The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-10-23
BROTHERS MET IN PARIS.
Philip and John Gordon Had a Most
Joyous Time.

by Mr.. and Mrs. John w. Gordon from
their son, Philip Gordon who is chief ma
chinists mate, It. S. naval reserve, on the
Z. S. S. Prometheus:
1t was a tremendous relief TO receive
your personal letter this week when ]
returned from Paris, and it was another
relief to me when | walked into the IL
brary at 81 rue Reynouard and saw dear
Johnnie boy leaning over a book-Just
as though he was at home. ! reached
Paris the 2lst Of September ON a weeks
leave, and the first thing went searching
! for Johnnie. After ransacking the files
of the whole Red Cross / learned that he
had just arrived in the city from Italy
I on Sept. 20 and was stopping at the old
Field Service club, q rue Reynouard. /
lost no time getting there.
! Your letter disclosing how he got the
lcitation was the first time heard it told.
He showed me photo of an ambulance
This own, | belieyel tipped over in the
ditch, with indications OF shell hole
close by, and another of an ancient road
house which was being used as a dress
| ing station. This photo showed a large
shell hole in the roof and he casually
mentioned that zone of the fellows" was
inside when the roof fell out, and by de-
grees / gathered that the boy had yolun-
teered to 90 up after the wounded while
the whole Italian army was Tetreating in
| wild disorder and the Austrians were
| pitilessly Smelling the hospital and all
the roads approaching it. "Slim," his
teammate, looked as though he had been
gassed u bit, but Johnnie got his mask
on in time. | couldn't get up an appe-
tite for dinner after he showed me pic.
lures snapped few days after the holo-
caust on the west bank of the Piaye,
where the Austrian dead were strewed in
rows waiting for hasty burial that was
never finished by the Austrians. So it
seems Johnnie is well fed up with the
war at close range. He contracted ma
laria this summer and must have been in
| hospital somewhere but he is well and
strong now and don't worry.
He plans to enter the French artillery
school with the class commencing Nov. /.
| He was about to enter with the Oct. |
group, but it is best for him to take it
easy and fully recover before he starts
to snake around any 75s, He becomes
an "aspirant" and after six months
training at the school he goes into field
service, most likely as liaison officer for
his section Of batteries, and he takes the
rank of lieutenant. He received
| your Christmas box when he reached
Paris. IL certainly was welcome. The
old field service has disbanded, but most
Of the men are in some French organiza-
tion now They have their club at rue
Reynouard--a lovely old chateau in
Passy, with wonderful park sloping
down toward the Seine II is well out
| from the center Of Paris, but only two
minutes from the Metro. They serve an
exceptional table prepared in the best
French manner Room and meals are
eight francs, which is almost too reason.
able In other words, he Is at an ideal
place for recuperation He is fairly
strong now and will be in top-noteh con
dition again by the time this letter
reaches YOU ! looked for him when
was in Paris from July to l3, but they
had no direct location for him then ex-
cept that he was somewhere in Italy,
Johnnie is so over-modest that he tells Of
his French army service work during the
last year in the same way he told me
about the night the Austrians got across
the piaye. | gathered that he didn't get
| a bath all winter and the only heat they
ever had was from gasoline burned in an
old Tin can. Tie said Harry had had his
contingent blown mp twice while counter
mining and the only reason he was not
| kicked off himself was that he was tun
melting in the extreme forward end of
! the stope and the explosions drove him a
few feet into the wall ahead. He said
Harry is as strong as eyer-a fine, real
soldier (who has no peer in the whole
bloody, bloomin army.
| AS for myself, ] have been working on
some interesting things My French has
! improved 50 much that ] can understand
them except when excited ] can make
them understand me the first time, ex-
cept that the Americans laugh when ]
talk | don't care particularly, because
every day learn little bit more.
am in unusually good health. My
only troubles are as usual Inventions.
The same old story. The strange thing
about it is that they usually work.
when tried There is another disadvan-
| tage in having these fixed ideas-the
naval life is too regular for any extended
researches such as | used to be under
| taking.
Tell mother ! have met lady a whole
| lot like my own mamma. She fixes me
mullins and coffee aud an omelette when
ever can get TO France, just like you
do in the evening, mother mine. Even
here in France they praise mother who
has given all, even here, where both IA
! Their and sons fight side by side. took
tour through the "Au Printemps' and
the other best shops, hoping to pick up
an idea TO send for your next dress, but
/ am still in a whirl really don't know
what they will be wearing this winter
until | get the dope from the Ladies'
Home Journal, which some lady friend
sends us every month | have been over
here quite a long time, mother. ! have
visions of taking an apartment in Passy
after the war and job as Paris repre-.
sentative for machine tool people, Then
you can come over with father for a trip
| that will do you more good than any
thing | know of This may be only a
bit Of idle fancy, yet like Paris so well
and seem to get along with the French
so agreeably that it may not be the
worst plan. Once the French have be-
come thoroughly instilled with the Amer
lean methods of production, ] believe
there will be good future for Amer
leans here, and there win be many sol
diers who willsstay here to live in spite
of their maledictions against the coun-
try--for | saw many a one in Paris who
secretly liked the whole layout, yet han
kered for a mug of Java and a couple Of
sinkers in some Tom Mercer's. And
then, too, a surprising number Of them
are MARRYING We shnllld have nverv