Norwich bulletin., 1918-06-03

The following letter has been re- ] ceived by Josephr LaBonte of Jewett City, from his son. First Lieutenant Napoleon La Bonte. M C.. U. s. R.: Camp Hospital,
 American Post Office 722,
 France, May 29, 1918. No doubt you viii De surpassed to hear from me from way over here, but here I am as big as life and en- toying myself very much under the | circumstances but wishing that the war was all over with so that could return of the country than if we had been riding in a passenger train, which we should have done by wait | ing few hours, but we were all was the most convenient for us. We'll, as to my work. I'm in hospital and doing the same old labratory work and it seems that 1 can't get away | from 1t. We are located up in some mountains and have Q beautiful place l to live. but we are so far from every
 body else that we are as good as
 alone 1 The weather has been very bad. but
 is clearing up now and one of these l times spring will be here But I do not think it will ever get hot as we are too high up in the air. A few II miles from here we can see a range fl of high mountains, covered with snow, II and it only seems few miles over to
 them. But they tell me that they are about Is miles from here, 50 l prob ably will not walk over to climb them as I thought I might do when I first came here. I can't tell you my loca- tion, but I can say that I am as safe here as if I was back in the States. so you will have nothing to worry about in that way, We had a very fine trip | l 0O 7fT,rr much and wasn't q bit seasiclz as 1 | thought I would be. but we were all | a bit anxious on account Of the sub i marines, and I confess that water |
 looked mighty cold But we did not |
 have any reason to be worried, and |
 we did not see a thing that would | have done any harm We landed at l an old French city, and I wish you |
 could have seen the way people turn l
 ed out to see our vessel come in. As |
 it was Sunday everybody was dressed |
 with the best they had and it was
 nearly all mourning. That was the first impression I had of France, that there were so few men. and that all
 the women were in black. I have no trouble in making myself understood since I have been here. but there is a great deal of difference in the way , they speak French in the different parts of the country. In one place il is just like hearing the Canadian speak and I found ont that most Cf } the old Canadian families came from | this section of the country. For l few weeks I took my meals where 2 } lot of the French officers ate, and { there I met some who spoke the real l Parisian French, and it was a pleas : ure to listen to them. If they found 5 out that you knew few words of l French, they started to ask vou lot , of questions and you had to talk, and : in that way I've learned a lot of stuff that I never dreamed of knowing. So you want to brush up on your French : and when I get back I'll give you all 7 a good tryout and see how much of
 it you know. Well, I've heard tell
 about wooden shoes, but now I can say that I've seen them and it took
 me a long time to get used to the
 racket they made. When few kids s start to running down the street it
 sounds as if a lot of colts had broken : loose and you just have to look around
 to see what is coming. But you can
 get used to anything in time and will ] see lot more strange things before ; I get back The country is very nice. Il but it does not look a bit like ours = hack home. Everything has the ap- e pearance of being so old, and all the Q buildings are put up to last forever,
 
 | and so if is cheaper to build out of r stone. Have seen one wonderful s church that was started during the - fourth century and it looks as though d it would stay uD as long again. Am
 making a collection of cards so will : have some to show you when ! get q hack and you can see for yourself s Would send you some but we are not It allowed to do so as somebody might 1ol Nf 11at criIyo = them an idea as to where we were To- e cated. Have been through the fla e nous wine sections here and can ima-
 zine how it must look in the grape d season and hope I can go through c there before the grapes are picked n this year. There are not many vines d here as it is probably too cold for Il them being so high.
 g Told Ethel that I was going to try '- to find her 9 couple of babies to bring a. back with me, and she says she hopes Tt do as the babies out there are get l. ting all grown up. and she likes them n small so she can fuss around with h them. Guess there will not be any
 trouble in finding babies here as is there will be plenty who won't have Il anybody left to care for them after
 this is over If I thought I could take
 care of a couple would try to get them
 as I know Ethel would have fit over
 them.
 " The ground is very hot here and the
 country is all full of little ditches and
 streams and they plant trees all
 along the banks, and they cut all the is limbs off every other spring and use es them for frewood. After they have " been cut in the spring they look like ,- a big club stuck up in the ground :, as there is big knot at the tor 1i- 1 where the limbs are cut off. The law t tA requires that there sholl be so many eGs trees in each district and in this way . they can have the trees. and at the i- same time have a little wood for fire IS and it is a little compared to what w a use at home. Everybody looks colo x 40 in the winter but they probably don -. feel it as much as we do who are use( ly to having all the fire we want
 s What are you all doing with your eu selves out there? Are you all busy VI and feeling good? And how has Dez IT. been getting along this spring? Tel = him to take card of himself and TT | send him a souvenir. Has the kit Il. bought her new bonnet for the spring .5 ~ vet? Tell her I have one here she cal ,I have. We call them monkey caps .il, but they are fine to travel in. But a! . sA I will not travel much for while t U U come I won't have much use for min, = and it cost me F good francs too. ls' suppose Mary is still keeping hous CD for you. How is she getting along oa Tell her I'll try to pick up somethin