The Belding banner-news., 1919-02-12

ed Tor TWO weeks. won KNOW now
to walk on a real walk. have a few
things l have gathered up, but if l
get back / think I'll be souvenir
enough, don't you?
Rollin Donovan, a Grattan boy,
writes as follows TO his parents, Mr..
and Mrs. Frank Donovan:
Blenod Les Toul, France, Jan. 1, 10
Dear Neither and All:
AS today is the first of the year
wish you all a Happy New Year: /
am feeling pretty well, only a little
cold. am nearly over it now. |
haven't got any mail from home in
about five weeks. / don't know why
YOU don't get my mail as 1 have been
writing once or twice week. nope
you all keep well. 1t isn't very cold
over here. / don't hardly get frozen
up till it rains. There isn't any snow.
1t don't look much like winter in
this country. / suppose you are look
ing for us home soon. Well, / guess
We will be. don't know why they
have kept us here as long as they
have. We haven't been doing much
of anything. The sun is shining for
the first time in / don't know when.
j suppose Pa is cutting lumber by
this time. Tell him / will pct him
some good cooks if he neds some.
Jay Horton is cooking for ouS COM
pany now. l was on a pass yester-
day; had fine time. There are
lots Of fellows who would like job
in the mill when they get back. Pete
Hclskins who skid logs for Pa down
on Breimeyer's is here in this town.
He is in the Ambulance Co. 34c. Well,
/ will have to ring off as l can't think
Of any more news. / am as ever,
your loving son,
Pvte. Rollin Donovan.
$40 Field Hospital, A. P. O. 789, A. E.
K.
p. S.-Tell all hello. Will De home
soon.
The following letter is from Glenn
Hudnutt, to his parents, Mr.. and Mrs.
j. II. Hudnutt, Of Grand Rapids. Glenn
is well known locally, having lived
in this city for long time. He is
a brother of Dale Hudnutt. His
wife, Hazel and little daughter, June,
of whom he speaks are also residents
of this city.
Archangel, Russia, Oct. IL, 1918.
Dear Ones at Home:
At last / am going to grab few
minutes and write you letter. How
are you all tonight? / am feeling
fine and dandy only little tired. /
just got nicely started on this letter
when they called mail" and when we
hear that word there is sure one wild
scrabble to get there first.
had my shoes off; they were hard
to get into being wet, so went when
l had only one on and one off; imagine
me wading through mud knee deep,
with one shoe on and one off / got one
letter from Hazel and one from Her.
bert, dated August 26 and that is the
latest one have received and it sure
seemed good to get mail again; last
night l got four letters from Hazel,
and the cutest card from little June.
1t sure made me think of loved ones
left behind; also got letter from
Uncle Will, and Aunt Nell, also one
from Ray Pearce, and last but not
least ! got the package with the Tes-
lament and photo album from Mother
and Fern; it sure was great, especial
ly that picture Of Dad, believe me,
after hard day or night / can come
in and look at that picture and / sure
have to chuckle; good medicine for
the blues.
| can describe the climate in this
country, in about two words, "Mud
and Rain. 1t will sure seem good
to get back in the good old u. S. A.
once more.
They call this the land Of the mid
night sun, but have failed to see any
sun at all now for about three weeks.
| think / would have been better sat
isfied where we were in England, or
~, 1lA
but little of either. / have no doubt
wrote her about thep rice of things
up here; it sure is fierce; flour and su-
gar, and such staples are almost i'm
possible to get and / guess it is an
enormous price. Tobacco and cigar
cites are scarce. Some of the fell
lows who brought lots of tobacco
with them are making lots of money
by selling it to those who have none;
it is an easy matter to get 40 rubles
for a package of Bull Durham, that
would amount to 81 in American mo-
ney. Cigarettes are worth one ruble
each that is 10c in our money. All
of these Russians seem to have lots cf
money and will give almost any price
to get tobacco or bread. / sure feel
sorry for them. There are bread
lines in every part of the city and
even the best class Of people have to
get in line for their bread.
have seen quite few papers from
the States but none from home, the
latest one was July 81 so you can
imagine what news we get up here.
We have some new members in the
outfit now; mike" is a young goat
who will eat anything he can get into
his mouth; for his breakfast this
morning / saw him eating part of
flour sack, also a few chips of wood;
he seems to get fat on that kind of
diet, ha, ha. There is also Russian
horse and a dog; we also had a pet
pig, but the owner came and took it
away. / guess that is all the in
crease we have had to our camp.
You would laugh to hear these fell
lows stop horse. cannot describe
it in letter so will have to wait until
| get home and then / can show you
how they do it.
We had a fine trip up here; / really
enjoyed it although it was pretty cold
while we were on the Arctic ocean;
we saw snow on the Norwegian coast,
and wa did not know barf uya uyaro