Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-06-11

I
the Aviation Corps, where he is hav-
ing some wonderful experiences. he
! says. Taylor. before his enlistment
served in various parts of Pennsyl-
rania for the Bell Telephone Com
pany, but shortly after the declara-
tion of war he enlisted in the Signal
Corps of the United States Army. Re-
Gently he was transferred to the
Aviation Corps. Taylor is enjoying
his experiences on the war-torn fields
of France thoroughly. he writes to
friends here. A recent letter re-
ceived by his parents. Mr.. and Mrs
Samuel NJ. Taylor. follows:
France, May II, 1918.
Dear Parents:
To-day is Mothers Day. I'm
writing to you instead, for il may Just
be possible that you may be inter-
ested in some things which in writ
ing to Peg 1 consider of secondary
Importance. Then two parts of my
letters are jealously guarded and not
passed around. Peg has told me as
much. Those parts that have had
circulation are no doubt colossal
monuments to my inability to SPELL
1
have to prove il. I just admit it and
write on-so here goes:
About the only thing a member
of the A. L. f. is sure of is that
there is a war Even then some of
us whose acquaintance with actual
trench life has been acquired
through binoculars from a safe dis
tance and hearsay alone experience
short, blissful moments of doubt, but
these moments are short lived. For
instance, in my case. l wouldn't be
in France (somewhere) without
Mrs. Peg Taylor unless there was a
war or the wind blew me over here.
However. since 1 am here, I do my
best to consider it very high privi-
lege. l succeed quite well with the
delusion. too, for L feel that I'm
needed (even II to date my bit has
been a very small. insignificant one)
along with every properly equipped
man we can transport to France.
It's no secret these days that the
United States is Just in the nick of
time. Our entrance saved or will
save the day. but we mustn't forget
that the dogged grit of England and
her colonies and the wiryness and
elasticity of the French, together
old 'Chaser?) have combined to
throw the deciding vote in our lap.
1t so happens that with the least eff
fort and suffering of any of the AL
lies we find ourselves masters of an
extremely nasty situation with the
Central Powers. It's hardly fitting
that We Americans, either in France
or at home. should waste our time
over feeling sorry that there is a
war and that we are inconvenienced
by ii. The fact is there is a war,
one in which, had we taken our part
from the start, might now be his
tory. However, Americans as a race
aren't palm readers Chats for you,
Peg) and spilled milk is tabooed.
Our job is to make it past history,
the kind that doesn't repeat, and to
do it quickly.
It's a terrible sacrifice for a
mother or wife to send her son or
husband almost 1000 miles to meet
conditions she doesn't fully know
the details Of I think I know a lit
tie of how they feel. Imagination is
a wonderful thing. but it plays mis-
erable tricks If danger accompanies
it, so I'll try to tell you how it seems
to some of us, for a good many
mothers and wives will be sending
soldiers to France, and the more
cheerfully they part with them the
better soldiers they'll be and the
more they send the quicker most of
them will return.
Now to explain how 1t feels to
be here, close up on the war. Rela-
lively speaking. I'm closer up in the
war than l am in the lighting. l
know little or nothing of the latter.
I've seen some of the results of both
the war and the fighting. I've heard
machine guns cackle and have seen
a few shells explode. Our corps is
on the whole something like a kid
who gets permission from his mother
to go swimming, but is told not to
go near the water. and can say
for the battalion that it has much the
same attitude as the youngster in
the example. It's just the old case
of wanting to do the thing that is
forbidden. have some ideas re-
garding the training of Little Peg
Ito be-, based on my experience with
this longing. Anyway. our work
doesn't take us to the trenches, but
I've talked with quite a few dough-
boys who have experienced those
things which have been forbidden to
us. They all agree that there is no
place like home. but they are a
cheerful. happy, wefl-fed-looking
bunch and are able to inoculate
their hard knocks and danger with
an uncanny amount of wit and en-
joyment. and. strange to say they
don't hold themselves up as heroes
and look down on we chaps who
don't take shrapnel with our cof-
fee. They are modest, unassuming,
grinning, real chaps, whose chief de-
sire seems to be to capture Hun for
a sort of souvenir. They are de-
cidedly in earnest. though, and keep
a continual tension on their leash.
Americans are going to be thought
of in other terms than dollars and
cents after the war.
"All the Coover family and you,
too, Peg, know the appearance and
a little of the ways of France. so 1t
won't be as though Carson and I
(when he gets here) were. say. in an
African Jungle. which you would
have difficulty in 'picturing. We
have the same old sun as you have
(when 1t shows up) and when 1t
rains-Well. IL helps to keep your