The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1918-12-13
LETTERS FROM BOYS
IN The ARMY CAMPS

Taken from "The College Eye" OF
Cedar Falls, Iowa State Teachers
College. Iowa. Sergeant Ray Pendle-
ton writes his experiences:
Dear /. S. T. C. Friends: A few
rambling thoughts from one who
used to try to bluff the professors OF
II. S. T. c.. into thinking he was
studying, but is now at Camp For
rest, Georgia, learning how to make
the Huns do the back step and the
Berlin trCt.
The writer is of the opinion that
at present, judging from reports that
have circulated around, it is much
safer fighting the Huns than trying
to combat the army of knowledge
seekers that throng the streets OF
College Hill, making it unsafe for
any mere man to tread the campus
even in the dark. So he is glad to
be enjoying life in the sunny south.
OF course it is not sunny every day
but it is habitually so. So much so
that in the summer months the wat
ermelons and negroes are the only
products that seem to thrive real
WELL
| The subject of this letter
is stated to be nonsense, but
in reality it will probably turn
out to be merely miscellaneous
| jargon. AS the wanderings of said
mind if it is somewhat disjointed, are
quite extensive, do not be surprised.
Not only has the mind been wander
! ing, but the owner Chat is he thinks
he is the owner) has also been wan
dering over quite considerable por-
| ton of the world, and expects to
wander over some more of it before
this war is over.
! AS this letter has already bored
it's readers considerably there is no
use trying to spare them, but better
to go the limit and send them all
scurrying to psychology and English
grammer for a pleasant diversion. In
/, that way the writer will help to
make the world a little better. Be-
cause the old saying is "The people
perish for lack of knowledge"
One way if producing a tiresome
talk is to relate some bygone exper-
fences, so here goes. In the first
I
professors and students last April
and enlisted in the good old United
States army, thinking verify he was
doing his country a service. Like
most others he decided, after being
in a couple of weeks, that a year or
so in the army was sufficient for the
ordinary mortal and it was time to
go home. But Uncle Sam very pa
tiently looks after such cases SO that
he gradually becomes accustomed to
40 o'clock. Lights out" Everybody
outside police uu.' "Tenshun," etc.
Oh. it's a great life. The writer just
now had to stop and bust up "erap
game"
: On his roundabout trip to this camp
he first went through the mill" at
J. B. CT. B. stands for Jefferson Bar
racks) well known in military cir
Giles. From thence he went to some
place in Virginia reserved especially
for the purpose of breaking in re-
cruits. In that notorious camp he
learned how to eat stew out of a
mess kit. wash the mess kit in pud-
die, and dry it on newspaper. He
also learned the art of washing
clothes in the river. and best of all
learning how to polish up pick and
shovel. But the worst part of it is
that after getting all this learned SO
that he enjoyed it they shipped him
down to Camp Forrest, Georgia. July
26. Here he had the satisfaction of
helping to break in Rockies into the
intricacies of "Fsw'rd arch" "Bou-
face" Squads rite" etc.
:. One curious thing he has noticed
is that after being in a week the men
think that thirty day furlough would
be about in order. But after they
have been in couple of months and
cleaned up a nice greasy gun, for
inspection, they come to the conclu
sion that week end pass is very &C
ceptable.
At present the writer is trying to
, do his duty by sitting in the office
, and picking out the K. P's for the
, next day. The only trouble with that
is that he can't take his grudge out
on the RICH party. But We'll take it
/ all out on Old Kaiser Bill some day,
To keep the writer company in the
office he has a small canine which
will probably develop into company
, mascot some day if he lives long
enough, said Canine is the victim
of hold-up and kid map. When he
was a wee pup some unthinking
, solder sneaked him from his hand
, some home on the top of Lookout
Mountain and subjected him to army
life. After he had enjoyed camp life
, for a while and was right in line for
promotion to assistant company
commander, he ventured one day,
, while exploring. too close to an in
nocent mules foot, and was shortly
, afterward of the opinion that Ger
mans were bombing the camp. Since
then he carries one front leg in a
sling, but he is quite cheerful and
thinks he is regular hero. He
, shows promise of being a very in
telligent dog by the time he gets to
; France and back. His only WORRY
just at present is that the Germans
|, will all be licked before he can get
over there to become notable dis
patch bearer.
Here the writer was interrupted
in his tale about the mascot by hav-
ing to move his bunk little so that
the rain would not get his blankets
wet from water dripping through Il
hole in the roof. Also down here in
this sunny south he had to pull on
one of those nice warm sweaters that