Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1918-05-08
Ned lvey In France

France, March %, '18.
Sunday I went to the Cathedral l
have already told you about, for
morning service. 1t is Episcopal, had
fine organ assisted by flute, clar-
inets, horns and trombones, boy choir,
etc.-but such chants Would much
rather they had sung Somewhere in
France There is a Lily" or "The Girl
/ Left Behind Me-" Well it was an ex-
perience to attend one of the oldest
cathedrals in the world, even if l did
fall asleep.
It is surely beautiful old build
ing. It's foundations were laid in 1915
and finished some 300 years later. 1t
contains hand carved rock, wood and
stone figures of ancient kings and
cardinals. The altar is Of carved
rock and at distance looks almost
like lace.
Also saw some ruins Of a castle,
where some thirty kings reigned.
King Arthur's Round Table and King
Alfred's weights and measures are
still there, ancient armor and instru-
ments Of torture are still there. It
makes a reality out Of the things we
have read but which seemed like fish
stories.
Got up at a. m. and took the train
to large seaport, Ioafed all day and
took a boat about supper time 1t
was some boat-a cattle or horse
boat. A sign read, Horse and troop
deck below" So I'm seated comfort
ably on my pack in a beautiful man
ger. I'll be fingered if / can place,
much confidence in this life preserver
I'm billed to wear tonight Pleasant
thing to try to sleep in lying on
manger floor without any blankets
here's hoping the next boat ride will
be back home and then they can take
me in a snake boat for all give a -.
Did 7 tell you about the chance that
Fritz took at us on the way over? 1t
was funny. One evening about $50
sub Topped up ahead Of us. Our
ship changed it's course so sharp that
the boat heeled over and the mess
tables Oh the deck below slid across
the floor and broke a steam pipe. Ev-
eryone thought we had been hit by
sub. and you should hav seen us get
into our life preservers.
Well the next morning three more
came up, took a look and dove again.
They evidently did not like the looks
of the friends, the convoy, we had
made during the night. A depth
bomb was dropped, a mass of OIL etc.
came to the surface so am afraid little
Gretchen will wait and wonder in
vain for Hans to come home
Cruel you say? Sure enough but
that's the bloody business we are sent
to do before the other guy does it to
us.
This section Of the country has seen
and suffered much these last four
years. Men are brutes and women
compassionless. Women and girls in
overalls are thick, doing the work Of
men, working in factories, driving de-
livery and milk wagons, doing garden
and field work, etc.
And the men, why that I can't tell
Every other girl from Is to 80 has a
baby as advocated by the govern
ment. (cut out by censor.)
The government provides about $3.50
a week for them and often less. It
seems that men must die but that Wo-
men must live on and suffer.
This MUST be stopped and it's alb
soIutely up to Uncle Sam to do it.
You must learn as these women have
done to read casualty lists by the
thousands every few days and still
carry on" without a whimper Sub
scribe what money you can, and
CONSERVE ON FOOD every bit you
cannot that we fellows need tive
don't count. We will have plenty ev
en- if you were starving, which will
never come to pass, but all these coun-
tries, Germany included, are living on
rations-that is are allowed to pur-
chase just so much meat, bread etc.,
each week Money don't count. Rich
and poor are treated alike. You can
buy coolies of stuff every day, but do
not so here. I've been turned down
on several purchases l wished to
make.
No one is starving here or anything
like that but they are very careful
not to waste and Fritz will have to hit
a faster clip than he is doing if he
proposes to starve out these countries.
There is enough waste in the United
States to feed England. We lived on
British rations while there and it
surely was a change from the waste
full plenty of U. S. rations.