Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1918-03-20
Sergeant Harold and ne iii. .~apsOn,
With 10th Ambulance Co.
A. Il. +. Who Recently
Landed i'm France Write
Their Parents.
GIVES GOOD DESCRIPTION
OF TRIP AND COUNTRY
Says Prices i'm France are Con-
siderably Cheaper Than in
America. Good Meal for
Thirty Cents, Would
Cost Almost
Dollar Here

Below we print some very interes-
ting letters from Sergeant Harold
and Rex Thompson, sons of Mr.. and
Mrs. f. l.. Thompson, the former
being the c.. M. & ST. P. agent here.
The boys write very entertainingly
and are glad to be in France:
Somewhere in France,
Feb. IL, 1918
Dear Folks:
Well we are over the pond at last,
after safe though rather slow voy-
age. We had fine weather all the
way across with the exception of one
day and night Of very rough weather.
/ WASH t seasick a bit during the trip,
so ! imagine | got more enjoyment
out OF it than some. Conditions on
the boat were not as good as they
normally might have been, because of
the fact that we had large bunch Of
nesros at one end of tne ship. Tnis
made things somewhat disagreeable
for the white troops, because, while |
have no personal prejudice against
the black race, nevertheless | think
that the confines of snip are rather
narrow Tor occupancy with colored
troops, They were, as rule, in
tensely afraid OF the water and in
great dread OIL the submarines.
overheard two Of them, in referring
TO our transport, use a rather vulgar
epithet. 1Ae other negro jumped up
in an instant, mis- anger all aroused
and said niger" don't you-all call
this ship names. If she ever gets me
safe TO land I'm going to get down
on my knees and kiss her" And the
best part OF it was he was in earnest
about it, They are all southern
darkies and some of them used to
come up to our end of the ship at
night with guitars and mandolins and
give us some very fine music We
arrived in port about noon on a fine
sunny day, and it was a welcome
sight to see Land once more. In the
afternoon men, women, boys and
girls rowed out in small boats from
the town to sell apples and beg
money They live near the wharfs
and Of course correspond to the type
found in the slums or our large cities
poverty stricken, poorly clad and
free lot at that. 1t seems that in
spite OF the war the natural light
heartedness of the French people is
bound to come to the surface. Every
one mas a smile for you in this coun-
try, and among themselves they
laugh and chatter as though they
had not care in the world. Since
landing we have seen quite bit of
France and the part / have seen i'm
presses me very favorably. 1t is a
very picturesque country, with well
kept roads, quaint old fashioned
architecture, and fertile fields. In
this country spring is already here.
Everything is green and growing and
the days are warm and bright.
The French cities are to an Ameri-
can almost wonderfully neat. AS
you come in on the train you do not
see the dirty smokey frame shacks
that line the right of way of an
American railroad. Instead you see
neat stone houses, stone walls or
neatly painted fences, and every little
bit of ground laid out in garden pat
ches, and not weed showing. This
neat mathematical arrangement Of
be characteristic of this entire sec
tion OF France. In some respects,
most noticeablly in transportation
facilities, this country is far behind
when compared with the United
States. Their railway equipment
seems like a joke to us. They have
the funniest, most diminutive cars
and engines imaginable. They have
wheels that look good deal like the
wheels on our hand baggage trucks
in America, with four spokes in them
and real high compared with our
small diameter American wheels
The freight cars look like toy cars.
They are about the size of the little
dump cars you see in mines, and hold
very little more than three ton
American motor truck. The engines
are built in proportion and have no
bells on them. 1t seems strange to
enter big union depot in a large
city and hear none of the noise and
confusion characteristic of an Ameri-
can city. Much OF the hauling is done
with big two wheeled carts with one
or two horses. There seems to be a
prejudice here against hitching hor-
seS abreast. You very seldom see
two horses hitched abreast as in
America, instead, they are strung out
in line. l have seen as many as four
horses hitched one ahead OF the other
and the wheel horse doing most of
the work. About the only trucks and
automobiles you see are In the
American military service. We are
quartered at very fine place now,
in a town OF 100000 people. We
live in big, four story barracks. and
have a sort of wooden lattice work
(Continued ON mage 81