Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1918-06-13
More Letters From the Junior.
Monday, May 20, 1915
France,

weather is right-and it has sure been
right the past week. Work has gone
| forward with a rush, and while we have
| been unusually busy, we have oeen
getting the Office work done quickly SO
| that we can get out in the sunshine
Yesterday and today we had big oumch
OF extra reports, which we hnaiiy I'M
ished tonight after two marc Gays.
| There is so much work that the 'ihie
certainly passes rapidly.
TODAY has been a particularly gooo
one. for everyone got mail. My mail
| is coming to me pretty poorly, LOT
only (?) got twelve from home To-Day.
Mavbe YOU think didn't wade into that
bunch of letters. There were some from
every member OF the family, and II was
sure grand to hear from home. linen,
too. a few of my old friends remem-
bered me, which was also very pleasant.
II sure makes a fellow feel good TO get
a bunch of mail, and feel that am
lucky 10 get so much OF it, for there are
a number of men who have not heard
from home since they have been mere. l
know how badly they must feel, for TO
get letters like did today puts new life
into me and makes me work all the
harder. So keep the letters coming
for enjoy every one OF them and READ
them over and over and over.
am glad, too, that my letters are De-
ginning to filter back home. They GER
tainly were long time coming through,
and | was beginning to be afraid that
perhaps they had been lost. am glad
thew were not, for | would have no way
TO check up on them. ! am afraid that
nv letters will begin to lose interest,
for there is so little going on that am
hard put for news.
One of the most interesting things
we have around our camp is french
Hying field that lies adjacent 20 our bar
racks, and it is a common sight to see
aeroplanes loop the loop, do the tail
spin and fly around just like swallows.
We don't pay much attention to them
any more unless the aviator pulls some
unusually good turns. Yesterday one
of our famous American flyers, (sorry
can't tell his name) was here, and
of all the fancy stunts he displayed
He Just stood the plane on end, looped
the loop four or FIVE times in succession,
and he sure had the attention OF us all.
The demonstrative French flyers were
full of "oh's" and "ah's," and then they
went up and tried to Guido 4,
but they did not catch up to him at all.
Finally one Frenchman made a bum
landing and ran his plane through a
clump of trees into g ditch, and by the
time the fellows got through gathering
souvenirs there wasn't a whole lot left
A,,s 49,
piece of the frame work. What III 90
with it if We ever move from mere is
beyond me, for | have so much stun
now that it would take a good-SlZed
wagon to move me comfortably. am
trying to keep away from collecting
souvenirs, for sooner or later we will
be moving and would have to leave
most of il behind, so Pm holding of on
il. Some of the fellows have enough
stuff to start curio shop, and they will
sure be out of luck when we have to
pack up | won't need a whole bunch
of truck to make me remember the diff
ferent places have been.
One new feature has been added re-
cently-a government sales commissary
where we can buy candy, cigarettes,
canned goods and lots OF necessary ar
ticles at absolute cost. We can buy the
best chocolate bon-bons at forty cents
a pound, and we are all sure eating our
full share of candy. We can get Ches-
terhelds for 46 cents for carton OF 200,
which is 4.6 cents for package OF
twenty cigarettes, and when | left the
States we were paying fifteen cents for
the same package. Bull Durham is four
cents a sack, Tuxedo five cents can,
and Fatimas eight cents package. We
can get big can of peaches or pine
apple for about seventeen cents, and
ten cents for quart can packed full OF
raisins. AS long as we have money we
are not going hungry. Not that we
need to buy food, either. Yesterday for
dinner we had roast beef and gravy,
mashed potatoes, beans, bread and but
ter, apple pie and lemonade. Not so bad
at that, | guess. | almost had to get
help to get up from the table after din
ner, and wasn't the only one either.
Yesterday afternoon the post band
went into town and played all after
noon in the park, and, my but everyone
enjoyed it. | took the Captain in on
the motorcycle and sneaked away from
work for an hour and sat along the
river bank in the park listening to
real American band playing real Amer
lean music-and got homesick for the
real American folks. Anyone could
have taken a census Of the population
of R right in the park-children
and grown ups, too. Then We had a
ball game with the "Umpty imp" Ae-
SopoJrnr opd ua hondaJ tbar, n
nice walloping, score to 2.
We have baseball team that is
beauty, the only trouble being that
we have a hard time to keep our first
lieutenant from pitching. He will
announce that he is going to pitch
and of course We can't tell him to beat
it, so we have to get the captain to
put him out Of the game, and Captain
Edwards will tell him in not very gen.
tie language 10 get on the bench. OF
course We don't let Lieut. Burbank
know that we put the captain up to
calling him out of the game.
We are certainly fortunate in hav-
ing such good bunch of officers and
the men worship the ground that Cap
tain Edwards walks on and every one
in the company would 60 to the limit
for him. The first lieutenant is a
peach, too, his only failing being his
desire to pitch all of our ball games,
when we have two or three men in the
company who are close to professional
Our second lieutenant is like big over
grown boy, and We have as much fun
with him as anyone in the outfit. You
can't realize what a blessing it is to
have officers that are real men and
who are not continually reminding you
that they have commissions. One
squadron near US has five first and Sec
ond lieutenants, and more miserable
set of men you never saw. They can't
turn around, and discipline is so strict
that they are afraid to breathe. Just
as an example, the top sergeant was
busted" because the commanding Off
Ger found piece of paper under his
bunk at inspection. If Captain Ed
wards ever looked under my bunk he
would faint, if he were like our neigh