The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1918-12-13
l|EUT. SW|HART TELLS
OF LIFE IN FRANCE
GIVES INTERESTING GLIMPSES
OF SOLDERING
Letters to Parents Tell of Expert
ences in the Great Drive That
Preceded Peace

We have been accorded the prlVl-
lege of reading a number of very in
teresting letters that were written by
Lieut.. Vernon Swihart to his par
ents, Mr.. and Mrs. Geo. Swihart, dur
ing the months of Sept. and Oct. and
have been given permission to quote
from them as we might think ad-
visable. In this respect we may say
that the letters would be very inter-
esting if published in their entirety,
but this we are unable to do because
of lack of space, and will therefore
give the substance of such portions
of them as may be possible.
The first letter Of the series is
dated Sept. 10, and tells first about
the weather in France, saying that
the rainy season is at hand and
that the wind is blowing about the
old ruins in which the writer is quar-
tered. The letter continues:
"And it sure does whistle around
through these old ruins that we are
living in now. am writing this let
ter in what was once the parlor of
the village priests home. This house
is in fairly good shape, even now.
Somehow it has escaped being hit by
shell fire, although the church next
door is sure a ruin. A shell tore a
hole through the wall big enough to
drive team of horses into, and then
, exploded inside the church"
In this letter the lieutenant tells
of the fresh beef that is issued to the
army every day "beef killed in
America and in perfect condition
when we get it," and of the white
bread, baked in the military baker
,ies. In relation to the bread he
says: "By the way, the American
army is the only place in France
where you can get white bread. The
French all eat sort of rye bread. 1t
has slightly sour taste, but l like
it real WELL" Then he shows how
little the boys "over there" have
known of conditions at home by writ
ing: 81 have heard that white bread
is getting to be quite scarcity at
home. Is that fact or is it just a
Sumor? You know we hear almost
as many wild tales about conditions
in the states as you folks do about
conditions over here"
In this letter Lieutenant Swihart
gives us a glimpse of one of those
interesting characters of which the
great army contains so many exam
pies, each pursuing some hobby or
exhibiting some trait peculiar to him
self. This boy was writing his ex-
periences and feelings down, day by
day in verse, and as an evidence Of
his cleverness the lieutenant copies
one example which we present here
with:
A Mothers Tears
It's easy for others to laugh, as they
"We will send you away with a
smile,"
But remember, there's one, whose
boy goes away, "
And her heart slowly breaks all the
while. -
A smile may mean "God Speed to
you, Friend"
Or it may be the hypocrite's way,
But the hot, scalding tears that a
true mother sheds,
Are real, when her boy goes away.
So God bless each tear that you
shed, Mother dear,
They will help. us to carry our part
For each tear is prayer for your
boy, lover here"
A prayer that comes straight from
the heart.
The next letter is dated Sept. 26
and tells of the enjoyment Of a hot
bath in an old French town, the bath
house having been built and used by
the Germans in their four years of
occupation and then abandoned them
in their retreat At this time the
troops were "ddg in" and the lieu
tenant gives us this interesting word
picture of the situation:
"Our little village here on the
hillside reminds me more of a
prairie-dog town than anything else
in the world. One minute the whole
hillside will be covered with men.
Then suddenly "Zingv' comes big
shell, or the bugle sounds the aero
plane alert, and as if by magic every
one disappears into a hole. Then,
as soon as the danger is past, they
all crawl out again, until another
shell or Boche plane comes over.
It's sure gay life."
Speaking of the work of the Y. M.
C. A. and Red Cross, Lieutenant Swi-
hart says:
again, want to say good word
for the Y. M. c. A. and the Red
Cross. They both followed us over
the top and almost as soon as we
stopped our advance they were right
with US with newspapers, tobacco,
cookies, chocolate, chewing gum, etc.
And they. furnish us all this stuff free