The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1919-02-13
n. E. TAYLOR WRITES
My dear Berea friends:

mOnlnS Jour OF the french Republic,
found a number of letters awaiting
me from good friends at Home.
Almost two months have passed and
still these friendly greetings have
been neglected or pushed aside for
want Of time.
You can appreciate something of
the strain here, when I tell yon
that reach the Office about 500
a. m- dictate for about two hours,
hold interviews until 100 p. m, run
out for lunch and then back to the
office from 200 until 700, then
home for dinner and back TO the
office to stay until things are cleared
up. The strain of organization.
however. is frequently relieved by
pleasant calls of friends in KHAKI
who are passing through Paris, boys
whom have met over in the States
and also at my various places OF
visitation in France. Scarcely a
day passes but that have from one
TO four of these good friends with
me to chat over the tea cups, and
their tales of adventures | assure
you prove real relaxation. Just
lately Tom Parker, Bill Dean, Flem-
ing Griffith and Charles Baker have
been in--their first and only visit
TO Paris. Many of them tell me
that this is the first time since
coming to France that they have
been privileged TO sit down to a
real table with table cloth and
dishes.
| know something Of their hard
ships. For nine weeks, Rodeheaver,
Billy Sundays singer and from
bone player (familiarly called Rody)
and | travelled around over the vari-
Gus camps from the ancient capital
city Nancy, northwest Of the British
lines. camping and roughing it with
the boys, sleeping in old barns, hen
roosts, and shell torn houses, mud.
coolies, flu, blood and death. We
helped cheer the living and bury
the dead and of course had a truly
wonderful time. In one grave near
GondrecOurt, we buried forty-one
soldiers and three officers at one
time. - the grave was about sixty
feet long and six feet wide, the poor
fellows tenderly wrapped in their
stained blankets and their faces
covered with the metal helmet
which they had worn in battle, side
by side, officers and privates alike.
A priest assisted our Methodist
Chaplain in the service as six of
the boys were Catholics. Rode
HEAVIER sang my Jesus, Love Thee"
and then the mournful taps were
sounded and the salute fired three
times from shining rifles. and the
burial service was at an end. Doctor
Meurer, one of our Secretaries who
so greatly helped in the sad task of
burial, observed that most OF the
dead were lying when found with
arms even in death stretched toward
the enemy as though they had made
one last struggle TO reach the goal.
They covered the graves with golden
rod and oak leaves, abundant in the
Ballew woods, in order that the
later moving divisions might not be
be inundated by the sight Of so
many graves; as someone remarked,
the golden rod symbolizing the
flower of American manhood and
the oak leaves the strength. AT an
other place we buried three aviators
and just as the rude boxes were
lowered into the grave toward
evening a friendly plane flew over
not more than forty feet in the air
and dropped huge punches Of white
chrysanthemums in the open grave.
In this occasion, Rody sang, Abide
With Me-"
We had some thrilling expert
ences which of course did not write
in full to Mrs. Taylor, but have since
the armistice. Our trip 10 Verdun
was most exciting. This is an ancl-
ent, walled city, formerly the home
of thirty-fve thousand happy folk
and contained the great citadel
which the Germans have tried To-
take during the past four years.
Today, not a soul lives in the city,
excepting the five thousand Ameri-
can boys who hold the citadel. The
rest Of the city is practically level
ed TO the ground. The great citadel,
however, has proven impregnable,
being located as ii is eighty feet
under ground. IL has fine stream
OF water running through, has ac-
cOmmOdations for seven thousand
men, has a bakery which puts out
five thousand loaves Of bread daily
and has two years supplies Of am
etc, on hand. The rail-
head where the supplies are landed