The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-10-18
He Writes About His Experiences All
Over France from Chateau
ThIerry to Paris and
Their Contrasts.
THEY ARE ALWAYS BUSY
Hitting the Limo Hard 10 Their Days
Work, and Hiding from Bombs
in Subway with Mad
emoisse1e Their Joy.

The son Of Charles Lees, formerly
a prominent citizen here. and his
wife who was Miss Hambleton. Is
now very much in the army In
France.
John Lees gives Z graphic picture
Of the actual life OF the busiest sol
diers over there. the American shock
troops. in q letter which ID 30 dif-
ferent from the usual soldier letters
that it is worth printing aside from
the interest many Keokuk people
have in his family.
The letter to his parents. now nv-
ing in Decatur, Is as foIIows:
just finished seven months Of
trench life. that last two months
being more interesting than the other
five months. had everything fall
bombs and gas, but came out alive.
Some of the boys did not. Neverthe-
less, we sure showed the Huns back.
l have been from southern France to
northern France and back. I feel
/ like / know this country like book.
They Did Hit the Line.
You see our division Is shock divi-
sion which hits the line here and
then some other place In line whore
help is needed. So you see we have
been in every big American fight
which was sure big surprise to
the Boche. On one drive we were
making in our trucks we had just
put over a successful fight in the
sector Just left and were going to an
other sector to start in again. When
doing this we passed back Of the lines
through some French villages In
these villages the women greeted US;
threw handfuls of flowers to US. This
just put the fighting pep in the boys.
and l guess you know what we did
lat Chateau Thierry with the other
boys. The French take their hats OF
to the Americans these days.
Well, / have been in old Paris for
ltwenty-four hours and am now rest
/ ing in q beautiful mountain country
where eat three square meals Of
eggs and salad, pie, etc. l don't even
need to worry about gas, bombs or
shells here. While l was in Paris
or Paree as the French call It, /
arrived there in the afternoon about
p. M, and headed for a dish of
ice cream and glass of lemonade.
the first l have had since l left the
old country. Say, / sure could have
made the freezer look sick if the
women would have let me to it.
Shock Troops in Paris.
After feeling ice cream full, / hit
the street or Ze Grand Boulevard,
took a walk around until / met up
with the subway. So down l went
for ride. On arriving in the tube
l began to think I was back In old
New York as the cars look about like
ours at home. If anything, / think
the subways are larger than ours.
Well, l got on and took ride, got
off, went UP stairs and had look
at Eiffel tower in the distance. l did
not go UP in it, but am going to as
soon as 1 get back there.
l then took taxi for few blocks
which landed me at Trinity Court
Then / dropped into q cafe and had
everything from crawfish to fried
chicken and a dozen other dishes.
There were three courses, the first
consisting of crawflsh, olives, bologna.
smoked fish, and snails. tasted
most of it: most being the olives.
Second course was nice, baked fish
with good sauce on it, fried chick
en-, French fried spuds and salad.
The last course was fruit and apple
pie. The drink of course, comes with
these meals SO took lemonade, to
the surprise Of the waiter.
After la soup as the French call
supper, which cost me eight francs,
or S1.6O. headed into a pal of mine
with two mademoiselles on his arms,
SO Just relieved him of one and we
80 hA
was a great deal like the Orpheum,
only much better and of finer music.
Everything was in French and as
understand a little and speak less l
got along fine. AS to the girls, 1
could get along fine with them as
they knew/a little Anglais. During
the last act the siren sounded for an
air raid So everybody quietly arose.
put on their wraps and departed for
the subway, which was just outside
the back doors. The people never
get excited or run. but just go quietly
down the stairs.
DodaIna Back and Forth.
We went down stairs and out on
the railroad tracks with the other
people to wait for the raid to finish
or sound all clear. The cars had
stopped and as they use trolley in
stead of a third rail we need not
| be afraid of sitting on the rails.
think it was about twelve when
! we arrived in the tunnel and one
thirty when we left, but we enjoyed
ourselves while there. Some of the
people laid down and went to sleep,
while others sat or walked. We
walked a while and then sat down.
After all clear was sounded, we took
the girls home and hit for the hotel
Iclose by.
Well, mother, slept in a real bed
that night after having real bath
and the next night / slept in the
middle of a wheat field with an air
L xu-e.e