Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-02-08

lF'olloWing are extracts from re-
cent letters of Sergeant Albert H.
Stackpole. now with the u. S. Field
Artillery in France, to his home folks
in Harrisburg:l
With Pershing cover There"
"At present am engaged in freez-
ing myself to death in a French rail-
way carriage, trying to get to some
["lace-none of us knows exactly
Shere-and two other non-coms and
myself are trying to dope it out. One
of them is in charge of the detach-
ment and we're all worried for fear
we will run past the junction sta
ton. The three of us pushed our
selves into a first-class compartment,
which is about half as comfortable
as a Pullman, and I'm writing as we
travel. 1t is freezing cold and rain
ing and I'm just beginning to thaW
out. Hope we get warmer weather
soon. And while I'm writing this
"a constant influx of heavy socks
will be a great help. (Just now we've
discovered how to ask Where do we
change for -?' in French and we're
going to spring it at the next station
They always look blank when l try
anything on them, but there is al
ways a Frightening of the counte-
nance and a smile when one pro-
duces the always welcome franc.
"I saved q few Telegraphs to read
on the train and discovered one
which mentioned Charles Bailey
meeting Miss Marian Watts at
Paris Y. NJ. C. A. If 1 ever get there,
L shall surely look her up. So far
have seen no American women,
but I have hopes. There were
few at the Y. NJ. C. A. where we
were first stationed, but none that
j knew.
From the looks of the country as
we go along, might as well be IN
Pennsylvania. The rain is taking
the snow away and everything looks
pretty much as it does on the way
from Philadelphia, except for the
funny little houses, of course, and
the wild-eyed, gesticulating natives
"I reached - to-day and found a
number of letters. Gosh! l don't
know when I've been so glad! Have
been having the most wonderful
time reading and re-reading them.
It's been the hapDiest thing in a
month.
Naturally my Christmas was not
too happy and my New Years but
little better, but that's all in the past
now and I'm looking forward with
the greatest interest to my new du-
ties. 1 wish / could tell you little
bit about the town we're in-its a
beautiful place, but very cold-the
first real snow I've seen this winter
The French people seem right glad
to see us, even though the novelty
of our troops must be worn out by
this time.
"And let me tell you, boost the
Y. M. c. A. every chance you get.
felt as though | were meeting
some one from home when l saw
this shack. It's crowded now with
hundreds of men writing home, and,
speaking of that, L had luncheon
with Coyle Kennedy one day. He
looked awfully well and sent his best
to all of you. l was ticlIled to death
to see him.
"Golly! but I'm looking forward
to the time when we can sit around
the table and talk all our experiences
over-laughing in comfort and ease
then at the uncomfortable expert
ences we undergo now.
"At last we're settled-for awhile,
anyway-in quite comfortable bar
racks. We reached here the other
night in very heavy snowstorm and
1T certainly was a relief to get into
one of these French army cots with
mattress and all our blankets. For
"SSh VIC lSu bSSlA SiNSPii6 III
railway cabins and old huts, the
which were very draughty.
I've been busy running hither
and yon in a most Mercury-like man
ner getting our bunch outfitted with
boots, tin hats, etc. It's all very
interesting and I'm ticl6led to death
to have something to do after our
ong weeks of waiting and the dis
agreeable trip over.
''If you could managet to send some
of those Scotch cakes and other eat
ables. packed in a wooden box, they
would certainly be well received!
I'm always looking forward to
getting some mail-it's great! I've
been having the. most interesting
lines of my life. We are forbidden
o write diaries, unfortunately, so
ii have to trust to memory, but
Everything worth while has made n
asting impression on me.
Everything in this country in the
way of a town seems to have been
aid out by real estate shark who
was either being pursued uphill by
MS creditors or came of an old
mountaineering family, thus max
ng us the goats-and we are, be-
ieve me! l fully expect to be yo-
1eling from all points in few days
Ind striking attitudes on hanging
rocks.
81 have the most unusual expert