Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-10-03
cadrille Spad 3S,
Secteur Postal 240,
G. c. %.
A,n,,rt 81 1Q1S

G.. G. %,
August 81, 1918.
Dear Mother:-Now that l am rish
where the big. battle was, near Cha
teau-Thierry, have plenty 81
chances to see just how much dam
age artillery given free rein can 40
It's a beautiful country hereabout'
and even the passing of temporary
war clouds was not sufficient to din
the scenery. had ample opportu'
nifty to view some of it the first day
we arrived, for as we had flown tt
a new "piste" we naturally had nt
arrangements made for being leo'
Army Lives on Stomach
Our stomachs soon made us agree
with Napoleon that an army lives on
its stomach, sc the whole escadrll.e
piled into a truck and away we went
to hunt some grub. Following q
road that followed all the curves
and twists OF the Marne river was
a sight almost beautiful enough to
make one forget his hunger-almost
but not quite. Evidence of the bonn
bardment was on every hand-hefe
several houses demolished, and again
a thick wall which commanded an
open stretch of road would be cut
full of business-like holes for ma
chine guns, and apple orchards with
nary an apple in their shady depths
were simply masses of barbwire.
use that their owner, L am sure,
never intended them for. very te"
of the villages were inhabited, al
though few had returned TO thelr
partly demolished houses. We hnally
arrived at u fair sized village thlckIy
populated with half dozen different
nationalities of soldiers and many
civilians.
Fair Sex. but
even saw some American can
teen girls. And while l am on the
subject of American girls-We passed
one Red Cross girl on the road. she
was driving an enormous truck ana
doing it well, too, but she sure ala
get the '"aZzoo" from the French
men, for she was the toughest look
ing specimen | have ever seen of the
angelic sex. In my opinion, it was
not so much the girls fault as her
work, for such rough work Will nave
its effect even on man.
The Democratic French
Well. we had wonderful dinner,
and had it with the officers, an event
that would probably cause court
martial in any other army, but 1t
Just goes 10 show how close French
officers keep to their men, and yet
they are as much respected as IN
any other army. There even hap
pened to be a pretty girl left in the
town bombardments generally
leave the ugly ones-and she waited
on the table, serving us with Six
course dinner, which is pretty good
considering how close we were to the
front The first course, as usual,
consisted of the whole fish cooked
"a la naturale," head, entrails,
scales and tail being removed by the
diner. Don't look so sick! 1t really
is very good after one gets the cam
outage off. And while l am helping
your appetite for dinner, I better
tell you how the cook took a black
ing brush to get the dust off our
bread for the supper. 1t had ac-
quired quite a coating en- route, and
after he had brushed the dust off
and handed it to me. he matter-of-
factly began brushing his coat and
shoes with the same brush. 1t tickled
me considerably, and 1 left out n
hearty laugh, which was bigger
surprise 10 that Frenchman than a
5-franc tip.
Wine Better Than Water
To come back to the dinner,
though, the water given us was abb
more like milk in color, and as for
the taste-ueh! { had to drink
something, and since wine was all
that was procurable, 1 took some of
that, for l had drunk nothing all day
and was indeed in need of some
thing wet. The Americans dining in
the same restaurant looked at our
commander in awed admiration, for
he was wearing all his medals, and
1t did indeed make a most imposing
display. Another officer with US
also had all his on, and he having
some ten Huns to his credit had con-
siderable; therefore, as an escadrille,
we made considerable splash.
TabIecloth For Napkin
Everyone was in quite merry
humor and since no napkins We're
served the officers began allotting
each other Part of the tablecloth as
a substitute. / was out of luck
again, rs the cloth just about
reached the edge of my place. which
was embarrassing to say the least.
What would / do if they passed the
fingerbowls? Fortunately, that Ca
lamity did not occur.
Chateau de Shaffer
The Inhabitants of Shaffer's
Heights are not the only ones who
can boast OF a bungalow! You
should see my war bungalow! or
course, | only use one room and
that, as a blase clerk would put it,
is second floor 'front.'" no baths or
electric lights and don't stretch too
quickly. you'll break something, and
the Boche have done too much of
that already. It's quite a nice room
for one who is hunting the simple,
old-time effects. 1 even have lace
curtains on the windoW and there
are actually three windowpanes left
i counted them, and to make sure
the other three were paneless pushed
my hand through them. It's so long
since l have looked through a pane
of glass that / wasn't quite sure
whether it was a mirage or not. And
would you believe it, an iron he'd
with real mattress? It's a fact,
] turned a somersault on 1t and still
have bump on my head where l
hit the ceiling to prove its springi-
ness, which same, If it does nothing