Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1918-10-30

AGRAAO, AANOASlER. w
French town in every way. We are
the second lot of Americans to he
: quartered here so it is not spoiled as
yet. BY that l mean prices advanced
and hospitality and cordiality. These
people are glad to have us but there
are so many of us that we soon prove
somewhat of nuisance,
Have had several good meals here
The stores have fair stocks and we
have filled up on knick knacks. etc.
Since our arrival the American COM
munlques have been fine. This is
very encouraging to the populace.
They know what we did; as a matter
of fact our division is known all over
France so that so far our stay has
been very pleasant.
There is public bath house near
by SO we all got good hot shower
Datn. Listen to this-bath, towel and
soap for so confines or about ten
cents. | took my own soap so got
mine for 40 cent. or Z c. Got a shave
and shampoo for a franc, II cents.
Must tell you of this. One gets in the
chair and gets lathered with cold wa
ter, then shaved. Then the. customer
washes his own face Then comes
beaucoup perfume, rubbed with cake
OF alumni, then powder. The sham
| poo was of water, ammonia and SOAP.
then he waxed my hair, ha! ha!
Sept. 25.
Well had to pack in a hurry and
have just gotten settled. Spent sew
en- nights on the road and slept in the
daytime. Five nights we were out in
the rain and two were beautiful and
moonlight. Twice we had hunks un-
der cover and five nights on the wet
ground. Two nights we pitched tG -
In a driving fall rain; simply " sl -
the water and slept like the dn .anu ~
rats that we were. , Ms = 81 ul nS got
we are ali wa,-lF Il blisters, etc., but
stenning b;ehSgm and dry now and
the cocI;-,eep5-l, wide and handsome,
thSs 10 5+.nest, highest spirited animals
lis side the water, plastered in mud,
unshaven and unwashed for a week,
clothes torn or lost, but for a. that,
as one of our chaps put it, st got one
| leg left in my drawers and a good un-
dershirt so I should worry" Ha! Ha!
AS a matter of fact we have plenty
of clothes but we don't and won't
carry surplus so consequently we get
well worn" sometimes. We get new
issues as we need it, We covered quite
a distance and are in strange terri
tory and hope soon to be on still
stranger ground-On our way home
via the route I have spoken of in the
past. Would like to tell you much of
our local conditions as they are I'M
usual. America is just getting her
hand in and it's right at Jerry's
throat slowly squeezing the life out
of him.
The boche openly admits they can
rot withstand the attack Of Ameri-
can dough boys backed by the Amer
lean artillery. They say we do not
conform to system. They cannot
judge nor protect themselves. Our
barrages and attacks bewilder them.
Last evening a OCche plane came ov-
er to observe some Smelling and Incl
dentally dropped US some propagan-
GA. It's funny. They admit that
Austria asks for peace and state that
they are ready to grant peace to the
allies after the walloping they have
given us. Boy, oh boy, such rot, and
to spring it on "we'' who chase them
at every turn of the road Well /
won't talk war as I expect you read,
hear and live it day in and day out,
and besides | want to get this letter
off in the a. m. as it's been long since
you heard. Sent you a couple of cards
which | trust arrived 0. K At any
rate don't ever worry about me no
matter how long the intervals may
be. C'est la Guerre we are in the
thickest of it every time, in territory
that is void of civilians and cOnven-
fences. Often I could write but have
no way of mailing same. On the road
writing is out of the question. We
never know from one hour to the next
as to when or why or where we will
move, the order comes and off we 60.
! Just bide with me and make the best
| of things. No letters means we are
busy and the buster we are the soon
/ er We'll be home safe and sound and
that time is not far distant Just now
Nicklas, Grill, three other fellows and
myself are lying here in warm hut.
Have d good dry floor to sleep on, an
overly efficient stove to warm us,
marin. dry and happy. Tomorrow we
are going to wash clothes, build cots
and make everything coy, then you
must come over to visit us-yes?
Oh yes, we even have cat, an enor-
nous big clean tabby, part Angora
! At night we have rats. One sat on my
| head last night and awakened me-
Grill Swears they wear hob nailed
shoes from the noise they make We
certainly have many amusing exper-
fences and while it may all sound
horribly awful" to you, still there's
nothing to it. The papers and maya
zines paint things dubious some
times but it's all so different from
anything you can imagine that I
don't know how to picture it to you.
tell you all my little trials and trib-
ulations as I have nothing else to
write about. We have been on the
front some four months now and out
of our SO band men have lost only
one and ne will soon return from the
! hospital. Our colonel takes the very