The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1918-10-10
THE CROWN PRINCE.
WRITES AN INTERESTING LET.
TER TO HIS DEAR PAPA.

.---
The following was taken from a
newspaper published in France and
sent to Nevada relatives by a Nevada
doughboy, who is now fighting in
France:
ION the Run, Somewhere in France,
Everywhere in France, All the Time"
Dear Papa; am writing on der run
as der brave and glorious soldiers I'M
der my command have not seen der
Rhine for so long dat they have start
ed back that way, and of course | am
going nit dem. Oh, pap, dere has been
some offel dings happened here in
France. First, | started in my big Of
fensive, which was to crush de fool
Americans, but they know so little
about military tactics dat dey will not
be crushed just like l want em. / sent
my men in der fight in der big waves
and ven dey got to de Americans dey
all said BOO" as loud as they could
holler. Ven, according TO vat you have
always told me, de Americans have
do you tink? Dem fool Americans don't
know anything about war, and instead
of running de odder way, dey came
right toward us. Some of dem vas
singing about eve wont come back till
| it's over, over dere," or some odder
| foolish song, and some of dem were
laffing like fools. Dey are so ignorant.
But dey are offel reckless nit der
guns, and ven dey come toward us,
1t vas den dat my men took notion
/ dey wanted to go back to de dear old
Rhine. We don't like de little dirty
Marne river, anyhow. And, oh, pap,
dem Americans use such offel Ian
guage. Dey know nothing of kultur
and say such offel dings right before
US. And dey talk blasphemy, too. Vat
you think dey said right in front of
my face? One big husky from a place
dey call Missouri, he said-oh, papa,
| hate to tell you vat an offel thing
| he said-but | can't help it; he said
| ITO hell NIT der kaiSer!" Did you ev-
er hear anything so offel? ! didn't
think anybody would say such an offel
| thing. 1t made me so mad. | wouldn't
stand and hear such an offel thing so
turned around and run nit der cd
der boys. Vas | right? Vot? And, oh
! papa, you know dem breastplates vot
! you sent us-can you send some to
put on our backs? You know We are
going de odder way, now, and breast
plates are no good, for de cowardly
American are shooting us right in
der back. Some of our boys took off
der breast-plates and put 'em behind
but de fool Americans are playing
Ode Star SpHngles Banner" nit ma
chine guns on dem plates. Can't you
help us? You remember in your
speech you said nothing could stand
before the brave German soldiers?
Oh, papa, don't believe dose ignOr-
ant Americans ever read your speech,
for dey run after us just like We vas
a lot of rabbits. Vot you tink of dot?
Cant you send dem some Of your
speeches right away? Dey don't know
how terrible We are. Can't you move
my army back to Belgium yer We Won
all our glory? My men can vip all the
vimmen and children vot dem Bel
gians can bring us. But dees Ameri-
cans are so rough and ignorant. We
can't make 'em understand that We
are the greatest soldiers on earth and
ven We try to sing Deutschland Ueber
Allies" dey laugh like a lot of mon
keys. But We are getting de best of de
Americans. We can outrun dem. Papa,
if We are not de best fighters on earth
We are sure de best runners. Nobody
can keep up nit US ven We tink Of
der dear old Rhine, and my army new
er did think so much of dat dear old
river. Let me know right away vot to
do by return postoffice.
July 20 times.
Crown Prince Willie.