Imperial Valley press., 1918-09-17
S|LSBEE SOLDIER
WRITES OF LIFE
IN FRENCH TOWN

An interesting description OF
rench life and activity in the agri-
cultural district of that country is
given in a letter received by Mrs.
. w. Kramar of Silsbee from her
on, Private Adam Raye kramar, of
1 e 362nd Infantry Regiment of the
american Expeditionary forces.
2 Young Kramar, who is well known
h,re, writes as follows:
Somewhere in France, July, 1918.
Dear Folks: l presume you received
uy letter some time ago saying that
was leaving America, so have been
4 orrying ever since for fear "doo-
d e-bug' would get me. | don't know
o any being seen on the trip. Con-
s iering everything, we have a very
p easant voyage and arrived safely.
= he sphorescence in the water was
ute pretty after night. 1t looked
Ike lightning bugs all through the
water wherever it was stirred vio-
emily.
what l have seen of this country
is quite interesting and parts of it
re very pretty. The land is rolling
4 lis and valleys, judging from what
have seen of it. | have seen lots
Jre trees tna2 l expected to find.
I don't know many different trees, but
here are some oak, some birch, some
otonwood and 4 tree that has leaves
Ike the Oregon grape that we had in
Washington. There are some wild
raspberries. l haven't gotten many
of them yet.
"The way of farming is the queer
est thing that | have seen here There
lare some fair-sized fields of grain,
but most of it is in patches one to
three or four rods wide and twenty
to eighty rods long-a strip of wheat,
then oats, and another of wheat,
spuds or something else. They cut
their grain with reapers mostly, and
bind it by hand, though there are
some binders. | have also seen them
cutting hay and grain with cradle
81 haven't seen more than half a
Cozen two-horse vehicles since | left
the United States. The wagons are
nearly all equipped with shafts, and
two or more horses are hitched tan
dem. | saw a man plowing yester-
day with three horses hitched tan
dem.
"The wagon wheels are all held on
by Inch pins. The hay racks are
about sixteen feet long, but only as
wide as an ordinary wagon box and
two to two and one-half feet deep. l
have seen several OK teams working.
They fasten the yoke on their heads
instead of on their necks as in Amer
ica.
There are many wildflowers, some
familiar, some new to me. There are
Ibuttercups, dandelions, yellow daisies,
white and red clover, and a flower
that looks very much like the hare
bell that grows in Washington, except
that there are several on the stem
instead of one. The wild red poppies
are as common here as the golden pop
pies in California and Oregon. Also
bachelor buttons. There are some
prune trees and some prunes almost
ripe. ] don't expect to get many of
, any of them.
"There are frs and short-ne sdle
pines and horse chestnuts. The build
ings are nearly all of stone or brick,
with tile roofs.
"Well, wish l was there to help
+ you put up the hay and milk the
cows
81 am feeling fine and getting along
very we'll so far. Thank you for the
pictures you sent, Amy. They are
good. Chester sure is cute little
fellow, and so is Walter.
"Well, l guess ! have said my say
for this time, and will try to write
again some day. Love to all from
! "RAYE.
q "Private Adam Rave Kramar, II 2, Co.
J 3G2 lnfertry, A r. F., via New