Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1918-09-13
AMERICAN BOY in FRANCE

mere Is an interesting lebJeI AIOlh u
boy in France to his aunt in Wau-
seon, which will be still more in
teresting when it is known that the
boy is Fred f. Snowman, nephew
of Mrs. J. E. Furney, to whom the
letter is addressed, and that the
boys father and mother as well rs
the BOY himself were formerly res
idents of Wauseon. Through the
exigencies of the editors desk and
the fact that quite naturally Mrs.
Furney desires to preserve the or
iginal letter, the publication has
been delayed, but the contents are
none the less interesting:
France, July 25, 1918.
Dear Aunt:
/ will drop you folks a few lines
to let you know that | am now some
where in France. | ana well and feel
ing fine. | am in a little town that
had a population of about 5000 in
peace times. 1t is a quaint little
place. They have a big square here
an Ine. center OF the town, big
church taking up the most prominent
place in tiie squ.,re. Here the farm
ers b-mg IN tneiI produce every Tues
DAY anu market 1t quietly, same as
they 40 back N the States. A person
can buy most anything here; some
merchants coma IN and sell clothing,
Too. Most al the buildings are built
OF stone, cement, or a few, brick, and
most all the roofs are slate, though
there are quite a few clay roofs. AL
most every well-to-do Frenchman has
a big stone wall around his home;
most generally so hign a person can
not see the yard at all. At night. he
locks everything up tight; as a gen
eral rule their shutters for over the
windows are made of sheet iron, paint
ed nearly the same shade as the
house, with few air holes in the top,
and these are shut and bolted every
night, winter and summer. Most all
the wagons are one-horse carts; two
wheel affairs, although they are built
heavy; some carts are built nice like
n buggy, with a sliding seat which
can be moved forward or backward
to balance the load so that it will not
rest on the horse too hard. In this
country when they haul logs they
tie the logs on under the wagon in
stead of on top; they haul some pref
ty good loads for one horse. Their saw
mills don't come up to the American
mills. The railroad trains over here
are quite a bit smaller than ours; a
small passenger coach contains five
compartments; big coach, ten; each
compartment holds eight persons, and
the coach has running boards on the
sides. You enter the coach from the
side Of the car as the seats run cross
ways of the car; there is no aisle
lengthwise of the car; only on few
is there an aisle lengthwise of the car
The engines are quite a bit smaller
than ours, but there are quite a few
American engines over here that are
more like the ones back in America
Quite a few tunnels over here.
went through one l imagined was
three-quarters Of a nile long.
Most of the trees / have seen Sc
far are pines, few beech, and ther'
are some maple. This is one beauti
full country, thought
The French people are glad we ar
in France to help them win the war
They gave us a warm welcome.
am lost over here, though, as | can
speak French. | talk mostly with m.
hands. The French girls are not a
pretty as l imagined they were be
fore l left America; they have goo
manners. though, and are very cour
tOus like.
/ am getting along fine over here
and don't expect the war to last loni
as the Germans are certainly getting
theirs now.
This is about all can think of t.
write now, so will close. Write an
tell me all the news.
Love to all.
WAC. FRED F. SNOWMAN.
Supply Co. 329th Infty.
A. P. o. 762, Am. Ex. F.