The Fayette falcon. (Somerville, Tenn.) 190?-current, 1918-11-22
Letters From Our Boys
France, Sept. 25, 1918,
DR.. j. E. Parks,
Somerville, Tenn.

time of writing you letter but II
seemed as if l didn't have time so here
comes one any how. Now you car
Just throw away that chew of tobacco
and get ready to read some. regret
that ! am unable to give any news of an
alleged war over here. | don't know
any thing about it and lind it most diff
fcult to find. The papers | see are all
old, the Continentsl papers don't know
any thing or if they do they keep it to
themselves. A reader of first class
daily in the U. S. A. can keep much
better informed than anybody here.
Besides what could mere soldier over
here furnish in the way of dope as STRAIT
.egy to interest the main high wal
council of the Tan Yards. Anything
that might be said would only be in the
nature of a friendly sugg estion. So far
as | have been able to ascertain by
daily talks with French horses and list
'ening to the confab Of friendly cows, all
is going we'll for our cause and no one
fears ultimate out come.
The chief grievance we have is about
mail. (The other sex does not interfere)
Our letters are often six weeks old but
we are always glad:to get them. Twill
try to tell you few things about the
country over here taking care not to
-divulge any military information or vio-
Aatesany others of the rules and regula-
tions of wise and proper censorship.
We have been several weeks in France
and are becoming accustomed to new
ways and strange sights. Most of our
men are very adaptible. They refuse
positively to stand off from any body
or anything. They are at home al
ready here though for the most part
we don't know the language, We make
signs and by our persistency most al
ways obtain what we want. The peo-
pie are polite and clever. They antici-
pate the wants of the soldiers. The
soldiers and French inhabitants soon
get on good terms.
This is beautiful country, it has at
fractions entirely new and different
from any we have. The landscape is
wonder of order and fertility. 1t looks
as if some one had stolen all the
lovely gardens in the world, all the
perfectly cultivated fields and ARRANGED
them over here in an endless chain with
due regard to an artistic effect. Trees
stand along roads in perfect rows lift
ing their heads high up, each tree ex-
actly alike. Hedges everywhere and
stone fences are dividing lines between
farms all trimed and uniform.
About each house is flower garden
filled with roses and numerous blooming
plants brilliant with color aud filling the
air with fragrance. The land is petted
and loved by the farming folks. 1t is
a common sight to see the people, the
two extremes, very young and very old
from early morn until late at night
harvesting the crops. Now and then
a French soldier back from the front
spending his rest period helping harvest
the crops.
The people are very Industrious.
aOne woman here, little one at that,
does more work than the average man
in the states, for they work about four
teen hours day. Not only do they work
but seem to be happy and contented
lot. If the war bothers them you can
not tell it, they are too busy. Frugal
in the first degree they save everything,
no real poverty anywhere. They have
in their homes all the comforts, much
more than we generally see.
The homes in France are about one
type in the country. They are made of
stone and brick mainly, one and one
half stories high. There is most often
a square between the dwelling house
and the barns all connected together
and in the middle of the inclosure the
pigs. chickens and ducks roam about a
pool of water flanked by a manure
dump. No, it. is not considered un-
healthy here. The houses are well fur
nished. stone floors. high ceilings and
windows, the furniture isgenerally very
old, eoony or mshogony, and would be
called fine by our people.
The water is all bad and little used;
bathing is reduced to minimum and
they drink light wines and beers, (some
of them not so light to keep down
thirst.
The horses. cattle and pigs are IN
abundance every where and are Of the
best quality.
The other class Of residence in rural
France is the chateau. They abound
every mile or so and are of divers styles
Of architecture imposing without and
sumptuous WITHIN. being often very cd
and the relic of the noblnty OF the re-
potlIc. Theg are surrounded BY beau
st .k.,khaw. fxaas and fluE4Fe