The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1918-02-15
FROM The
BOYS IN ARMY CAMP
From Thursdays Daily.

OOIV llv 0u1IUu OElsssB
From Thursdays Daily.
Mr.. and Mrs. Joseph Lang received
the following letters from their sons,
Hubert and Lester.
Somewhere" on Active Service.
December 25, 1917.-Dear Mother:
Well Christmas is over, at least the
day light part of it. You folks are
just about eating the big feed though.
We had turkey to what some people
would say our hearts content, but
think for my part my stomach's mis-
cry explains it more clearly. We
have our shack decorated again and
Les was the boss of the job. In the
center is large "B" made of holly
and it has the French, English and
tinsel around it. A large bunch of
mistletoe is hanging under it and a
Christmas bell under that. Strings OF
holly go from it to the side of the
barracks and if we do say it, it looks
great. In the back of that ways is
another wreath with the U. S. flag
only in it. There are some more
strings of holly there too. We got
some decorator in our family even if
we didn't know it before.
December 26-It's lots warmer here
today but towards night it started
showing a little bit. l was out on a
pleasure trip today and sure had
some time l had six eggs for din
ner, all the French sausage could
savy, "butter," cheese of a kind that
is only read of over there, and 'beer"
to wash it under. 1t was thirty miles
from camp one way and four or five
| the other That sounds like dope but
it's just that way. We went the long
way both times in a truck. We got a
package from Julia today with lots of
cookies, one pair of heavy socks each
and a bag of peanuts and they are the
! first we had here, a box of fudge and
a picture. Everyone in the regiment
got a package from The Minneapolis
Journal 1t was candy, toilet articles,
stationery and sailed peanuts. Pretty
swell don't you think? Pm sending a
program of the entertainment that
was put on before they were issued.
| 1t was an open air doings so you see
1t wasn't very cold out. Something
went wrong with Les the other day
he wrote letter. Now if that isn't
out of the ordinary line I'd like to
know. Well I'll write again soon
They distributed letters today but
didn't get any Might some other day
Your sons, Hub. and Les.
France, January 1, 191S.-Deal
Folks: Well l guess I'm about forty
minutes late but here goes. You sec
I've been leaving the writing propo-
sition up to Hub. To begin with HUI
and l and in fact the whole battery
| is in fine condition ait present, al
though I was il, the hospital for foul
days and had a delightful time while
there. That is except the first nigh
had 104 fever and they gave me al
alchohol bath, wowie. that was cold
Had swell feed Thanksgiving ant
Christmas also. Was sure lucky whe1
it came to drawing Christmas pack
ages, received eight in all. The beai
of the bunch was the summer sau.
sage you sent, that sure went good
Also had more fun than little bi
with the balloon .baby sent. Hub ant
1 had it all doped out what to sent
when we found out we could not sen6
packages Last night we were dow1
and had a New Year dinner at {
French hotel, swell dinner at that fol
-four francs, seventy-five cents. Sun.
day a sergeant, another corporal ane
myself were horseback riding all day
Only stopped long enough for dinner
at a town and TO feed the nags. Tha
day we rode UP on the highest hill
around here and we could see thu
whole world. In the distance we ever
saw the Statue of Liberty. But no
Joking we did see the Statue of Lib
erty from the boat, and there was lot!
of other things we saw on the boa
among them bunch of sick men
Had some celebration here last night
however, I did not partake. All thu
bands were out, buglers, tin pans ant
pistols were running. Seemed to nj
as if they kept it up for two hours
At first thought it was reveille ant
take it from me it was nice to flint
out it was only twelve o'clock. Fo
the last month we have been sleep
ing on spring beds and mattresses
and have almost forgotten that W.
are in the army Hub and l were OF
the decorating committee for Christ
mas and you ought to see b batter
lies three barracks and cook shack
They are trimmed with holly, mistle
toe and evergreens. Will close nov
as news is very scarce, thanking yo1
for the Christmas presents for the.
were simply great, also Jewels hi
1.-The spot. Have written her lette
but if she happens to be home thanl
her for Hub and for she's a ticket
Yours as ever, Hub and Les. Cor
!, poral L. NJ Lang.
Ross Frazier of Minneapolis, rep
resenting Reuben H. Donnely, pub
Usher of the National Classified Tele
, phone directory, was a business call
er in the city yesterday.