Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1918-01-24

Former Y. M. c. A. Secretary
In Charge of Lumberman.
Finds Men From Several Vermont
Towns-Secs N1iddlebury Paper on
Hotel Tablets Located Near
Andrew Carnegie Estate.

Tho Free Press is permitted to use tho
following interesting letter written to
Burlington friends by Ernest l.. Rand,
..S.a Is with the Y. NJ. c. A. In Europe:
S~e how far over 1 have set the margin
OF my paper so that can crowd into
the space such a lot of things that want
to tell you about. o. course, you do not
expect me to say a th'nS about war stuff.
for 1t might not get to you, and am
simply going to say that have been
through my first air raid with out CATCH
ing any Bosche bombs in my pocket
though 1t woke me out Of a sound slum-
Der. with the rattle and bang Of the guns.
I am going to cut out spacing and just
squeeze in every word that can. You
Will want to know what I am doing way
up here In Scotland, almost to the end,
and why ! am not in Russia. The main
reason is that Sweden will not let us go
across her frontier at present and so am
doing scout work for the London office.
which by the way gives me a fine chance
to see the British Isles. and I am enjoy
ing this trip to Scotland. though I have
a poor opinion of their heating arrange
nents, as the wood does not burn well,
for they burn 1t green. l am up here to
complete arrangements for $50 men to go
to London for their Xmas holiday and so
to take care of them that they will come
back able to continue to cut timber for
the forces. They are all New England
lumbermen. and found boys here from
st. Adams and Montgomery. Richford
and Rutland. Orleans and Dorset. Coming
into the reading room at the hotel this
morning, I found this heading in a paper
that laid on the top of the others. Rand
to so to France" Imagine 1t, here 1900
miles from my home, in this obscure viii
lage to find ones name so famous as to
read 1t In a paper here, which paper by
the way was printed in Middlebury, and
was sent here to Middlebury fellow.
But 1t made me think of home and as
just wrote to another. perhaps 1t is
responsible for this letter to you too. You
tell your mother that 1t was reported
on ship board that the custom officers
would take away from parties entering
the ports Of Great Britain all sweets or
sugar products so most of the sweets that
we had were consumed on the way over
except some sugar that brought in. that
you folks gave me and some other that
I had. l tell you we all enjoyed the fudge
and as you said In your letters that you
wrote, 1t certainly was good. Next time
! come to visit you, We will have to get
her to make some. have not your letters
before me so ! cannot answer all the
things that you spoke Of. but am simply
going to ramble along and write you some
Of the things that I think will interest
YOU. / suppose that the first thing you
would be interested in would be dresses.
And you would want to know how the
ladies dressed here. No? Well ] won't
~, I,,x Aoy1 hat
would be surprised to see the number of
people that wear black here. and they
wear It in such way that 1t is not at all
unbecoming, in fact, it seems quite the
thing. and they would seem out Of place
without 1t.
The first thing that struck me as soon
a. landed was to see the girls on the
tram cars and buses that were doing the
work Of the conductors. And many Of the
express messengers on the carts and the
wagons are women. At the railroad sta
lions the porters are girls and women.
The mail clerks in lots of the centres are
women. and the pages in the hotels and
bellboys are young girls. I tell you it
seems pitiable that this should be so,
and yet think that perhaps these very
women and girls are the ones who by
this out of door active labor are going
to build up such strong hodies and such
health that they will be able as the
snothers of the coming English race to
make up for the weakness of the men who
have given their strength and health to
the nation in its need. Here in Scotland
about a pound per week. The wages are
The mail carriers here on these rural
routes get five shillings per week. and the
men driving the lumber wagons get only
about a pound per week. TIE wages are
n,.k
dresses 1t Is very seldom at any function
that you see anyone in evening dress,
mean the ladies. There seems to be an
avoidance Of such display. The street
dresses and coats are quite nice but they
seem to lack the smartness of the purely
American ladies' tailoring. though the
men are much better dressed and the
goods in the suits are much better.
There is an avoidance also Of hat
decoration. The hats are very simple.
with simple ribbon or velvet around 1t.
They have just passed law now that
women cannot wear any more high boots,
and they are going to put on shoes they
call them here, Oxfords we would say.
This is done to save the leather. Shoes
are made on about the same lasts as at
home. though the heels are even higher
than there.
Did say this would interest you? Well.
you know as We are nearer the pole
than you are at home the nights are
much longer here and 1t Is pitch dark here
at in the morning. We have our break
fast about that time. and then we have
lunch about IL. The afternoon Is always
short and everything is dropped about five
when even in the offices the men have
their tea brought In to them at their
desks and the work goes on as they
eat their thin slices Of bread and drink
their pot Of tea with little milk and
less sugar. Dinner is served about eight.
and that is the main meal of the day. II
one Is up late 1t Is customary to have
a glass Of hot milk or a cup of tea
with a cracker (they call them biscuits
here) or a cookie or a thin slice or so
Of bread. If you are very busy. at times.
It seems as IL 1t was eat all the day.
For bread they have what we call biscuits,
which are here called scenes. after the
Scotch scone. but the English and the
Scotch scone are very different. The
English being more like our baked soda
biscuit while the Scotch scone Is made
with about the same material but is more
as II It was fried. They make a lot of
Marmalade here and 1t is always found
on the table. 80 is jam. You have heard
probably about the soldiers "grousing'
about no jam in the trenches Tea and
Jam they must have. Oh! that word
.'grousing" is the new word for grumblins
and is like the man with a crouch.
think II must have come from Crouch
Ing" There are places here In England
and In Scotland that would appeal to
your r,,f .dO0r uatures I feel sire