp leather binding, and In
quite sure l did not need another
one of them.
\ Timid Pilot
Got little more flying in to-day
and if l would not have had to wal
for photo plane, which never came
/ might have gotten more. for the
morning was clear and very gooG
! for flying. l was down on the lis
/ to help protect the photo plane. bu
| although l missed dinner waitins
for it, she never showed up. Fin.
| ally got aloft in the afternoon with
another pilote, which did not sui
me a little bit. for no sooner haC
! we got near the lines than he bea
it back for camp. BY the way, the
! pilote was the timid gentleman.
| followed him, since he was the
authorized leader, until he dove
/ through a cloud in the direction o.
camp, and then thoroughly disgust
ed, turned right around and beat i
for the lines again. There were {
number of "sausages'' up and l wa!
curious to get a close look at one
so l headed for one nearby and soor
had a good look. In my interest
| forgetting to look around for BochC
! planes. All of a sudden l looked III
and there were four right over me
Fortunately they were Nieuports, bu
| it showed me how foolish l was
roaming around by my lonesome
! only 1900 meters high. Any Bocht
| could have made easy prey of me
Besides, l was disobeying orders, fol
new pilots are never allowed ou
alone, so having been away half al
hour, l beat it for camp.
When 1 landed my leader said hi!
| mdCnlHe gun WouIu not WOrh, so M
came down. L don't know how HI
discovered it, unless he uses tn,
same means 1 do. For whenever
come to the lines" 1 point my ole
| bus in the general direction of Ber
! lin, and pull the trigger and sooI
| discover whether she's working OF
not.
Got a hold of an American papel
| the other day, and now l know
what it is to read everything, ever
the ads. So send me some old mag
azines. 1 have an awful lot of tim,
! to kill here. WALTER.