The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-01-07
WILLIAMSTOWN

his parents, Mr. and Mrs, H. b. Waldo Of
this place. Nov. "a, 1918.
Dear Father: Bring the camphor,
please! There, I didn't intend to make
you faint by writing you letter. But
possibly you know that to-day's fathers
day. And as the first Monday in May
is mothers day Il believe it is any way
so to-day is fathers day and every sol
dier in France has been reminded of the
fact that to-day he should write letter
to the first commanding officer he ever
had Hence as | am bold enough to call
myself a good soldier, am obeying the
request. / don't suppose mothers have
any right to-day, but let's hope they
won't feel offended just because we write
one letter one day in year to the fa-
theirs.
Well, so much for an introduction.
Just a week ago to-day | left the hos
pital and came out to the convalescent
camp, which is in the same town as the
hospital but on the other side of the
town.
/ believe / have written the name Of
the town in letters of earlier date, but in
case | haven't / will write it here and
EIf6 d llbbiG uEcCIlpblOH VI bht pidtN.
The town of Limoges is in the south
western part of France, about $50 kilo-
metres from Bordeaux. 1t boasts of a
population of about 10000 in peace
times. Some sections of the city are
VERY wealthy, while as in an American
city, other parts are not. Unlike an
American city, the main streets are very
narrow. For, of course, it is q very old
city, but you viii fail to find wooden
building They are all stone or cement.
There are numerous very nice hotels and
some very fine cafes and restaurants
Every French town has great album
dance of cafes. / visit them occasionally
if Thappen to have few francs.
One very noticeable thing in the cafes
are the girls. In the states you scarcely
ever see a girl in bar room, but in
France you scarcely ever see man
working in a cafe. But of course four
years of war has had something to do in
the labor question in France.
The whole city is woven with electric
car tracks. In style, the trolley line
does not differ greatly from the civilized
system in the states. The cars are very
much smaller, have no speed, seem to
run on hit or miss schedule and most
always miss. Naturally the women run
the cars. They are members of the
tfare) fair sex, l suppose. There is a
large china mandatory here for which
Limoges is noted. Possibly you have
heard of Limoges chinaware.
In fact, when all things are summed
up, this is the largest and incest town
have had the pleasure Of staying in since
! came to France.
/ understand that at last the boycott
on letters has been removed So now it
is possible to write up all my experiences
since | have been over here and even to
nam the town that have been in. How
ever, | will not dwell upon that subject
only for space of few lines. The
reason why is that / am tired of that
kind of trash The only topic of con-
versation is what so and so did when at
such and such a place. How many Ger
mans one fellow killed single handed
how near shell landed and how many
it killed and wounded, or how long some
one wore gas mask | get so tired of
that kind of talk that | really would be
glad of an opportunity to listen to
lecture on woman suffrage. So taking
all things into consideration, | think
viii wait until | arrive home and then
tell just what | am mind to, when
have a mind to- | viii say that the first
town that / was in was the town where
/ landed LeHavre The town where
drilled for so long was Liffo lie Grand
The first place | went into the trenches
was in the SCISSORS sector, on the Che
Minis des Danes ridge | don't think
that is spelled right but perhaps you can
guess at it. When | was gassed | was
in the Toul sector, and went to Vichy to
the hospital.
And the place j got wounded was in
Beleau woods or as they are now called,
Bots des Mamss.
As for the experiences that took place
in each of these places, they are stories
by themselves, and you will have to
wait in suspense until / get home and
relate them verbatim However, let's
hope you won't have long to wait
Once more win change the subject of
my epistle
am very glad that | came over here
and played my part. Whether | did it
well or not is not for me to say, but
did do my best, and have no regrets
coming. | have learned several things
that / could not have learned in civilian
life. Some to my benefit and some other
wise. ! know what qualities it takes to
make a man. Creeds and beliefs have
very little to do about the fine qualities
of true mans man. Don't mistake my
meaning there, and think that true
man does not believe in God or anything
like that. / mean that one man is as
good as another, be he Protestant, Cath
Ollie. jew or Hebrew ] know wrong from
right better than / used to. And some
of the things that are absolutely wrong
for me to do would be perfectly legiti-
mate in the eyes of God for someone
else to do
It is up to every one of us to>live our
own lives and if we all live them accord
ing to the discretion and promptings Of
our better selves, we will not come far
from reaching the ultimate goal of all
mankind
Once more | will change the topic and
come back to real things about my life
here in the conyalescent camp. The fel.
lows here are from all parts of the states
Naturally we have some very interesting
discussions.
| am in a room with seven other fell
lows. We have stove and electric
lights and mattresses to sleep on and
plenty of blankets. We have no drill or
fatigue duty to do at all but I think we
start in drilling tomorrow However, !
do not think ] will be able to do much of
that for my leg does not ambulate just
as it should.
We are having beautiful weather.
do not think it has stormed once since