The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1918-08-22
LETTER FROM GEO. T. MUr,HY
SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE"

with interest by Beaver friends of
Geo. T. Murphy, nephew of the Her.
aid editor:
June 2s, 1918.
Dear Ones All:
Have been intending to write you
folks letter for some time but have
mt had the opportunity. would like
to tell you lot Of things which
know would interest you but l know
Mr.. Censor would use his shears.
We landed in a beautiful harbor
and our first impression of France
was one we won't forget soon. This
was in the northern part Of France.
Went into camp here for three days
were In barracks which were used
by Napoleon and which had been
built several years before that time,
so you can see how old they were.
They were of stone--over foot
thick, with slate roofs. They were
exceptionally large. I believe in a
pinch q whole regiment could be put
in one Of them. Here we saw, too,
the wall where the prisoners were
shot. Judging from the bullet holes
some Of those in the firing squads
must have been nervous, for bullets
had entered all the way from knee
high to higher than I could reach.
From this camp we had q two-days
ride on the train through q most
beautiful part Of France. The cities,
especially the smaller ones, hardly
look like cities at all. There are very
few tall buildings and chimneys, and
hr;nb oas a vnotor;ol - ,onsxr,,ot;a
seems almost unknown. Nearly ev-
erything Is of stone with tile roofs.
All the windows have shutters which
are usually closed. There are no wire
fences at all. Hedges, stone walls
and walls built Of dirt covered with
shrubbery are used instead. There
are no large farms but simply small
plots ,6f, ground Of q few acres and
looks like q checker board, these
small plots all being separated by
hedges and with different crops in the
different patches and almost every
available foot Of ground is under cul-
tivation, but they still find room for
their rose and flower gardens. There
seems to be all kinds Of wild flowers,
poppies especially. And then we saw
lots Of the. big windmills-those big
Dutch mills, and the roadside crosses,
large crucifixes, which interested US.
Have made two visits to the city
near our present camp and fird lots
Of interesting and histogic places-a
cathedral built in the second century,
destroyed in the fourth and rebuilt
in the eleventh-castle Of the Black
Prince-a bridge, the cornerstone of
which was laid by Napoleon himself
"a beautiful and gigantic memorial
erected in 1900. It keeps me scratch
ing my hesd to connect what history
! haven't forgotten with them. And
then there are plenty Of the old forti-
fed. castles throughout the country.
Another thing we noticed particu-
larly was the roads. No dirt roads
but the best macadam and all curves
up and down hill. Would certainly
be some country for touring-but
there is no one touring for reasons
you know--cars have been taken ov-
er by the government and gasoline is
worth something over $1.0O a gallon.
Have lots more to tell you but will
do that next week. Don't anyone
worry as I am in no more danger now
than I was in the "Etats Unis."
June 28, 1918.
Have been going to school for two
weeks now and am learning lots of
new and interesting things about this
war and the appliances they are US
ing in it. i can't tell you of that Of
course until I get back,
My head is all healed up and have
taken the .bandage of. 1t left quite
q little scar.
Went to French show Saturday.
I wanted to see the theatre which is
nearly . thousand years old and
which ID one Of the most beautiful in
France. I laughed when the crowd
did and pretended to understand it
all. -
Have gotten all new clothes here.
Uncle Sam wants his soldiers to look
nice in France. We don't wear the
hats here but overseas caps. ! guess
they are what you'd call quite "chic''
shall try to send you snap shot OF
me with mine soon.
I like everything fine here but one
thing - no laundries and we have
to .wash all our own clothes. Have
q way all our own to press them
dampen them or else take them be-
fore they are quite dry, put them un-
der my bed and sleep on them. Bet
ter try it.,
Still feeling fine-wish everyone
at home was feeling as well and hav-
ing as good time as l am.
The motor cars in the u. s. are
almost as large as the fiat and freight
cars Of the French railways-they
look like toys-yet they put forty
American soldiers into one car. There
is q sign on the car which reads 40
hommes, 8 chervaux.-means horses
or forty men--but some day they'll
start one across the Rhine and
therein be q hundred Americans try
ing to get in.
Celebrated the 4th in grand style