Courier Democrat., 1918-05-16
Found Milton Man Over
In France 9th SOIkiers.
Continued From First Page.


good cooks and usually get the best
there is cooked in the best manner.
l will not have time to tell you of
our trip across the channel in this
letter but will try and tell you about
it in the next. 1 will tell you little
about F. ench farming as l have seen
it. In the first place everything is
done in very small scale in COM
parison with North Dakota. The
ground is all put in little patches and
is farmed in a very concentrate d
manner. That is crops are constant
)y rotated. the land is heavily ferti.
ilzed and much tame grass is grown
and you ought to see their stock. AS
we marched along the road l saw a
plow drawn by two horses and an OK.
One horse was in the lead and the OK
came behind. A small boy directed
the movements of the animals with
one guide line while girl guided the
plow. One never sees able bodied
fellows here in France except they
are in uniform. Where ever you go
you see the very young and very old
doing the work. Oxen are very com
mon here and there seem to be many
white ones. In the last few days l
have seen teams of six and eight pure
white oxen moving slowly over the
fields or down the roads. They are
very large and the yoke is laid upon
their horns instead of upon their
shoulders, which seems rather poor
system to me. They are we'll trained
and are guided by long stick which
is usually in the hands of small boy.
l also, saw fellow sowing grain in
the old fashioned way l have heard
you speak of it and of course
thought of the Bible parallels of the
sower. The man speak of had a
sack attached to his body by strap
and scattered the grain broadcast
with his hand All this seems old t,
you, just as it does to me, but all
of their farming system is no. old.
Only yesterday l saw plows dra 1n by
small modern tractors on the same
field with big OK teams. The horses
here are among the finest that | have
ever seen and the people sure take
great care of all their stock. 1t is
too bad though that they don't jar
loose from the ancient and look about
them for some modern methods. In
many ways they are slower than the
"seven years itch.
Since dinner tine have been down
to the Y. M. c. A. While there l
got to talking with Y. M. C. A.
man named T. G. Sykes whose brother
preached at Milton. This Y. man
knows DR., Mcqueen and also Dr..
Kroeze. He knew Mr.. Dunnigan too
but did not know of his death. MIR.
Mcintosh was also known to him
We had quite talk about home
which was a mutual pleasure.
Well, l had better stop now or l
| will never get this mailed. The old
war still rolls on and am glad to
see that it is approaching a crisis.
The big job still is ahead of US and |
think that we are to have part in
it. Much love to yourself and all the
others. Tell DR.. Mcqueen about Mr..
Syke', who thinks lot of him Greet
the Gordons, Bottoms and McQueens
for me. have host of letters te
write and guess l will never get
caught up l am looking forward te
letters from home every day az hope
too that the boxes will get here in
good time. sure do 10Y the Lang
don papers when they come and reae
every word. Thanks very much for
sending them.
With love and constant prayer TO,
you and all, am your loving son,
..... John Robertson
End 1t. "M' Co, 26th Infantry
Regiment, A. E. F.