The evening leader., 1919-01-04


disappear all except the smokestacks,
then come up, shake themselves of the
water and repeat the performance
We watched them all day long. When
l went on post had to wear suit of
oilskins to keep the water from soak
ing me. The next morning Sunday
we sighted land and came into a port
where we began to unload. This was
a quiet harbor on the coast with hilly
shores of rock and farms-just lit
tie village place. Farther back was
the town. We were at Brest, France.
We hiked through the town to our
camp. 1t was one of Napoleon's old
barracks, with high stone walls all
around and two strong barracks. What
time we had there the five days we
were in camp at Brest. There we
were introduced to the French money,
and saw lots of the French people
from the village. We went on a hike
one day out in the country, and of all
the sights we saw! They were of
great interest to US. At first we
would think that a horse was about to
run over US, and look around, and
there would be a French kid begging
for cigarette or sou Ga penny, or
souvenir. They all had those big
wooden shoes on, and when they walk
ed or ran on the cobblestone road it
sounded just like horse.
One day we were ordered to pack up
IN the morning; so we did. Next morn
ing at sunup we left the old barracks
and went to the train. Our coaches
weer box cars. These cars were about
8x2x7 feet. They had two rows of
seats running lengthwise of the car.
They had four wheels under them, and
carried 40 hommes, 8 chevaux (mean-
ing 40 men and horses). In LAYING
track here they do not break the
| joints, and when the wheels come to
| the end of a rail both wheels hit the
joints on both sides of the car, giving
the car feeling like all the wheels
had about one-fourth of the face flat
just like a wagon crossing a railroad
track. We rode all day and all night;
came to stop next day in the after
noon. We ate while on our trip. hard
tack, beans corn willie (corned beef ,
tomatoes, and once in while, about
three times a day, we were met at
station with coffee given out by the
Red Cross. That French coffee went
good. We were cold and stiff. There
we could get out and walk around a
While. We were marched, from the
railroad yards to another camp, but
as the barracks were already filled we
had to pitch our pup tents in public
square The first night, during the
night 1t began to rain and rained all
night. Someone ran into my. tent and
knocked it down on us-two of US
slept in tent. AS it was raining and
the tent fell in such a way as not to
let the rain in, | slept right on until
morning. 1t was still raining when
l got up and looked out. Our tent was
IN a regular lake-water all around
US. My tent was a little higher than
the others, so left it there. The 9TH
ers had moved to a higher place, but
not much better. The next night we
all slept in wet blankets; next morn
ing still raining. We took up camp
and hiked through the country to a
lot of barns about three miles out of
town. There we were placed in the
haylofts out of the rain.
Everything was so queer. Those
peasants with those wooden shoes and
funny costumes, and two-wheeled
, carts. | must not spend too much time
, on it, as | am not going to write a
book, but letter. We wished to walk
the three miles and back every time
we wished to eat, as we had to eat at
the barracks in town. q most forgot
to say we were at town called Blois.)
only ate two meals day. We were
there three days, then moved back to
town to the barracks. We had our
packs and barrack bags to carry, and
that was some load, believe me, for
those three miles going and coming.
These barracks were large stone
buildings, five stories high. | was on
the last floor under the roof. We had
double hunks made of wood, one above
the other. That was climb up the
stairs, too, so l didn't go up and down
very often. Next two days it showed,
then melted. Plenty of mud and wa
ter. We stayed there three days then
received orders to pack and move. We
were taken to the railroad, and there
we had train of third-class coaches,
but built on the same plan as the box
cars. We left Blois Saturday at noon
and arrived in Paris that night at 9
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