The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1919-02-02
SOLDIERS LETTERS
Continued from page l2)

ou VIII llOllCe workman gong 10
MS daily task. school children on
heir way to school, a young woman
going to work, all carrying their
unch, which always includes a bot
lie OF vim usually vine rouge (red
Nlne) Vim rouge is always on the
able at meals; vim blanc (white
Nine) contains more alcohol, is more
Intoxicating, and is served more OF
len in cafes and drunk to get "lit
mp on though you rarely see a
drunken Frenchman. The red wine
5 Intoxicating, but it takes at least
wo quarts to make man drunk,
and will generally make a person
sick before he gets intoxicated.
After a five-days' stay in the PROV
ince OF Hautc Marne CUpper
Marne'), during which we received
4 few mules. few horses, and after
having been under orders at least
six times. with definite date set
for our departure for the front, al
ways delayed for some cause. the
IT,. l- ~, -
,"s, w. y '''''CS @ oIl "OoouHt VI 'll'
-, .,,a,' .,l's'iCe IeSo''d''1's ny ;o,i .Ml'" Ge.
,'o,t ,,',,,t We 'v't on '.'e to,li ,1, 81 i:s. a.:
,,,o I,o',"' ~, ''''' '''''''s "' -'''o''o' 'o'
'''( W. ;. o..'' ..o...,., .-...,....., go, ....
:; " E-,J, li", 1,t0 ;I mol,;,T "'' ~ Th" "e,e ;
,ho oa.. u"" go az .n, L ....;a n's C., 10y
ei;r.p ond Jofo..o. " ''o o.,a:j .,a:,J"' ,. ou,
La .LoI %.n ut'e',s's' ;i ~ any @ nav 5
,Lo doe,.,,ot;n, -, a.. ,,'.n,,.aoso ,,es ','N Nv
a,,d ,,', ,o,,,naaIa,, ",.aI "i'U on"so a - @ D,
scarcel,, - ,,on;no hn, tdrra;,, p;o'' ,Lat
has been under heavy artillarv fire
constantly for fonr wears looks To
the north of Verdun is an omen level
area. several miles in extent bord-
cred OH the north bv a circular range
OF small hills This level area. fin
bercd in some places, is = solid net
work of barbed wire entanglements,
dugouts and trenches There is
scarcely a space large enough to
crank a Ford that has not been torn
up BY an explosive shell; most OF
the trees have been long shot away ::
some of the shell holes are fresh. bur
most are old. perhaps from the 1915
attempt by the Crown Prince TO take
Nerdun, in which he lost half mi
Ion troops; the barbcd wire de
lenses are old, the wire and iron
posts rusty. In this vicinity are Il
lew demolished villages, every house
gone, shot away; the streets and
lots grown up with weeds and
Shrubbery; truly deserted villages.
Following the Meuse. on the west
bank, we soon reached the scene OF
recent battles, where the Americans
had driven the Germans back. Fvi-
dences OF recent fighting was every
where; dead horses, broken caissons,
fresh graves. fresh she'll holes. ire
qucntly a demolished airplane. empty
artillery cartridges. abandoned Ger
man helmets. ammunition and vari.
GUS other material; trees freshly
shot away, huge cotton woods. three
ieet thick, shot completely in two bv
one large shell; in other places.
trees fresh cut awav by ak and saw
to clear the terrain for observation.
We travelled very slowly and ar
rived at ViIosres abont NOON and
were s;detractod Uero tLo Cer-
,,o,. i'd o,,i,, .o,o,,.t,. iaf. Ln.
tbov ,oft brrr;ed,v for tbere ware
Iarge onanfit;es 81 ra;,rood Iron
bundrods of snoo1s of harLed ,r;rn
abandoned trerct mortar a,us st;ji
in nlace and a sevcraI.tr,ci sv,;tcb
yard which they had ~ Ioove TOO
smdden,y - desiroy We dotro;nod
and nnloadcd tbc horses mules
WAGONS roIlinc k;tchens haaTage
etc., and slent on tbc Ground in =
nearby yalley We had t;me tb,t
afternoon 70 look about and insncrt
some of the German dugouts and
got our first lesson in "salvaging'-
which means taking anything you
want, anything that has been aban-
doned. Since then we have broad
ened the term to include almost any
thing we see that we want, and
many are the Jokes about "salvag-
ing. Everyone has the fever, and
salvage anything iron German
automatic revolver on down and up.
When a man inds a German offi-
cerS helmet, patent leather, spiked,
with a breastplate reading Nit
Gott iur koenig und Naterland,' nc
takes it. When asked, Where in
the world did YOU get that!' he re-
plies, "Salvaged it, OF course" An
other man will come in with half a