Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1918-09-24
THE SPIRIT OF JEFFERSON
BRINGS TWO CHARLES TOWN
BOYS TOGETHER IN FRANCE

1nE 0Tlhll Ut JET ERoO1N
BRINGS TWO CHARLES TOWN
!, BOYS TOGETHER IN FRANCE
We have received another letter
from our friend, Captain M. Clayton
Thrush, who explains how letter IN
the Spirit of Jefferson brought two
Charles Town boys togther in France.
His letter follows:
4 Aug. IA, 1918.
My Dear Clayton:
Shortly after my arrival in France
| wrote you letter which | trust you
,. received. | arrived July Is, and have
been very busy all the time. | had
the largest inirnlary on the ship on
the way over, and was chief sanitary
officer at the Rest camp and was chief
medical officer on the train on my way
here. | explained in my previous let
ter all about my ocean voyage and my
trip on the train. You can see that |
have always plenty to do. This APP
pears to be my fate everywhere / go.
The trip through France was very en-
joyable and there are several features
that were particularly striking. First
of all the country is very beautiful,
everything the French do, they do in
best be compared to big public park
at home. The farms are small and
lthey use every available inch of space.
No waste no dirt, no weeds. Hillsides
lare planted by q series of lattice or
lstep-like grades. The buildings are
lall of stone and they are built to re-
Imain for ages. / have been in several
that were over 1000 years old and a
| ,haz. RI atl
years old. A large number have high
stone walks around them. The most
striking feature is an absolute neglect
of sanitation and plumbing in their
construction. Their barns are built
exactly as the houses except that they
are constructed as one long building.
They have no fences of wood and they
use no wood here except for doors and
furniture. No buildings of any kind
of wood and no fences. They use
hedge and mounds of earth with green
grass for fences and have trees ar
ranged at regular intervals instead of
posts. Small wooden gates like we
use where there are children are used
between the fields This same arrange
lment applies all over France as have
travelled entirely across the country.
Trees are allowed for fuel except when
they are old, and they certainly are
arranged artistically.
The method of farming whilst in
tensive, is similar to methods in vogue
in the u S. about rs years ago. They
cut their wheat with the sicle and
cradle and the method of washing
clothes is quite unique. They use a
board similar in type to our ironing
board and they use scrub brush and
, large paddles to fay the clothes so
that they pound" the dirt out. Rath-
er hard on the delicate fabrics used by
the American women. They use cold
water in their washing and when ever
river or stream is accessible they
frequently stand in water up to their
knees and perform their work.
Plumbing and sanitation have not
been developed so that it is rare to
find a house with modern plumbing
facilities except in some of the larger
cities.
1t is surprising to note how readily
the soldiers learn to converse with the
: native French. 1t is a combination of
signs and motions with an occasional
word which they learn. | have been
here three weeks now and am able to
carry on a conversation in ordinary
subjects | find the simplest way to
acquire the language is to take your
dictionary and converse with the
school children. Some of them are
very bright and it is surprising how
they are learning English. They al
ways learn faster than their parents.
| General Pershing visits us and he is
a wonderful man whom everyone loves
He is a man of highest executice abil-
ity and a peerless leader among men
and withal a distinguished gentlemen
and true soldier. He talks to the men
and there is not man that would not
fight like a demon under such COM
mander Talk about the morale and
spirit of the men here, it is of the
highest. Every man is anxious and
willing to do his part, and the difficult
ty is to keep them from doing too
much. The American soldier is not
afraid of anything You read in the
lpublic press what they did with the
Kaiser's crack troops "The Prussian
Guard" We fairly eat them up.
| Now for the recital of the most
unique yet pleasing incidents. One
morning recently, one of the Captains
of the one of the organizations that
l am in charge of, walked to the door
of the hospital as | was sitting at my
desk, and as he entered | noticed he
held in his hand the front page of the
spirit of Jefferson. | recognized it
instantly when he was 18 feet away.
His wife had sent him the front page
of the Esprit" containing that article
of mine which had sent you from
Camp Dix. | exclaimed "Where in
the world did you get that?" care
you from Charles TOWN." | felt al
most like embracing him. I had been
acquainted with him here but did not
know he was from my old home. His
name is Baker Hall, son of the late
John Hall, whose farm was on the
edge of town adjoining the Bates and
Moore farms. He and l had known
each other when was in Lights drug
store. We had good talk about old
Charles Town and we often talk over
the old times and events. So you see
Charles Town is well represented here.
Glad to see my article in print for the
first time after it had travelled four
thousand miles.
| Well l enclose my photo which
shows how we dress here. You will
note the belt and cap which are used
only in service here. l would be de-
/ lighted to have the Spirit if you
could send it. My address is on the
envelope. | censor considerable mail
as part of my duties. One of my as
sistants is from Wheeling, so the new
dominion is well represented. Write
me whenever you can.
Very sincerely yours,
NJ. CLAYTON THRUSH,
Captain NJ. R. c.