Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1918-04-10
FROM CAPTAIN BUTTERSI

Party. SIND Division. A. E. F.. France. Feb's
Dear hr. Munson: The doors in France
have their knob in the center instead of at one
side. The BARRIERS rub the lather in ones
l mouth. The meals consist of an innurnerahIe
number of plates and knives with little of
the substantial They have pieces of money
| as low IN value as one-fifth Of a cent Every
! kid has learned TO say, "Goots morning. IN
English: politeness becomes burdensome, the
word Merei meaning, Thank you" is the
1 most used word in the language. Houses are
all built Of stone, without facilities for hat
/ ing except fire places, and as there is pr..cti-
eally no wood and but little of an inferior
grade of coal, fellows body Is a constant
| bioteh of goose flesh, except when he gets into
one Of Their big feather beds and then he is
comfortable. l think this is the reason the
French people put in much time in bed
The trip over was anything but enjoyable.
We had very stormy voyage, and with the
| constant fear of the subs and with all lights
out at sunset and load of human freight it
became almost unbearable at times. Since
landing. which was quite a while ago. have
travelled lot and seen many of the wonders
and some of the sadness of this land of much
suffering Not that It is all suffering. The
french are stoIeal, often happy, 1--WE hear
French song and man whistling now and
thent but the thousands of women dressed
IN all black. the millinery shops with nothing
displayed but black bonnets, the lack of
young and middle aged men except in the
garb OF the soldier, all tell of the undercur-
Isht OF sorrow. IN the town l am now in,
there are no electric lights, no kerosene moth
ing but candles. | haven't seen a piece of
white bread since landing, only a mixture
OF rye and barley, very little sugar or sweet
stuff The houses and churches here were
built for the most part in the past centuries
often as long ago as the 14th and 15ht GEN.
turtles. And for the most part they haven't
washed up or cleaned anything in ali that
time. With what the people have they are
wonderful cooks. You see have been on the
go most OF the time and had to live in hotels
or bilets, homes that requisItioned by the
French government for soldiers, and have
not had chance to get at the good fare of
fha Inc aRld k.xr. all.
the at home In some places il is
forbidden to American soldier to eat in a
private house unless he takes his soldier bread
with him. Ihis Is because the French would
skimp themselves, so great is their love for the
nations that has thrown in its lot with them.
The other day / saw three French poilu
(peasant soldiers) evidently right back on a
furlough from the front. They We're muddy
and loaded down with all the paraphernalia
of war fare. their jaunty caps their heads
and their steel helmets hung their backs.
They were standing in front of moving
picture show, first looking at the pictures and
then at the prices marked up a sign. They
counted their money and shook their heads
A French soldier gets about 6 cents a day. and
the price of the cheapest seat was one franc
man give three days pay for nights en-
tertanInent. When | bought tickets and
motoned them to come on in they shook
hands and wanted to kiss both cheeks,
and then they embarrassed me by not knowing
enough to take off their hats when they got
in But why should | be embarrassed. The
French people have unwrtten law that a
person can do just what he wants and no one
ever thinks of laughing at them. The great
est insult you can give to a French man is
70 l..ugh at him or intimate that he is impolite
Their grRtefulness to we Americans is mani
tested at every turn They give their homes
and would give of their food if we would al
low Il The house / am now in as cold as a
barn, IS a great chateau. The wood work
aud furniture are constant source of wonder
to me, loving as | do old furniture. There
are oil and later color paintings all the
walls that know have great value. Massive
bed steads and dainty pieces Of furniture that
l. 1ust want TO steal or buy and send home.
This chateau is owned by a Frensh naval
officer who is away to the war, and his place
is requisitioned by the government for the
American troops. We have ten officers housed
here. The women of the house do all the
work for except cook. We get our meals
at hotel. and we have a hard time TO get
these care takers to accept any money for
their services. One would think they would
be suspicious and put their nice belongings
away, but no They seem to have implicit
trust in US that nothing will be disturbed.
From this town. small place, so men have
gone to the war-24 of them have been killed
There are no slackers here. Our interpreter
asked man the other day why he wasn't
at the The was highly insenced.
Why = he said, and pulled up his GOAT
sleeve and showed where ball had gone in
then said. "a had five pieces of shell in my
head of them. is there yet and with all
that ! only have one months leave" There
Is lot of fog in this locality. Spring is be-
ginning. Crocuses are in bloom. The coun-
try looks great deal like Wisconsin around
Viroqua, only the land is more intensely cul-
tiVated, and there are no farm buildings in
the country, the people all living in the little
towns and going to their work daily. Many
of the cities | have been in surrounded
by great walls, with moats, devoid of
water. and draw bridges. All along the roads
are great stone crosses carved beautifully
WIN Gstgs on back 10 the past century Inc
stone buildings are carved in beautiful man
ner and the cathedrals and churches are COW
cred with sculptured works of art But all
show age and are moss and lichen covered like
old tom hSiOnpS fallen in the Took a
so mile trip in motor truck yesterday. passed
through three walls in going into one town.
IaVemet several men | have known in the
past, men Of the-- Division. Almost
forgot that this will be censured and I am not
to mention places or organizations. The roads
are excellent and bordered both sides with
trees When the government allows the cut
ting of a tree it is utilized down to the last
twig. the small branches being bound in
bundles and used for fine wood. All the men
in our party well and extremely active. |
Martin Gulbrandson. who is my orderly, is
just happy and smiling and fat always.
Woligram, who went as orderly for another
officer. was sent to a different place and we
have not him since leaving the states. |
About the itself That | am barred
from mentioning. Enough to say that you get
more away over there than we do here. |
1t is said that the French themselves get
their own news from the u S. papers. The
great hone and longing of this war-weary
country is that victory may soon come on the
side Of the Allies and that the of the
Kaiser may be a kissing and a by word in all
the land for all time to come. There is no
spirit to give up till this is accomplished.
Personally, although this is a terrible conflict, |
am glad to be physically able and of the age
TO be in it. | so years old last Monday
and the boys had blow out for me. There
are very few any older in this game. My
best regards to Viroqua and its people Tell
the Red Cross ladies that | wearing one of
their helmets and sweaters.
From Lew d. Potts, Fort Moutrie. South
Carolina, February 10.
We are getting about six months training
now in about six weeks. Working most all
the time. Have got great deal to do now
getting ready TO take the first and second
class gunners' examination Have "A lot of
studying and drawings to make. Have not
finished all the drawings yet Don't know If
| will be able to pass the examination or not
but hope There is lot of stuff to
learn in the coast artillery. We have been
drilling the last two three days with rifles.
| Just got mine this week. 1t an awful
job TO clean it up. it but was covered
with heavy oil Worked about four hours on
it.This is Saturday and had to stand inspec-
ton this morning had to clean up right. We
have shower baths at of the companies,
get to take warm bath when ever we
want to now. viii not have to do ANYTHING
now until Monday only stand Retreat Call
tonight at :45 Am now out of quarantine
have been sent sent to my company which
is Battery A. 81. We all sleep in tents.
There are six in the tent ! am in and they are
some nice fellows. One of them had been a
professor or teacher in a high school before
He gets quite little literature to read. There
are several of them here. You asked how
long | enlisted for Well all of us are in
for the period of We.T. If il lasts six months