Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1918-08-14

OL0 CAL41 ely wal Is oil III DIG6SGu
bricks" about the size of two of Bill
Barrows' red bricks. Don't know the
price. 1t is not used freely as in the
states. Same with electricity, fur
naces, water systems, bath tubs, tel
ephones, etc; such things exist here
but not in common use.
Women work right with the men in
the fields. The girls say American
girl promenade and make signs with
their hands of pretty clothes-"no
good" "oui-oui," ~ la la "Francaise
file work-good." The good is pro-
nounced guide. U la la is an express
sion such as our good gracious or oh
dear me.
They have but little homework
aside from cooking and that is simple.
Bread is purchased, large round
loaves a foot OF more in diameter
weighing some four or five pounds.
1t is new wrapped-just carry it I'M
der their arm. From that you can
judge as to the rest of the house work
.-fagot brooms, often rough wood or
stone floors, plain heavy wood tables
and chairs, very little in the line Of
curtains, linens and such-this is all
Peasant stuff.
But their home truck gardens are
wonderful. Every onion seems to be
automatically correctly placed with
hundreds of varicolored roses inter
spersed to set the green off.
Sunday eve.-France has great
need for farm implements. Most of
the work is done by enormous oxen
and slow is no name for it. The seed
is planted by hand and the grain cut
by hand with scythes, raked by hand
and hauled to the barn by the oxen.
Am waiting patiently to see them
thresh.
Most of their implements are home
made and they sure can handle them.
When they get through in the field it
is clipped right to the ground and not
a spear of grass wasted. In England
and some parts of France the land is
divided into tiny plots by hedges; in
other sections the dividing line is a
small ditch. Each man has a little
patch here and another there. The
patches average about the size of our
home lot and are irregular in shape.
The fields are full of wild flowers of
all colors most Of which are strang-
ers to our eyes. Am pressing them in
a book for you. Am sitting on the
edge of a rye field just now writing
part of the time and killing bugs be-
tween times-fine sport-in fact so
much appreciated by the boys that
they get up in the middle of the
night to slaughter a few. Not at all
uncommon to wake up and see some
DIV ciffip o. ont IN thu Hnnr niui1o n hic
underwear a very personal, partic-
ular and minute inspection. Guess
I'm poor pasture as / "ain't bothered"
as yet or perhaps Tm-we'l call it
Our Rosy and her two buds are
coming along fine. The kittens are
playful as can be and furnish us a
lot of amusement. We keep them un-
der Grill's cot in an old suitcase. The
clipping enclosed as to the Americans
coming along with a bit of everything
on their backs found us right at home.
We tote those cats and spend dollar
after dollar for milk. We also have
our quota of fiddles. The French say
the American is crazy. Be that as it
may, nc matter where an American
lands he first makes everything as
sanitary as possible and then for the
home touches" such as pets, etc.
We are being issued plenty of both
chewing and smoking tobacco now,
also soap, more than we have need
for, in fact we get plenty of every
thing necessary, thanks to the "con-
servation" at home. We have dis
carded all but necessary clothing. 1
carry overcoat, raincoat, 1 wool suit,
2 suits wool underwear, 4 pairs light
socks and my homemade wool socks,
regulations call for A pairs; 2 pair
hob-nailed shoes, Ct carry but one)
l pair wrapped leggings, 1 gas mask,
2 wool shirts, l overseas cap and steel
helmet, gun, ammunition, etc. First
aid packet, rubber poncho, 8 wool
blankets, (Only / or 2 on hike) u
tent, pole and rope, mess kit, bacon
can, 6 lbs.) condiment car, Coffee,
sugar, salt and pepper, e lbs.) pack,
and then surplus personal stuff such
as sweaters, belly bands, gloves, tot
let articles, towels, brushes, tobacco,
instrument, music, writing paper,
odds and ends of junk, three cats and
my own dear sweet disposition-in all
some 20 or 80 pounds-sometimes the
ulSpOSlLlOu SSlS real uSdVy III Which,
case one lays the rest of the junk
down by the roadside, curse it and
kick it, jump on it a few times, throw
something away, light your pipe,
rinse your mouth from your canteen,
wipe off the sweat and CRIME, remedy
such little things as sand in your
shoe, adjust your pack straps, shout
der it and on your way for another
so minutes, intermittently cussing the
next guy because he crowds you. You
feel big as a balloon and slightly
wobbly and need room. The rest of
the time your tongue is silent, per-
haps it's dry and anyway you have
business of your own to attend to
without chewing the rag.
The first hour is a snap, the second
you get pretty we'll warmed up and
the straps begin to cut in, and the
third tires you out. Then you see the
other fellow going on and you know
he's no better man than you so from
then on you don't think nor act but
just seem to travel automatically.
We chaps are ~dismounted, everyone
else rides so we take the horses gait
or about 10 twenty-five inch steps per
minute for US. All roads in France