The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1918-10-03
Mack Twitchen
Writes from France


day or two ago while on their way
home to the San Luis valley from the
state fair at Pueblo, left the following
letter from their son. John NJ. Twitch-
ell. better known to his friends as
Mack with The Daily Record for
publication. He says:
Base Veterinary No. -, st. Nazaire,
France, August 10, 1918.
Dear Folks-It seems something of
IA hardship to write letters and not
receive any in reply. One of the
men got letter today, the first one
any of the members of this organiza-
tion has had since coming here. We
should commence to get some soon.
We are comfortably located here
and are satisfied to stay for awhile at
least. We are stationed in an old
theatrical place right on the beach.
The Boulevard De rOcean is at our
front door. SO we can see the people
and the bay. The, only objection to
the situation is the sand, and that is
fierce right here. One of the men
wrote that we cooked in the dressing
room, ate on the stage and slept in
the audience. Fine enough, but a
little odd In expression.
Lieut. Wyatt and / are rooming to-
gether. We have nice, large room.
The most conspicuous thing in it is a
mirror about Axe, feet in size. I sup
pose it was in one of the bathing
rooms before the war. This place
was bathing resort, theater and
gambling establishment.
There are so many changes that it
takes time to get used to them. First
it was the French language and. of
course, ii was difficult for us to make
ourselves understood. but gradually
We picked up small vocabulary and
managed to get along pretty well. A
GOOD many of the French people here
speak little English. and that
helped US. The next greatest trouble
was money and still is. got French
money to start with. Within the
next few days had United States,
French, Italian. Belgian and English
money; all of it computed on diff
ferent basis. One can carry a cart
ful of the local money around and
rot have more than 81 or IS. The
copper one and two-cent pieces are
about as large as a quarter and half
dollar. respectively. The five-cent
pieces are like washers and have
holes in the center. The ten-cent
piece is practically the same as ours
have gradually learned to knoas
them and can count enough for the
amount l spend at one time.
Some of the prices are high in town
though. The native soon learn ones
military rank and charge accordingly.
The French people may be slow in
some things. but not when it comes to
realizing prices. The streets are all
narrow and do not remember of hav-
ing seen a street car here although
there may be some of them as there
are motor trucks. There are some
very good stores here. or at least,
they appear as such, although they
are always closed by the time 1 get
to town.
Some of US usually walk up the
beach during the evening and watch
the tide come in and see the people
at leisure. They play great games
along the sand. We do not ''compra"
all the lingo, but pick up word OF
two now and then. The OK carts
look bit ancient and the horses
hitched up tandem style to a two
wheeled cart have a sti ange appear
ance at first. but one soon gets used
to them. This is great country Cor
bicycles and whole families ride them
with apparent enjoyment
One does rot see the wooden shoes
here like at There, when a
kid ran down the street / always
turned around to see what had broken
loose. The sidewalks are much
wider and, in fact, the whole city is
more modern in looks. do not imag-
me that st. Nazaire is as old town
Ihe weather has been very pleas.
ant so far. While we are farther
north than any part of the United
States, the Gulf stream makes it
warmer here. The season has just
changed SO that it is fall now. 1
have not aenn tfirch ha ruactino md