The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-09-29
RICHMOND DOCTOR
TELLS tXPER|ENC:.
Waking Nny Friends Among The
French People And Steadily Ac-
qnirut- the Language.

From Captain Horace Hawkins.
lorna esiv of Richmond, but now in
I France g letter has been received tell
: ing many interesting experiences in
connection with his professional ser
vices IN Uncle Sam 8 medical depart
mcrt ~ the army,
portion Of the letter follows:
We are still in the same little VIII
faSc from which / wrote you last the
name beng flowery and poetic The
mayer OF the town is rather n tall.
angular gentleman and he has been
extremely nice 10 Us. hut ne passes
a good tart Of his time drinking red
vine ch4n~ts his hat about every
TWO a0U!a AMI serspjreS with consid-
eraate freedom, due. perhaps 10 his
manner ot gcsticHiauon in talking
These French people do not seem
to he able 10 understand that | am
not a major, The fact that / am lie
de"ctcur or 1e medIcin' implies to
their way Of thinking that ! am also
"A ma3or With the sid Of an interpre-
ter finally made them understand
that all jors are rat and bald. Yes
ierd3N the major invited several OF us
Z" hive dinner with him and his bro
Their. which invitation was accepted /.
That affair lasted three fun hours. in
cIudlnE the conversation between
courses There were all sorts Of red
wine hut u is sour. Soft drinks are
unknown here. There is no tea or
. coffee and unless one hoils the water !
hero IL is rather a dangerous COM .
pound /
I Every dav I am acquiring Il little
French, and the other day had
trouble with MY throat. could not
speak above 4 whisper The old lady
III whose house l ara bilieted, came
up and fred tins at me. 'Du lait /
9chand pour lie gorge managed I
/ to get something about milk at bed /
time for the throat and / called one
ot the men OF my detachment and .
hld him TO translate for me. He said 4
She wanted me to drink hot milk
az bedtime for nay throat. It is not
: A-Ee4- AAa-cAGG+4l- lt-+-.-1aa- hard ~ :
speak above a whisper ] m feaeling
/ me guess I must have warped it
trying TO speak French
/ rs is tho custom here, all the viii .
/ laEee are, ON the same general plan. v
ne houses are huIlt with an enclos- +
4 ri court or yard. and on this the .
! house. the harm, the stable. the chick I
I on house open. In the yard there is
! a pile of manure from the house fac 4
J ing thereonc. This particular house I
( Is apparently two hundred years old 4
Z ! forgot to say that ia the yard there I
are ducks. chickens. turkeys, rabbits, 4
docs and sheep The sheep are taken I
to the fields during the day for graz I
lh& being brought back at night The 1
horses and COWS are large and fat. 1
here Is much American farm ma |
cluHery 10 be seen hereahouts
Food Is Plentiful
! There are no scattered farm /
houses, the people coming to the VII /
rage al night and going 10 the fields |
u49hE the day. Old men. women and !
boys &c all the work The roads are
urn. smooth and glistening white. /
FROM the top of the him to the west
of The village we can sec the wind
ing white road and the beautiful roll
ing country and there are two or three
villages similar TO this in the dis
ltance, Food appears to he plentiful
except that bread is sold on the card
system. There are these exceptions
mo coffee. little tea, little sugar All
of the people appear well fed and the
tchiidren are rosy fat chubby and
Iahout as dirty as the average Amer
ifcan child
As / said. / ann picking up a bit
iot French To hear the natives talk
ing Il, however furnishes excitement
ito those watching them. | have learn
cd this much; when trying to learn
french II Is safe rule never to try
TO pronounce word like it is spelled
when two privatcs came into the yard
and J saw one of them replacing a
learn French book in his pocket
They wanted to buy eggs French
for eggs is 'oeufs, pronounced 'erf.'
eNcept that the r is nearly silent.
One of them walked up TO the lady
and said: 'ooof' She looked Al him
and replied Les opufs?' The Gus
TONER said No oof--oof, Oh, hi,
gimme the hook
Finds Industrious People.
There is only one other person
than The soldiers here who can speak
English a little schoolgirl OF seven
teen years. She has been studying
English in Paris, She can read and
write English we'll, hut she can un-
derstand it only when it is spoken
very SLOWLY With her father and
mother they We're out for a stroll the
other day about dusk, and they en-
couutered us
She introduced us the old gentle
lman~~he is a professor of mathema-
tics in a school near here-and he
was cordial and ELUSIVE in his greet
ing The us means that the dentist
of the detachment was with me They
invited us TO call and to take up the
study Of French with his daughter
and they would Try to learn English,
out TINS deHuSt mas mono pOliZod the
isarvices of the fair French teacher
Every day-When- meet this old
gentleman he d0fts' his hat and greets
us affably, 4
4 Il have in my detachment sol
tdier who speaks French readily. and
when ! get into converse lion with
these Frenchmen / ven FERGUSON
You recall thaf is the name of the
guide in Tnnocents Abroad lie
tcomes up smiling aud he is about the
most handy thing one can have around
! in times like these. especially when
THE FrenChmen begin rapid fire con-
.versation. This man and the btlleting
totflcer are my right and left bowers.
| am getting along finely. have good
Quarters plenty TO eat, but am not
receiving any letters from the folks
lat home"
GOVERNOR AND Ap.IIvrANT-=