The Spanish American. [volume] (Roy, Mora Co., N.M.) 19??-19??, 1918-11-30

five stories high and Of solid stone.
All that the pictures try to show you
These palaces are usually surrounded
by high walls in France.
The last two days the weather has
beer very nice Today il is quite warm
70 walk with pack. Outside of get
ting little stiff at times, don't mind
it 9 bit and think it excellent exercise.
A few months Of this will make men
out Of whole lot Of cripples who en-
ter the army by conscription.
We get .stung once in a while. To-
night, for instance, we ordered our
dinner and asked for the bill after
wards. It was 81 francs (about $3.50.
Some price considering the meal. We
all live and learn enough. Now we
send our interpreter ahead to make ar
rangements and find out the price. If
0. X. we eat-if not, we eat the COM
pany chow. Last night we had a splen-
did dinner which cost US francs. The
madame invited us to breakfast and
was insulted when we offered to pay
her more. difference between graf
ters and real honest-to-goodness peo-
/ pie, you see.
st. Loupes, October /.
AS you can see by my address, we
have been travelling some. We went
two or three hundred miles south on
the train, then stopped at small viii
lage (Colombiers) for about 10 days
rest. After that we marched 80 miles
You think you have grapes in Cali.
fornia, but if they should turn this
country dry, they would have nothing
left.
We have seen many things of in
terest and of instruction, but very lit
tie which tended 10 make me wish to
stay here after the war is over. The
country is old as the hills. 1t is roth
ing to see buildings 500 to 1000 years
old. Everything is built of stone and
when once finished needs no recon-
struction for centuries. That is per-
haps one reason the people are so far
behind the times. They are born in
houses that their ancestors were rear
ed in.
Their wine industry has lasted for
centuries. They use little else, think
little else and know little else. They
are simply astonished at the methods
and work of the Americans. What
we do in months they take years to
accomplish.
Transportation is a great question.
A bicycle is worth S100, an ordinary
buggy is worth 5000. Only the very
wealthy have automobiles. In England
a Ford is worth $500 to $1,000 The
Ford Company puts out more cars
every year than the whole of Europe.
| haven't seen any ice cream since
/ left America. Water melons are un-
heard of, although have seen few
| gave a little French
kid a stick of gum / had bought at
the Y. NJ. c. A. and he hadn't the
slightest idea what to do with it Oh
how to chew it.
Southern France resembles Califor-
mia, except the people of California
were never so far behind the times as
the people here One sees many OK
teams here and it's very amusing to-
see them plow. Takes two to do it..
We do as much work in half day
with our horsds as they do in two
days and as much with a tractor in
one Iday as they do all summer with
an OK team.
The grapes in this country are all
sprayed with Paris green, so one has
to be very careful about washing them
but l have quite a desire for grapes
even at that
We have A officers in our building
and have it entirely to ourselves, so
we are pretty much our own bosses.
We are geing to fix up things quite
home-like in the next few days. We
miss electric lights though; we only
have candles.
The process of wine making is very
unique in itself. When they want
to crush the grapes before going into
the press, they just pull off their shoes
and wade into it. Some of them don't
even do that and their shoes are the
typical wooden shoes of history. This
cognac is distilled wine and similar to
in taste and smell.
have a couple Of good enlisted fell
lows with me. One was medical stuA
dent and quite capable young man.
Best wishes,
1 ILIIT EpArEcn q GDINIEp