The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1918-11-29
France, Oct. 10, 1918.

i france, Oct ~, 1910. ..
Dearest Mama,
This is my 37th birthday and I'm
going to celebrate by writing you q
long letter. I've almost lost the
knack Of letter writing. Every morn
ing my first task is to censor the let
ters written by the members Of my
detachment las adjutant I am in
command Of the headquarters de-
tachment) and after that it is diff
cult to write any yourself. Also
here is 80 much we are not permit
ted to write about. ..
We had a very pleasant trip over.
I was adjutant on the ship and be-
lieye me, it was some job, but ! got
away with it fine and was highly
complimented by the General, the
Chief Of Staff and the captain Of the
ship. There wasn't much excite
ment worth mentioning. / think I
have already told you that we landed
in England. They didn't let us tarry
long there. I have some very vivid
Impressions left tho. The night we
crossed the bar they kept me busy
until two o'clock and / remember
I thanked God that I could go to bed
without my shoes, but they called me
at four and they (the other. oficersl
nearly mobbed me because I had
seven buglers blowing reveille
through the ship at Ave. The way
they unloaded that ship Of its $500
passengers was q marvel. There It
was that I had my first experience
of coffee, without sugar: It was al
right though. Shortly after we were
entrained and on our way across
England. We passed a, large flour
mill and there were thousands of
girls in rather tight fitting white
overalls. Their enthusiasm was re-
markable. They waved and threw
kisses at US land some even cried) as
far as we could see. But all the
way across England they waved at US
and greeted US with cheers. We had
coffee enroute, and were given a let
ter Of welcome from King George,
which am inclosing for you to keep
for me. We finally arrived at rest
camp where we spent the night. A
lieutenant and went walking with
two very pretty girls-they were
very pleasant and agreeable but not
as pretty as the American girl.
don't believe the English girl takes
as good care of her teeth as the
American girl does.
Crossing the channel was a night
mare. Not exceptionally rough but
our ship was crowded. They made
me adjutant again. and this time /
had English and Australian officers
also. I slept on the floor that night.
They marched US to another rest
camp and by the time I'd had a
shave and a good bath and eaten
something (while kidding the wait
ress) was told to roll my bed. I
did not mind though because as the
French say, "c'est la guerre."
I have been here now over three
months and in that time have seen
quite a bit of France having been in
Paris twice, east almost to Switzer-
land, south halfway to Marseilles
and north near enough to the front
to hear the cannons shooting. 1t is
great country and the prettiest I
think I have ever seen.
The houses are all stone or brick
with red tile roofs and they present
a beautiful sight when viewed in the
distance. Close up they show a rigid
plainness Of style and a solidity of
obstruction I have never seen be.
fore. The villages in England will
always remind me of vast forest
of chimneys, houses, windows and
curtains all the same. Here they
are different. One striking thing
here is the great abundance of flow
ers. And curious sight 1 have seen
frequently in the East of France is
pear tree trained to grow fiat a.