The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1918-04-11
SAW SECRETARY BAKER
ARRIVE IN FRANCE
Willard Hooper Was Fortunat e
Enough to See Distinguished
American Welcomed by French.

The following letter, containing
some very interesting facts about
sightseeing overseas, has been re
ceived by Mrs. Richard S. Hooper,
whose son, Willard, is serving Uncle
Sam in the U. S. Navy:
Dear Mother:
l surely had something to say this
time, as you will note by the length
of the letter.
l will start with the first of our
trip. 1t was uneventful. We had
only one submarine scare, and it
turned out to be a spar in the water.
Well, l was lucky enough to get
leave to go to Paris, and, believe me,
| had some time there. The morn
ing of the first day l went out to
get some souvenirs to bring back
home. In the afternoon / went thru
Cluny Palace. 1t was just by luck
that | got to go thru the palace, but
the Y. M. c. A. had gotten permis-
sion to take a party thru and l was
included. The original walls date
back to before Christ The place
contains the finest collection of an
tiques in all of France. From there
we went through several chapels,
and finally ended with the Holy
Chapel, which was built to hold the
crown of Thomas, nails, and part of
the cross, which were bought for
millions of dollars by one of the En-
perors, and this chapel was built es-
pecially to hold them. The glass
from the windows is being removed
to protect them from the air raids,
which are occurring about twice
week.
Well, that night we went to a NOV
ing picture show, and saw Charlie
Chaplin. The streets are all dark at
night. There is only one light to
block, and it is shaded to protect the
city from air raids. In the morning
of the second day we took the sight
seeing trip, and we sure did have
some time. One of the first places
we went through was the noted Ca
thedral of Notre Dame; going thru
this place alone was worth a thou
sand dollars. Another place of equal
Importance was Napoleon's tomb. 1t
is here that they have all of the in
struments of war captured from the
Germans; everything, from a bomb
throWer to an aerOplane.
Among the places of interest we
visited were the Arch of Triumph,
Verdun Monument, which was made
of 1900 Austrian canon and the Ger
mans have tried to destroy it several
times; the Pantheon, where all of
the kings and emperors are buried;
Eiffel Tower, which was built by
Eiffel for the worlds fair, which
was held in Paris a long time ago;
Magdalene Church, which was built
for queen; Hotel De Vile, which
is one of the largest buildings in
Paris; the Concord Place, St. James
Tower, the church being destroyed
during one of the revolutions and the
tower being all that remains. One
of the last places we went through
was the opera house. / will not go
into details about any more of the
places, as am sending home a book
of views, and I will write an expla-
cation ahosat each ... Il
In the afternoon we went to YER
sales, and went through the one
hundred million dollar palace of
Louis XIV. The fountains in his
garden cost $4,000 to run them one
day. That night we went to grand |
opera at the opera house. 1t only
cost seven francs, which is only |
about $1.36 in American money;the |
same seat in an opera in the United |
States would e~ 'ywhere from $S |
to SIS.
The next day we went around find |
ing the places we had not seen, and |
went through lot of the stores. |
There certainly are some fine de- |
partment stores in Paris. We only |
had a four-day leave, and we had to |
go back that night, as it is fourteen !
hour ride from the place we are to
Paris. The railroad fare is only |
1882 one way, as the rates are |
about one-fourth of a cent mile.
Well, 1 was ashore Sunday, and
saw a bunch of French sailors at the
boat landing, and little further
along two companies of American
soldiers, so I stopped to see what
was going to happen. / waited |
about half an hour, when l saw a
yacht coming towards the landing. /
AS the yacht tied up and the people 1
in the yacht started to come out, the |;
French buglers started up the Mar |,
and Secretary of War Baker
stepped out of the yacht.
We heard still better news today: |
we are going to start back for the
United States either tomorrow or
next day, which certainly does sound
good to me.