Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-05-12
GEORGE J. barbara
F. WRITES Of FRANCE
Enlisted in Quartermaster's
Department and Was at
Camp Meigs.
ACROSS" SINCE FEBRUARY

American soldiers who as recently as
last February were at Camp Meiss are
now chartered somewhere in France
in a barracks building erected for the
housing of Napoleon's famous 18th In
fantry, according to letter received
by Washing ton friends OF George J..
Barbara, formerly of the bureau or
standards and now a private In the
auartermaster's department OF Gen.
PershinE's Army.
For the past month or 50 we have
been located in new place many miles
from the village where we stopped on
our arrival in France" writes Private
Barbaro. I'VE reached here after the
most interesting trip ever took IN my
life. II you want complete descrip-
ton Of our de luxe accommodations. re-
fer to sergt. Employs "Over the Top
and you have it all in a nutshell, with
no exuyCerations. But if had to make
the same trip again and had my cho1ce
of making 1t in q Pullman or the way
we did make 1t. with the same jolly
bunch of comrades, / would choose Inc
latter every time.
Rode ON Commissary Train.
There were seven or eight Of US. all
non-coms and special duty men. and we
rode In the last car of train which
was pretty well filled with commits.
sary supplies. The first hour or 50 OF
the trip was rather gloomy-.every-
thing dark, as there were no lights
on some Of our good old American
songs and, Lord. how we all did sing!
"Of course, we went light on the
sentimental songs. because, strange to
say, they have q tendency to make
those we left behind. but we sure did
sing the others. Before our first
French akeman-fiagman
left us-we changed six times during
the trip-we had him believing out
with NJ that famous old ditty when
one grasshopper jumped upon another
grasshopper's back" etc, and he sure
went to it with the right spirit. His
pronunciation was in a class by itself.
his own peculiar way. He came aboard
\ serious-faced French daddy Of about
fifty years of age. but when he got on he
was one Of the boys, his face wore 2
CHEEKY smile, and his stomach was well
filled" We made him = present Of
few packages of bareback. corned willy
and some real jam for the kfddies and
the madame at home. You see, that is
one beauty of riding in supply car.
It was or 4 o'clock in the morning
nlled sugar bags, curled up in our
blankets as best we could and tried to
snatch a few hours Sleep.
Waking Up in New World.
when we awoke and looked out on
the beautifully cultivated fields. the
vineyards and the quaint old houses
waking up in q wonderful new world.
France is surely beautiful-that part
through which we passed-and every
inch of the land seems to be under cul.
tivation. 1t is wonderful to me how
they do it.. with all their able-bodied
men at the front and nobody left at
home but the women. children. old men
and cripples. Everywhere along the
line the people would stop their work
to wave and smile at the boys in olive
empty box. climbed to the top Of my
-side-door pullman and sat myself down
in comfort to admire and be admired
by the pretty maids Of France: and I
that were waited my way. That's
another advantage of riding in the last
car.
TT was q different story. though.
when we got to our present camp. a. 1t
was raining and had been raining for
some time. You probably think you
know what mud is. but let me tell you
you don't and you never will until you
see real French mud such as we are
wading through at present. as our
camp grounds are mud-deep, sticky.
Sooey mud. 1t dried up once about
three weeks ago, but about the time
the big drive started at the front it
began to rain again. and has been rain
ing ever since. today being the seven
tenth day Of rain without single let.
up.
Mass in Cathedral.
The locality in which we have been
for the last month or more is rich in
legends Of CharlemaSns and stories Of
Napoleon. The last three or four Sun
days have attended mass in a wonder
full old cathedral. said to have been
built by Charlemagne more than ten
centuries ago: We are in the barracks
that were built for Napoleon's famous
, 3th Infantry. but ! am afraid Nap
wouldn't recognize the old place now,
with Uncle Sans boys all over the
shop: The whole surrounding coun-
try IL wonderfully interesting. and I
can hardly realize that many of the
houses I see were built long before the
world ever dreamed Of America.
: "Of course. there 10 very little we can
say. regarding war news. as we get
little Information here. and what we
do get 10 mostly rumor. I have been
talking with several wounded Tommies,
Just in from the front. and from the
stories they tell the newspaper reports
of German losses are not in the least
ing HI all around"