The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1918-09-05
WITH THE coLoRs IN FRANCE

france, July II, 1913 !
Hello, Folks:
Moved again. Marched about
eight kilometers. Now live in an
barracks with one hundred men.
Best all around location for US for
ali of our foreign service. Mess, etc.,
kitchen and tables are just beside US.
Y. NJ C. A building is just about
fifty yards away. Part of the COM
pany are billeted. That is, they sleep
IN barn, stable, garnet, spare room or
vacant house in the town.
We are getting garrison rations
again, so have plenty of good food.
Travel rations sure make US able to
appreciate the difference. Had beef
steak and gravey for breakfast, beef
stew and rice for dinner. And we
have white bread now instead of
bareback
Well, we toured the ocean In a
steamship, stayed in a rest camp a
little while, then toured France in a
special train. European trains are
divided into compartments, and each
coach has a foot board full length
along each side, like an open street
car. Compartments have a door In
each side. We had eight in my COM
partment, four on each side. We sat
facing each other. Put our packs
wherever we found room for them.
Had fine weather for the whole trip
after we got away from that drizzly
coast. l sat by the window and look
ed out at the scenery about all the
time, except at night. We were too
thick to be very comfortable for
sleeping, but we dozed off sitting up,
leaning against each other, or most
any way. But we had a fine trip,
and / believe most everyone enjoyed
it. l know I did. France is a billy
country, hills and valleys with lots
| of villages down in the valleys, and
occasionally large city. just about
| harvest time and / saw harvest inple-
ments of all sorts made, except head
ers.. Reaping hooks, sythes, cradles,
reapers, binders. All suitable to the
fields in which they were used Also
saw lots of vineyards and truck farms
Rations on the train were corned
beef, pork and beans, tomatoes, jam,
bareback One evening the train was
stopped close to little town and
saw French girl and an onion patch.
It was down an embankment. Sever
al of US fellows went scooting down
the bank and bought US some. Sure
made supper taste good that night.
We saw several walled cities, and
stopped in sight of one Of the most
inaccessible fortified walled city of
all. Clear up on top of the highest
hill. Sides are steep, and there is a
big rock wall, with a round turret
like you have seen in pictures. We
are still in sight of it, though it is
eleven kilometers away. So you see
1 am learning more history from be-
ing on the spot. I bought a map of
France from the Y. at our first loca-
ton, and followed our trip on it. That
helped lot.
We are not up to the trenches, but
we are not so terribly far away from
away from the fighting than Paris is.
Several of US Sergeants have been
walking up the hillsides here these
last evenings to see the sunset, and
to get good view of this valley. Sure
is fine scenery. Rocky and forested
with the little farms in the valleys.
Then again you can see the progress
of civilization in means of commune
cation. For there is a canal beside
the little river, as there is almost al
over France. Then there is a good
macadamized road with tall trees on
either side giving it a Distinguishing
mark The road looks like white
ribbon winding along, with branches
quite often. Then there is double
track railroad, like we saw all along
in our journey, and traffic takes the
left side So we could see the stages
of advancement of civilization.
There is a great deal of masonry
work in this land, and it all is of g
class that is made to last. l saw
several arches of masonry extending
under the canal and carrying water
from the lateral slopes into the river
The one l saw close here has an eleva.
ton scale on it, giving height IN fifths
of a decimeter. It gives US 31C
meters.
The roads are all marked off very
carefully too. There are stone mark
ers along at the end of every hectic
meter giving the distance from some
city IN kilometers and tenths. The
railroads are also marked off the
same way. So I'd say that France
has it on US in that way. But Ameri
ca is away ahead IN sanitation.
This is the first time we have haC
access to q 7. all the time, since
left Camp Grant, that is, a real wide
awake Y. It's a sectional constructed
building and has a reading room OF
. one end, little canteen, where the!
: sell chocolate bars, cookies and to
bacco, Then they also sell hot choco
: late and sandwiches. There are tire,
French girls who take care of tina
: part of it.
e Talk about money. There is al
y kinds, that is, all denominations, o.
o it here. French money is liable t.
t turn out into a whole handful of big
: copper 10 centime (2c) pieces il
f change. Then they've got nickl
e tin pieces with hole through tn
e senter which is worth the SAM
: amount. And 1 got so centime (tel
cent? paper in change once. Ais,
have five franc, (cinq), ten dix
d and twenty (vingt) franc pape
money. The larger the denomination
the larger the size of the paper An,
it has to be handled very CAREFUL,
= or it wears out. And you have t.
watch out for Napolean money, bear
ing the likeness of Louis Napoleon
III. It's no good.
Then the rest of the Y. buiIdini
is stage with lot of chairs IN from
and a movie machine. They have a.
individual electric lighting system