The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-09-13
FROM THE BOYS IN SERVICE
Recent Letters Descriptive of the Lifeof the Boys
~
in Army and Navy

Interesting description Of first impress
sions obtained by Everett l.. Wentworth |
while near the front line Somewhere in
France, as related ira letter to his par
ents, Mr.. and Mrs. G. +. Wentworth of
East Dover, under date of June1.
Dear Folks:
! have been writing to you pretty often
the past few days, for we never know
when a stop will be put to our writing.
| Usually a day or two before we move
| the sergeant viii come around and say:
NO more letters are to be written till
| further notice" and if a week has already
elapsed since the last letter. why, YOU
may have to wait another week, more
or less.
Your letter with Harris address in it
came in a couple of DAYS ago had
lust sent one letter to his Brattleboro adj
!, dress, but probably it will be forwarded
to him eventually. | will send him an
other before long. Poor chap, he is 60
ing to have hard time of it for the first
few weeks, but it viii do him a world of
good.
!, We have a drafted lad in our company
: from Nebraska-a married man lacking
only four months of being 3 when-he was
called. He had bought a 200 acre farm
only three or four years ago. and had
finished paying for it in about two years.
Last year his wheat crop Melted him
5000. his first profits from his farm,
Soon afterwards he was called out and
had to sell his stock and machinery and
rent the farm. If you can tell me a hard
! luck story to beat that | should like to
. hear it.
We are having wonderful weather over
: here just now bright warm days with
!, cool nights The French peasants are
r rushing their spring work, ploughing and
4 planting. 4 few are even cutting a little
E hay.
This part of France is lovely, long,
?, green stretches of lowland with hills jut-
2 ting out Of the plains, some hills low and
; rolling. Others high and abrupt grim APP
; pearing fortresses which they really are
: This is fruit growing section and apple
= trees abound everywhere Peach. cherry
pear and plum trees may also be seen
Many fields are enormous grape vine
g wards and the sight of them makes my
II mouth water for the time when the grapes
: viii be ripe. We sampled European grape
y once or twice at college. so know how
J. they taste Occasionally village may b.
II seen in some hollow. the quaint red roof
$. of the houses and the tall spire OF tn
+. protecting church shining in the sunlight
If Between the village glimpses may b
n caught of yellowish white roads windin
n in and out through the meadows in
series of fantastic curves and S. Onl
- the absence of Young, vigorous men an
4e the sight of women working in the field
- reminds you that the greatest struggl
&C. Of all ages is in progress.
MS From the above description Won woul
ne hardly believe there was a war, woul
YOU? Now let met take you for a wal
70 two or three hours some evening. 1t wi
: have 10 he done at night if there ar
- | many of us. or else the enemies balloon
~, or airplanes will discover us. We hay
j.. | gone but short distance when the ordt
.tf comes to put our gas masks in the alel
L position. What for? There is no Wa
anywhere near Maybe not, but we al
. only five or six miles from the front line
an and the gas shells from the hostile Gun
viii travel much farther than that. VI
Sc pass through a vilage-it is practical
III. abandoned by civilians and only soldie
}a are quartered there No lights are show
at night, and in the daytime, practical
- plane is heard A few ragged holes
the roofs or sides of some of the bull
ings remind YOU that Fritz can train h
guns on the town any time he please
so be careful.
4 little further, and we notice de-
yht bitches running across the fields on ca
side Of the road The bitches are n
lor straight but are zigzagging in and OF
-. These are trenches for the reserves
80 be used in case the front line is fore
the back A short distance in front Of the
we find several rows of stakes cover
De- with barb wire all extending in the sal
- direction as the trenches. Then we rect
~ how difficult the barb wire fences at hon
167 were to crawl over, but these are
. initelv worse for these fences ha
III breadth as well as length and heigl
I'll As we plod onward, suddenly the 5
in front of lis is illuminated by liz
which burns brilliantly for several s.
onds but gradually dies out. This
what is called a flare. II makes 8
Mans Land" as light as day for seve
seconds, but rarely over half minu
. The time, however, often seems like hol
- to the poor wretch exposed in its liz
His only safety is to fall perfectly t
as the light is thrown up, no mat
lu- whether it be mud, barb wire, bushes,
w sand. and keep absolutely still until
" is dark once more
IN While the flare il still visible, we h,
the pop-pop pop of machine gun VIII
seems just in front of us. for the sou
travels long ways on such a quiet mig
Something suspicious has evidently bl
nee heard out III front of the lines.
18 several minutes the sky is lightened
ndi- flares, and there is constant singing
, M. machine guns then everything is gu
G. once more.
; - We cross narrow gauge railroad tr'
Aft # -----------