Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1919-01-31
WRITES
FROM RUSSIA
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to find an iron stove but such things
are about unheard of in this section so
| made friends with one OF the efficient
townsmen and told him what | wanted
and told him to go ahead and build me
a stove which he did at cost OF
about SIS, our money, and it was made
out of brick after the Russian pattern
and reached from the floor to the cell
ing You build fire in it in the morn
ing, put wood in twice, and then close
it up and it stays hot all day and about
all night.
"The next thing was to find benches
as there are no chairs here and so l
had to hire a carpenter to make them,
and he has an order for forty small
tabourett style stools that can be put
anywhere. We got some frs and some
lights, and the other night bunch OF
ladies of the town who are interested
sat up all the evening and made paper
decorations ready for our Thanksgiving
Day celebration, and one of them ate
dinner at the barracks with me and the
rest of the men. In the evening we had
free coffee and biscuits, as well as
selling the other canteen supplies.
feel sure if you look into that old store
now you would say How Pretty" and
the men all said that when they first
saw it, and they still think that we
have Some place" After the canteen
had been open for about an hour and
half / closed it and took all the
men into the large room where we had
the ladies, too, and then we had lot
of games in which the men took part
very readily. The townspeople were
hanging on to the outside OF the build
ing, looking in through the windows,
and | think six times had to clear the
halls of the people who you'd come in
and watch the fun. After the games
and some other stunts, we had good
sing, singing the songs that are sung
all along the front, and some of the old
time favorites One curious thing hap
pened that we pulled fellow onto the
floor, made him face the ladies and
then told him that he would have to
sing The joke was on us for 1t turn
ed out that he was able to sing quite
little.
.""Such is the story of the "Y" huts
here, and what we are doing. | have
an ice rink for the men and we have
through the help of the Red Cross,
thrty-five pairs of skates for the men
By the way, we may be glad OF our
their supplies we are giving a can OF
condensed sweetened milk and a pound
of sugar every month for the babies
and giving aid where aid is actually
needed
"You may be interested to know
that all about here promises OF help
have come to me and if the men are
pulled out of here in the spring 1t
seems best for me under the AssoCia-
ton principles to remain here, and APP
Div some of the American community
principles to the village life OF these
communities, and | have some excel
lent backing of wealthy men and !
know that they stand ready to help the
Young men of the locality and their
town, and that they will stand behind
me in this work OF course, there are
multitudes OF boys.
well, this letter must soon be put
into the hands of the men who are to
carry it, and l will have to stop now
and 20 ahead with that work Of getting
it out Send any mail you have for me
to Archangel, and they will see that |
get it if l get away, though do not
expect to get any mail from you till the
spring. The last letter got from any
body at home was dated April 10 so
YOU see | am not very up-to-date
Best of wishes to all wha make up
our good U. S of America, and we
fellows away back here far from COM
, munications feel proud of the country
and our president We hope some time
to sit about those home fires and
talk to you of Russia and why the
tspel of the land is on us and the cry
ing need of these people.
Sincerely yours,
Ernest L. Rand"