Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1918-10-23
Many Soldiers From United
States Are Billeted in
French Towns.
Enjoy FRENCH HOME LIFE
Learn to Sympathize With the People
and Become keener Than
Ever to Get at the
Huns.

( Somewhere In France. - Many
American sildiers are having the
unique opportunity. as well as the
pleasant experience. of learning
French customs and seeing French
homellfe by being biIleted right In the
houses of their Gallo hosts and host
esses.
In one Of the villages OF central
; France, high up among the hills,
where one can get magnificent view
of the surrounding peaks" the val
ley and the winding river below Is
. hllleted a regiment of American ar
tiilery lads. Most of them are from
California, others are from North Da-
kota. Montana, and other states of the
Northwest.
Coming up the road from the rail-
way station one crosses the mill race
with its ancient stone bridge, passes
the moulin nOir" and entering the
village after recall" sees the soldiers
lolling about In the houses or seated
about the tables in front of the wine
shops talking to their French friends
whose guests they are.
From one of the village streets
clear through the town the houses
are marked with the number Of
Americans bilieted there. One place
door, "24 men" and another 40 Of
ficers, IA men" Down in the narrow
side streets are more billets and from
these winding passageways the sol
diers come in scores after the eve
ming mess to wander along the main
drag" and visit biIlets of their friends
In other batteries.
No Formally There.
Life is very informal In this vii
lage since the Americans came. The
doors and windows of the home-bil-
lets. opening right into the streets.
reveal the soldiers beds made up In
shIp-shape military manner. the
floors scrubbed spotlessly clean and
everything as neat and tidy as home
might be expected TO be. In many
places, sanitation. crude In most
French towns, at least, from an Amer
leans standpoint. has been improved
and living conditions improved not
only for the soldiers but for the
civilian natives as we'll
'How do you like living In billets?"
was asked raw-boned gunner who
said his home had ben in Idaho.
"All right now came the response.
I'VE did not think much of ii at
first; we had to 20 too far for mess
The cook shack is away up there on
the hill in the square behind the
church And in our billet we had to
climb a ladder to get into the hay
NOW. I'd rather live In tent, es-
pecially In the summer But we all
say, like the French. 'Cest la guerre'
and let IT go at that.
But we're learning a lot about the
French, getting a lot of insight into
their lives which We could not get
otherwise. We're learning to sympa-
thize with them more than ever I
believe II makes us better soldiers.
I know for sure that II makes us
3 keener to fight the Germans when we
J hear some of the facts the French
2 lSDEit Ath US. WHY III our ubuNs
alone the old man and old woman
I who live there have lost three sons
in the war and another is a prisoner
of the Germans
! "Oh. we get along all right. The
women do our washing and mending
and they're always anxious to do a
! lot of extra things for us. We sure
will miss these people when we move
! from here. II will be like leaving
! home again"
Music and Craps.
! The black troops are bringing Amer
| ica's folk songs to Europe. Whether
he is in the overalls of the stevedore
or the olive drab of the fighting man
| going over the top, the American ne
| gro sings lust as he does in the cotton
fields nf the sunny Southland or the
dock along the shores of the Great
| Lakes.
The nearDesS of the war. the whizz
| of the bullets and the roar OF the
| cannon fail to mar the eternal nom
worrying attitude of the American
negro.
Their barracks at night are alive
with music. AT least one man In every
squad has managed to bring a banjo
along or made enough shooting craps
TO buy one In France Speaking of
craps. it's the great barrack room
sport OF the negroes the first day
after payday. And every niche they
ean get in out of sight of their white
officers sees crap game going. Then
when one or two men In the regiment
have got all the money in camp they
go back to singing the old-time songs
and playing them on their banjos I'M
til another payday rolls around.
II morale follows In the footsteps
of music. then the colored troops must
be Jess full Of it. bossw