The Oskaloosa herald., 1918-06-20
NUMBERED tETT[RI0|L FOR STREETS
bsN LINDLEY HAS NOVEL WAY
OF CONVEYING. NEWS

l e. "a = u
Ben Lfndley who is with a bakery
corps on duty near the front lines in
France SENDS home The following let,
ter which contains some new ideas.
That Of numbering letters is a mighty
useful suggestion. 1t tells the recipient
of letter at a glance whether any
communication are lost or missing.
This is the first time this suggestion
has been made in this way.
Henriette Bass, oskaloosa, Iowa,
(Letter No. %, May "A, ls1s.-Dear
Aunty: Just received your letetr yes
terday. You must have had late
spring. We have had a late spring mere
too. The weather is fine now, even hot
part of the time. There is so much
rain here that everything is covered
with or 8 inches of grass or some
moss The tile roofs even have moss
on them, the older buildings, espe-
cially.
am numbering my letters so you
can tell how much of the mail you get.
This letter is No. 2 The letter last
Sunday was mothers letter. II was
number one. II you do the same I can
tell how many of yours get. think
lit is at Least a month since 1 got a
iletter from home,
| You don't want to believe all you
hear in the papers. We buy eggs Of
ten and fry them for midnight lunch
when we are working on night shift.
They are DOC dozen, and never more
than a dollar a dozen or SC apiece, at
the most. We have fine bread, much
better than can be bought in the states
II is made entirely out Of wheat -four
No lard or sugar is used, but we don't
notice 1t in bread as we would, In other
foods with sugar left out.
So the car is o. K. I'd like to drive
| IL again. think we'll have to have
a four-passenger roadster in year or
so. They's going to be the main thing
after the war unless something new
turns up. 49,, /. :. I, 49,
il she keeps on building. The last time
/ saw it. they were. starting the roof
on the main building. wouldn't hard.
ly know the place now, $50 :,
|. 1 heard so much about tobacco
funds, milk funds, Red Cross, Etc.
for the soldiers that it gets tiresome.
l guess the Red Cross is, doing some
work all right. but the Y. M. c., A. is
doing as much as all the rest put to-
gether, There have been millions of
dollars raised for the tobacco fund
and never yet have seen or talked to
anyone who had seen any free tobac,
co except the Red Cross package
which contained about thirty cents
worth of tobacco given to each soldier.
Some soldiers may be getting il, but
I've been almost across France and
haven't seen any of it yet. don't know
who gets it. I've talked to several out
of the trenches and they haven't seen
anything of it either. You can. bank on
the Y. NJ. C. A, which every soldier in
France can get the benefit of at times.
We have free entertainments, church
services, free magazines, papers. and
a few books, free paper and envelopes,
and the only American place where a
soldier can sit on real chair. In
quarters We sit on hunks, in the mess
hall we sit on benches. You, really do
not appreciate a chair with a back to
It, until you spend some time. in the
army. If you want 10 send anything;
daily papers and sweets are the best
things to, send. Candy is usually. sent
by the government in tins with a lid
that can be opened with a. knife or
wedge. .-. ss, q. ,s,, .,... - .sE
Well, must close and get out to
mess. We had enough bread ahead, SO
! got off from Saturday noon 10 Mon
day at g. p. m, when start week on
night shift. Hope / can get mail sooner
by this post Office address, ..,
-.s With love. ..s.
...t... Ben.
I, P. S.--Got your last letter written
April Is, today after this, was ready to
mail The one answered was April 81.
Corp. Benjamin W.. Lindley,
Bakery Company. 306.
A. P. o. TIA, American e. F.