Norwich bulletin., 1918-06-21

francs pay at 1.S0 D. m. At 2 D. m. lie had nothing. At p. m. he bor- rowed 20 francs from me. At a. m. the gambled. all night). lie had 342 trancs and he came around, woke me Up and paid me my 20. That was three days ago. Yesterday he came around without penny and asked for franc to buy some milk with That IS a little worse than most. but is falrly typical of how money comes and goes in the army. The most conservative men at home seem to de- veiop queer strealls of recklessness- know because sometimes I myself nave felt that way but I've been able to control it so far.
 Well, anyway, the village streets are full now and all are happy. Ev- en the old women, oyerworked and trled as they are. smile for are not the American soldiers here with their helping ways and their vast wealth :? | eve get So much more pay than the fTenca soldiers that most everybody regards us as men of untold riches). And you see the women know that before we leave, most of that money wlii be safe in their own pocket 1 hooks so the reason for the smile is not entirely sentimental.
 1 Now I'll try to tell, you how I hap 1 pened to be in this barn. sitting in the straw, and writing to you.
 This last long trip to the trenches has been particularly disagreeabie. The Roche didn't make is so but the ram, falns rain and the mud and clay and water that made life well nigh unbearable for days and days. Dur iug April the sun shone three times, bn 4iI73a N after rain in all varieties from a
 heavy thick fog to pounding, drench-
 ing storms. Often our dugout had at
 least several inches of water all over the floor and the hunks were soaking wet for days at time. and it was
 cold. Then besides the rain, the
 trench lice seemed worse than usual.
 Toward the end of our tour of duty
 we were so covered we scarce could sleep even the little time allotted to us
 Of what happened this time can of course tell but little. can say
 though that somehow have been able
 to see the picturesque and the roman-
 tic side in every experience, even the
 unpleasant ones. During one of the ! worst bombardnents we received
 somehow could not help but think of a
 verse I read somewhere
 Then crashed the hills with thunder riven.
 Then rushed the steed to battle : driven,
 And louder than the bolts of beaver Far flashed the red artillery In the grandeur of those lines
 forgot all about the danger The mar who wrote that has certainly heart l the booming of the cannon
 Of course most everything happen. at night in the trenches. ModerI
 weapons are so effective that any at tack In daylight is apt to prove yer,
 costly, So though we may relax ant sleep during the day, at night all mus
 be alert and ready. It is interesting
 to watch the signal lights Both side use rocket signals at night-some gt up just for illumination, others tel , the artillery what to do. The light , , are various colors. Some break int, different numbers of stars-all meal something. Certain rocket lights mea.
 gas So the sentinels watch th,
 lights carefully, both ours and tn, cnemy's- Of course our code of sig Ea!s is changed frequently for tn. sake of secrecy. It is fun, too, try
 ing to decide whet certain Boche sig nals mean by what follows them Or z foggy nights. the signals look ex ] ] tremely wierd so. they go up and f1oa gracefully down to tie ground, al have parachutes attached and stay il
 the air several seconds and in som :. cases minutes.
 : It is interesting to watch the artil a lery at night. Far off one sees a fasf not unlike heat lightning, followed , minute or so later by the explosio 7 as the shells starts on it's way. The 2 comes the whistling of the shell as goes through the air and then anothe big light. followed by another big ex t plosion. If the shell lands close tn a noise and illumination seem sinulta neous. Shells flying through the ai l sound like trolley cars and that f what we call them. They often com z from miles behind the front and it : possible to hear them coming throug
 the air. They make so much noic n one often looks up involuntarily. ex z pecting to actually see them. Whe 2 both sides are throwing a barrage tn 2 whole sky is lit up by flashes and tn |, booming is something terrific.
 k The trenches are infested with rat Y great big ones. They are certainl s unafraidi and very hotherseme, es a pecially to a nervous man. I hear t something coming toward me one dar : night and demanded Halt" only 1 find out it was one of those rats an = ore of my men fired at it and kille t it. It was walking along the para -- pet and he honestly thought it to b x the hound of a Boche. These rat l. live ins the most dangerous places on = could find, but nothing will driv 2 them away. saw one shot to piece e by shrapnel but the home he left va f cant is now filled with other rat D They seem to enjoy the booming { t the cannon.
 [. That calls to my mind the bird = They seem to enjoy it too. Nowller S in France have I heard or seen s : many birds-ail kinds together Du1 7 ing the lulls in fierce bombardment
 it is possible to hear them singh | louder than ever.
 The day before my birthday we gc word we were to be relieved ths
 night and everyone was happy-th
 longest hitch yet put in by an
 American soldiers was soon to |
 over. The relief didn't arrive till al
 ter 1 a. m. so it was my birthda
 morning we moved out.
 We iliked out through a ruined vi
 lage near the line. The ancier
 houses and the little church had bee
 crumbled to ruins by the heavy al LIiCISs IlSLS dHu LLSES d Nblt wa
 standing and the blank windows an
 doors stared at us, as we marched U
 the silent street once used by peace . ful farmer-folk but now used only |
 soldiers. Now and again an Amer
 can sentry would halt us sharply an
 demand who we were and where V
 were going. We passed the viIlae
 and were soon hiking along a goo
 road canaoufaged carefully. We wei :. still easily within reach of the eneul
 artillery so everyone kept as quiet 2