The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-02-17

of the people. either. but can say
that IL there is a modern pathtuo IN
,his naTTicular town the Americans
have not vet found 1t. SO we merely
heat a kerosene canful OF water--at
our nefghborB' hreplace--and take
bird bath" AS there are eight men
who must perform this aolutioh
about the fireplace. and good sol.
der takes bath twice week. anu
there are only seven nights in the
week. this crate is a busy place.
Drinking water is obtained only az
ter. ANTIQUITIES sometimes. The Ameri-
can doctors are taking no ones WORD
y,,u4 me supply but their own, ana
we are allowed to partake only after
samples have been tested. Frequent
", when In a town. the municipal
supply is avoided and the supply Is
brought In in trucks from distant
points. But / am not so skeptical OF
water as ! was.
Our last station was near a hos
pital In front of this hospital al
ways hung a big canvas bag full of
invitingiy cool water. / cannot speak
for the whole company, but nay squad
i know used always 10 drink thereof.
We had kept It UP for something near
month when one da a doctor In
tortoise-shell glasses and white
apron espied q soldier partaking at
the bag. He became Immediately very
vociferously apprehensive and expos
tulatory.
/ For the great jumped-up Hob
Moses, man." said he, don't drink
that. There's where we keep all the
samples Of contaminated water from
. this part OF France"
In the last seventeen days we've
t found germs OF thirteen deadly dis
eases right In that contatner. There
are 100000 bacteria TO the square
inch In that--spough germs In that
bag to XIII the whole German army.
l SHOULD say that my squad consumed
several cubic feet OF that water. and
I / don't know enough about mathe-
MATES to compute she number of
germs. But we're all alive. and that
was two months ago.
But enough OF this gassing. re-
solved to be brief in my letters, and
here I've brinmed over onto the third
page. II has been cold where / am.
7 but the last few days have been like
springtime. Where ] was last was
up in the snow belt, where It gets on
The ground and stays there. the only
hopeful word the natives can give
being that 1T goes of the ground In
april 0IAA MVEuk Tlbo 0S1GAiS
though, ] learned one hopeful thing
While away / had an opportunity OF
talking with lot of Americans who
havo been In the trenches, They were
from different groups of troops and
had been in at different times
And they all were confident that the
Americans can whip the Germans al
every stage OF the game. This isn't
the boast of a few. but the consensus
OF the calm opinion of about forty,
guess. that talked to. 1t was yer,
encouraging. coming from men who
have had mouthful of the front
Most Of the fellows were from the
Old American regular army--from this
units over here which are the only
ones still intact. / believe. They are
being trained to the highest point Of
military efficiency possible, and. they
say. are to be used as the crack units
of the United States forces. CORE.
spending with the famous shock
units OF the German and other armies
K guess the same is true of the Rain.
bow division OF the national guard
which got such a send-ofc in the
states.
The old regular army fellows seem
ed to have Jared worse than the rest OF
us. They came over early In the
game, most OF them straight from the
border with only few days In the
East, and went into training immedi.
ately. They were CHARTERED UP where
the war has left an obvious marh
and taken most OF the superflcialities
THEY'VE been going hard ever since
learning everything of the --latest
wea pons. maneuvres. signals and
military science that the French. Brit.
ish and Americans had to teach them
They're probably the soundest bunch
of men, physically. in the world. Ant
yet they're greatly neglected. This Il
because they come from the United
States In general and no place In par,
ticular. Most of the regiments here
come from n distinct locality. and this
folks back home organize welfare so.
cieties and send 'em tobacco and
sweaters. but the regulars don't gel
in on this.
], / had few letters from the coas
! and probably will get more when tn,
Christmas mail, which Is still coming
! In. catches up.
Till la Guerre is Ffnis.
l. ROSS.
4 p. s.--The army censor who o-K't
! the above letter added IN his owl
handwriting the following wall:
''P. S.--Above statements regarding
, the regular forces being more or les
J forgotten are true, too true. i, too
am from the regular service and
happen to know we were overlooked
only too WELL"
WAKE FOREST LOSES
mn mr rrrN u g II " m u n