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

n IldTTlSDuTB ldu III active service
at the front writes the following in
teresting letters home:
over Here, July 2, 1918.
Il haven't anything new to tell
you but Just thought would drop
you a few lines to let you know
everything is going we'll.
1T seems very peculiar not to tell
you of every move we make, but it
1T quite out of the question. We
have moved, however, since 1 last
wrote and have viewed much new
scenery. 1t is also a little more
lively on this sector than on the one
We recently left.
Il haven't received any mail for
almost a month, but we have heard
that there IS some at our base and it
ought to be here in a couple of days.
am receiving the Posts and believe
me they are a godsend. Reading
matter Is as scarce as hens teeth
and though there is generally some
at the Y. NJ. c. AS 1t consists of
outlook, Literary Digests and pro-
hibition magazines. l can't under
stand why some of the we'll meaning
women's clubs don't send some
magazines that soldier can read
without the everlasting war articles
staring him in the face. We want
magazines such as McClure's, Met
ropolitan, Cosmopolitan, etc. Not
this war stuff all the time. There is
plenty of that over here.
Il am afraid it will take another
year to do the trick, though 1 hope
1t will be sooner. l dread winter
over here. The very first night 1
went up the line when I got my
baptism of ire, it was a cold and
Dlizzardy night and the snow was
blowing about. 1t was the kind of
a night one likes to spend about
the fire at home with good book
or a nice girl and hear the wind
whistle around the house. I'll never
forget that night 1 never was scar
ed worse in my life and l thought
that II that was war I'd go home II
could. 1t seemed so big and imper-
sonal and lonely to hear that con-
slant tapping of machine guns and
every couple of minutes the roar of
d Dig gun or see the flash when a
smell burst and hear the shrapnel
WHINE as 1t went through the air.
Ihen see the great red flare in the
SKY when some sulphur was sent off.
me ground was covered with snow
and the wind blowing it at times
A We "NlS crawling out past the
support line trench in little groups
OF four or five with our guns slung
on our backs and feeling blue and
scared and not saying a word. Then
ffltz would "strafe" awhile with his
artlllery and we would lie in shell
holes' and look out into the dark
SKY and think how vast and SUPER
human the whole thing was and wish
ana pray that we could go home. And
then we went back towards our dug
out after a few hours work and
stopped in what was called a SOUP
Kitchen. 1t was a dugout in the
ruins of an old house. In there were
TWO men who cooked boilers full of
soup and had a big box full of ci-
garets and some biscuits. One can
Gle supplied the light and one of our
allies guides took us in. Men sat
around on boxes, ETC., and the flick
erlng candle threw nervous shadows
on the wall. We went in and busted
the snow from our clothing and
stood our rifles in the corner and
had hot soup, biscuits and cigarets
ana chatted with our ally hosts and
decided that the war wasn't so had
after all. We sat there for an hour
by the light of one candle, muddy
ana gruesome figures in the semi
darkness piled up against the wall
or squatting oH the board floor, some
snoozing, some silent, and some talk
ing and laughing in a low, indistinct
buzz. After that we used to look