River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1918-11-28

! DCoI II ICuu.-
Several days ago | was very
agreeably surprised when a bunch
of mail came in from the States, to
receive your letter. 1t surely looked
good to me for mail from the States
is priceless treasure over here, and
| certainly appreciate your taking
the time to look up my address and
write to me.
/ | know you are very much in
terested in what we are doing over
here and where we are located, and
| would like very much to go into
details and describe our work and
just what we are doing these days
were it possible, but of course the
censorship rules forbid any mention,
however slight, to anything which
might prove of value to the enemy
should a letter niscarry and fall in
| to his hands.
/ may however safely write de-
scribing the French people, in whose
land we are; and some of the in
teresting sights we see every day,
/ At present our company is billetted
lon the outskirts of an old French
city with a population running be-
tween 100000 and 100000. Com
pared to an American city with the
same population it would seem small
and cramped, but over here it is
considered to be quite modern, IN
fact the shops and business houses
here seem to be more up-to-date
than in any city we have visited SO
far.
Last Saturday we were dismissed
at LOO P. NJ. and allowed the run of
the city until $3.50 that evening. 1t
was mar et day and for one had a
most interesting time visiting, the
market and roaming around the
streets, 'rubbernecking" as it were.
r The market is large covered
building with open sides filled with
: booths in which the goods are dis
J played and offered for sale. The
2 building covers about half of an
$ ordinary sized city block, while in
e front of it is an open paved square
| fully as large as the building itself.
: Here the more bulky goods and the
! overflow from inside are taken
b care of in tents or merely by being
f heaped up in piles on the ground.
a Nearly every thing that one could
e ask for was displayed and offered
e for sale. Fresh meat, poultry, and
(. fish filled the booths on one side OF
: the market. Next to them came the
e dairy products among which was
/ some of the strongest smelling cheese
o that | have ever run on to. Then
b there were innumerable small booths
and tables loaded with various kinds
of fruit. vegetables and nuts. And
so it wen on from one thing to an.
. other. In one corner of the market
were booths in which lace and hand
embroidery work was offered for
sale. / don't pretend to know any
thing about such things and spend
the major portion of my time where
the 'eatables" were displayed, but
from the looks of some Of the pieces
: of embroidery work | saw it must
: have taken great deal of skill and
patience to make them. If | can
find a safe way of sending them
home and some one to advise me
: what to purchase intend to send a
few little pieces of the embroidery
and lace work to my mother and
sisters. | have seen ever so many
small articles which I have wanted
to purchase, but have no sure way
of sending them home and can't
carry them with me as we move
) from place tie place, so | have had
: to pass them by. If I have good
; luck however, hope to collect few
trinkets to bring back with me as
souvenirs when it is all over and
| and done with.
There are so many old buildings
and monuments in this part of the
country and nearly every one has an
interesting story attached to it. Not
long ago | crossed an old stone
bridge which was originally built by
the Romans about 300A D. 1t was
partially destroyed during the 18th
century, but was later repaired by
the French and today it is in con-
slant use and seems to be as rugged