East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1918-07-20

trip to France and return. Like all
the boys writing home he asks for
more letters and vet more letters;
July IS 1918,
Dear Ones at 5fome:
AS ! have an hour to spare. ! will
try and write few lines. / have not
written to YOU for long time.
and / guess you know the reason why.
We have had a splendid trip, and a
( rrettier sea never was seen, Doth go-
/ ing and coming. ! am starting this
letter out here at sea so 1 viii have
It ready to send when we get back TO
New York. There are lots of things
/! l would like to write about hut can't.
n The part of France where we land
4 ed was beautiful. I was on liberty
Y twice in Brest and you certainly can
see signs of war there. whatk mean
is there is no young men there, Only
1 old men and women. was out in
I the grave yard and looked around,
and prettier place I never saw. The
4 graves are mass of flowers and bead
work. can't begin to describe it on
paper, but some day l will tell You all
a
enough to listen to all Of 1t.
1 intended to write you before we
< left New York, bGt we pulled out be-
fore had a chance to write, but sent
you card telling ypu we landed
safely on the other shore. also sent
AIuriel Va card. We had no trouble
at all either way. and now can say
tEat / have crossed the brinv deep
and never fed the fish once. III
thought 1 was on a large ship, but
saw one on this trip that made our
ship look like a tug boat. 1t is called
the Laritha 1t was a German trans
port that was taken over when war
was declared by the United States. II
carries sixteen thousand troops be- |
sides It's own crew. and also its ton-
age. Well it is pretty warm here,
even at sea. so l don't know what II
win be in New York We left here /
June I, and this is the 20. and every I
day I have been saving. the mail ] /
will get when we land. am sendins |
home sonic French money for souven-
irs. we had to get U. S. money chang |
ed for the French money before we |
could buy anything and / am sending I
boys as a souvenir from France. |
have been promoted to second engi- |
neer, and have book on engineering |
so / will quit for a while, hunt the /
shade and study it.
VIII now write more-I haven't /
worked in the fire room since / came /
on this ship. l like the work lots |
better than what I have been doins,
Another day at hand and still the sea 4
is as calm as a lamb, I never saw the I
like. the ship sails as thought it was
in some bay. and II will soon be there.
There is scarcely a ripple on the water
and 1t has been that way nearly all |
the time we have been on the water.
1 hope I never see a nattleship I
again. we first thought a battleship !
was just the thing. but give me a
transport. for there is not so much
regulation. But today all had to get
in to the white for quarters. We are
now getting close enough to land to
see the sail boats We did not see
ANY whales on the trip but saw
Stewels or Porpoises and flying fish
but they were small. This letter may
be hard for you to read, as / am set
ting on the upper deck. and the vibri.
tion of the engines shakes the whole
ship. so it is hard to hold still enough
to write.
I will now tell you a little about
Brest, France. nothing of the ports
and docks. but of the old way they
have of doing things over here. IL
you want to go anywhere in town,
you take the middle of the street. as
there are no sidewalks. Nearly all
of the streets are paved with brick,
and it sounds like a band of cattle go
ing over a bridge to hear the French j
women and children walking around
with their wooden and steel bottom
shoes on. But what makes me sore ,
is TO see how they work their horses 7
| saw Frenchman with two horses /
hitched to n two wheeled car1 I don't I
know what it was loaded with. but the 1
load seemed heavy and he lad one
horse in front OF the other. and the y
lead one hooked to the end of the a
shafts. and the one in the shafts and q
was holding back and he was b
licking the lead one. They use K
40 lines. and walk beside the n
lorsess. Seldom ever see a man (,
'iding ia the wagon. Some Of them y
nave fine horses but the most of them /,
re poor and thin and the houses are k
III old. and looked like they had not
lad coat OF paint in years.
I went in TO a restaurant. ordered $
lam and eggs for which I paid 65 :
ents and I think the ham was sliced =
With a safety razor. but hal no Kick z
oming for We knew their circum- =
tances. have made second class =
o / will begin to get more pay. my 3
comes cut Of my ray once =
month. Did you get my insurance 3
apers the ones YOU arc supposed to q
ave? Let me know. and n you have 3
ot I will look in to it and see what =
the matter. Mother I have not
ad any chances to get YOU any of tho 8
Irios yet as ] get my liberty OF night 3
lt as we boys say. We have four =
ears to get them IN. and l. 7 get =