The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1918-10-10
INTERESTING LETTERS
FROM SOLDIER BOYS
THEY SING THE PRAISES OF
FRANCE AND HER PEOPLE.
Boys Impressed With Cordial Recep.
ton They Are Receiving from
French Folk.
From Lieut. f. M. Neirnsie to His
Wife, Mrs. Neirnsie.
Somewhere in France,
August 17,( 1918.

August 17,( 1918.
Well, we are in our last rest camp
hope. They call them rest camps for
some reason. We have been in 3 or 4
here and in England and only stay
about one night. We reach the. camps
after. unloading from train or boat by
marching anywhere from three to ten
miles and out again the next morn
ing. I don't mind tie hardships which
are nothing to what is to come but
the constant loading and unloading
pieces, so we need to get back to hard
work again.
Just as my first impression of Eng
land was. as I pictured the country
my Impressions OF France were the
opposite. I could imagine l was in
Italy instead of France. The people
here are much better looking, more
pep. The English seem to be slippy,
but they are o. X. in the things that
count. We are on a bluff overlooking
a beautiful bay. 1t doesn't look near
ly SO beautiful however when l re-
member that we spent all OF yester-
day out there i'll a cattieship waiting
for the tide to rise. 1 am much inn
pressed with the architecture CT the
buildings. 1t is what Papa used TO
call art applied to the business Of
construction. Our country has Ger
tainly gone into this thing on a big
scale, and the way they have handled
such a big job so great distance is
very impressive. We are moving again
SO will add more later. Well this is
several hours later and we have rid
den several hundred miles through
France. They call it right when
they say beautiful France, it is the
most beautiful and impressive coun-
try I've seen SO far and the way the
railroad embankments are under Cul-
tivation is an eye opener.
have fallen in love with the
French people. The girls and old lad
les are the most attractive beings
to imagine and pretty Gee. You
bet they are They have surely given
us a Welcome. You know we are not
in camp over here, but are billited
out among the villages about COM
pany to a town, and I want to try
and describe our reaching our hillet.
II had spent years and thousands
Of years touring this country never
could have had the experience next to
nature we have had. After travelling
a day AND night we unloaded at a sta
tion wheEe we were royalty receiv-
ed and tohd we were to billet in a
town aboutN L" Ia;Ias .ia the hills. 1t
was then about 5 O'CLOCK. We finally
got a guide and hiked, 1t was some
tough hike too. as the Ibnen were car
rying about 75 poundys and too We
had been travelling s. y continuously
we were Ill in. We reached the
village after darIK. They were not
expecting KS, and no troops had ever
been there, much lees Americans. We
looked up the mayor and in the mean
tim the whole susbang had turned
out to welcome us. Not one Of us
spoke French much less understood 1t
but do you know these Gear people
lust won. our hearts at once, not
the slightest suspicion shown. We
finally found a dear old soul who
had one time lived in America. She
must have been a maid in some house
hold. She took charge and by IL
o'clock we had the men placed around
10 to 20 in barns and stables, and
we were portioned out in three
homes. l wish I could describe 1t
with the proper color. Before going
to bed we officers went up to see
the mayor and got acquainted ever
several bottles of wine, rare old stuff,
Gee! 1t flows here like water. One
of the men this morning asked an
old lady for little water to wash
a blister on his foot and she brought
him a bowl Of red wine. You bet he
knew what to do with it. Ny sole
stock of French was something like
"Wee wee" meaning yes and the fine
old couple I stayed with helped me
to get on to that. l had a room with
a window that gave fine view of
the country and a bed of feathers
feet thick This old place may be
a thousand years old. l am sure 1t
is not less than or hundrd just
like a picture in history or some
old print. The people are quaint but
not one bit ignorant, except about
things modern. They are surely fine
and ! can't imagine such grace and
manners among the same class in
the u. 8.
Must stop again now. Will write
more tonight August 81. This is
simply a real rest camp but we get
into harness and hard work again
next week. hope to speak French
hefore I am through hut II iS one
greet experience living among people