Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-07-15
With Islanders
In The Service

An interesting letter is written
by Private Howard Graham, son Of
Mr.. and Mrs. Andrew Graham, 916
Forty-fourth street, to his parents,
in which he tells of his trip across
the waters to France and Of little
incidents after arriving on the sis
ter nations soil His letter in part
is appended:
"Our trip across the ocean was
uneventful, as we were blessed with
good weather and calm seas all the
way over. There was no sickness
in our company, except few cases
of sea sickness and, luckily, l es-
capped that entirely / thought that
I would be among the unfOrtunates
to ba sea sick, and was somewhat
surprised to come through without
a sign of sickness. No one worried
about the submarines, and venture
to say that a happjer-go-lucky
bunch never crossed the At
lantic on a troop transport. How
ever, the trip became very monot-
OnOus towards the last and we all
anxiousIy scanned the horizon for
land on the@ast day.
I'VE landed at quite a famous
city, and were filled with curiosity,
but were marched through the out
skirts Of the city, SO were unable
to see any but the lower classes of
people We probably will leave
here without having had the Oppor-
tunity of seeing what the town
looks like. There is considerable
historical interest attached to it and
l would like to have view of it,
but do not think l will be given the
opportunity.
1T is extremely hard to write an
interesting letter, as we are allowed
TO say so little of our surroundings.
We are eRcamped shertAiistance
out of the city, but are expecting
orders to move any day. We have
no idea to what part of the country
we will be sent.
Il did not have my clothes off
during the entire trip over, except
to take an occasional bath. We
wore life jackets from the time we
left the point of embarkatiOn until
we arrived, and | was very glad to
lay my jacket aside and leave the
ship. During the last two nights /
did not have my shoes off, as we
were instructed to be prepared to
go on deck at a moments notice
1--WE took a short hike out into
the country last night to a small
town. The houses are all OF stone
and were evidently built years ago.
The most prominent feature ~ this
country is the wine shops, where one
can get a sweet wine for small
amount of money. We are allowed
to drink light wines and beer, but |
did not take any last night, as
have decided not to indulge as long
as am in the army. While the rest
Of the fellows were visiting the
wine shops, three or four OF US
talked through a window to three
French girls and their mother-or,
at least, tried to talk TO them. They
were seated just inside the window,
sewing and knitting; they seeked to
enjoy the conversation as much as
we did. They were neatly dressed
and appeared to be more refined
than the people about them They
showed us a picture of their broth
er. who is an officer in the French
army. II is really pathetic to see
how grateful the people are to the
Americans for helping them out.
About all we have seen have been
women and old men, as all the
young men are in the army. In
spite of all their trials, however,
they remain cheerful.
"The country through which we
walked last night was very pretty.
1t is OF a rolling nature and is near
| " all titled. The roads are made Of
stone and are not very easy to walk
upon. On either side OF the roads
are hedge fences, and here and
there one can see a tree-lined drive,
evidently leading To some chateau
back from the road, but hidden
from view by the trees. As we
walked along we would pass an oc-
casional cart driven by an old man,