Norwich bulletin., 1918-07-27
SOLDIERS AND SAIL ORS What Eastern Connecticut Boys Are Doing In Various Branches of the Service.
Trench Life Not Quiet.

Miss Gladys Lef1ngwen has received the following letter from Private Charles Rathbone, who has beer in France for nearly nine months: Sunny France. Dear Friend Gladys: I wus glad to receive your letter of May recently anw now will answer. Those snap shots certainly are great treat 70 me after being away from Leffine well nearly nine months and seeing thous- ands of people but none of them were familiar to me before. I entered the army. The pictures all looked very natural but the one of the calf with the house in the background pIzzled me for an instant and then it dawn l. ed upon me that it was taken up at Ernest's place.
 You looked very natural but Fred looks as if he was being handled ra- l ther rough in one picture. I suppose Avery and Roy are practicing for ser- vice in the army either on capturing prisoners or picking up the wounded, but they are smiling as if they had a prisoner.
 | I would like very much to send you some pictures of the scenery over here but of course they would not go through the mail.
 Personal pictures are hard to get as photographers do not care to finger around the front and we do not have much time to go wher ethey are.
 France looks very beautiful now with the green fields and forests glis- tening in the sunshine. The roads
 may be observed by the rows of shade trees running across the fields and over the hills as all the roads in France are lined with fine poElars shade trees with the exception of a few apple and cherry trees which are useful as well as ornamental.
 The people do not scatter along the
 road as we do in the United States but gather together in small villages
 and the buildings are all adjoining
 each other built of stone One door enters the house and the next door perhaps ten feet away enters the barn
 and there is usually door inside SC the people can do the chores without going outdoors. The red tile shin
 gles used make the villages show very distinctly many miles away. Many o1
 these villages may be seen from hill
 scattered over the country, with g church steeple in the center A viii lage without a church is not fnowr
 over here and there is generally 2
 town clock on the steeple as we Have in Norwich providing the German:
 have not shot it off. When bomhard.
 ing a town they use the church stee
 pie for a target
 , This life here is not like the quie life in Lefingwen. At night we ma!
 hear these large featherless birdi
 which are quite hostile at times, hum
 ming along overhead. or we may hea
 the roar of the large guns which shak,
 the town like an earthquake, and tn : shells bursting in the air and on tn ground. We soon get used to this ant
 It don't disturb us much, but we wer !. considerably disturbed two nights az when one of the fellows had a night mare and began to shout help at tn : top of his voice. The guard came rul
 ming upstairs. We pressed the buttol : and lit our candles to see what wa the trouble. He said he was drearlin , that something like huge auger wa J coming slowly down upon him, turn ing around as it came and when it go [ within four feet he shouted for hell l He got help all right, but he hasn d seen the last of their kidding hir e yet.
 The Y. M c. A. workers give us ex d tracts from the history of France 2 : times and it is very interesting an t sometimes surprises us to hear of tn 5. occurrences which have taken plac II.
 one of the speakers talked three uuar = ters of an hour from the subject. A y folk songs or songs which are sun . in several nations. He told of the Sta S lSpangled Banner. came to be writer = How many years some songs had bee a in use where they originated, etc Ye f he seemed to know everything abor d songs with the exception of the tun
 Yankee Doodle. All he knew aboI n that was that it has been .in use l, America, Canada, Spain, Englan ), France and other countries and use
 by the Chinese fifteen hundred veal g ago, but where and when in China | tt didn't know, but sure he picked maj is bles on songology.
 e I might give you a list of the differ Is ent nationalities I have met with SinC
 I started out but seeing I haven't tin = nor space, but I sure do like to hes $ my own countrymen from the sout IS tell what happened when they dor l. cum across"
 The arbutus you sent put me Il mind of some French flowers which r. Twill send you
 d I am sorry MT. Gates has left but
 know I am not the only one. Hopir
 this letter finds all enjoying fint healt
 l will close with best wishes. - Your friend,
 l D