The Ordway new era., 1919-04-11
FROM BILLY WALKER

parents, Mr.. and Mrs. A. w. Bartlett.
1t follows:
Hoehr. Germany.
March Is, 1919.
Dear Mother and Dad:
1 have received no mail from you
for several days and as / have been
in the habit of looking forward to
your letter every week its desap-
pointment not to get 1t. However, i
know 1t has been written and that 1t
will come soon. Our mail service
since coming up here has been very
good and l have known Of some let
ters to come from Colorado to the
,Rhein in nineteen days. None of the
papers from there have reached me
since coming up here, but Joe gets
l get some of the news from them.
Everything is going fine here and
there are still rumors to the effect
S. o.. but as have told you before.
old Dame Rumor has fooled me SO
mahy times that l don't trust her
any more. We are situated better
here than any outfit have seen in
Germany. SO suppose we shouldn't
kick. but 1t would sound mighty good
to hear that old march order" again
and know that we were headed for
home. Nothing new has happened
since i last wrote you and one would
hardly know this to be an army of
occupation. everything is running SO
nicely. The people here don't seem to
have the Sparticist fever like they
have in the northern part of Ger
many and around Berlin.
AT Pottery City
/ think l told you that this is ono
of the most famous pottery produc-
ing places in Germany. There is a
school here that used to be attended
by many Americans, French and Eng
lish students before the war that
teaches nothing but the making of
pottery. The town is full of kilns and
ovens and when two or three of them
get to burning together in one part
of town it looks as though the city
were gone for sure. We have found
several stems with the buildings at
Washington and other American
cities moulded on them. and I un-
derstand that a good share of that
class of souvenirs came from here.
/ also understand that when the war
broke out a number of the factories
here had quite stock of orders on
hand that could not be delivered.
This Is also quite a producer OF mer-
chaum pipes.
The colonel OF our regiment gave
us trip up the Rhein the other day
and 1t certainly was an enjoyable one.
We left here in cars and went to
Coblenz where we took the boat.
Coblenz. as you know, is the Ameri-
can center for the army occupation.
and the American headquarters are
located there. 1t is place Of about
$4,000 population, and Is a very nice
clean town. 1t is situated at the
junction of the Mosel and Rhein
rivers. and at the point where the
two rivers merge. Kaiser Wilhelm I.
built one of the largest equestrian
statutes in the world to his memory.
The horse stands with his front foot
raised in prancing position and 1t
measures six feet from the tip of the
hoof to the level of the other foot,
so you can get an idea of the siz4
= of It.
Secs Large Fort
Right across the river from Co
blenz is Ehrenbreitstein fortress, 1856
feet above the river. This ia one of
the largest forts in the world and
the most famous of the string along
the Rhein. Its present structure
dates from 1916, but looks like new
fort. 1t is built In and on solid rocl1
and contains regiment of "a guns
with ammunition and food enough
to last four years. One tunnel three
kilometers long has been found lead
ing from 1t with its exit in a shoe
makers yard in Coblenz. However,
its teeth have been pulled and the
American flag is now flying from the
highest tower. There is considerable
river traffic on the Rhein at this point
and instead of having draw bridges
or high spans they make use of pom
toon bridges with removable sections
that are worked by electricity.
The country up the river from CO.
blenz is very hilly and here in this
part of the world 1t Is called noun
famous; high hills and cliffs rising
two or three hundred feet from the
river level are much in evidence and
most of them are capped with an old
castle. Nearly all are in ruins now
and most of them have been destroy
ed by the French in their old wars.
The first one we passed is still in
good condition and has been remorel-
ed from time to time and kept in
shape for the Kaiser to visit. He
visited 1t in 1916, and 1t is said a
train of 500 men were sent along to
get things In order and to entertain
him while there. Then we came to
Lahneck Castle. one of the oldest on
the river. and now In complete ruin.
II was in this old castle where the
Knights Templars made their last
stand in 1912. .t+.s
Relates Tradition s,
=, Then we came in view OF two large
cliffs. both topped with castles with
an immense wall between. The story
told of them is this: A father and
two sons lived in the older OF the
two castlea when aadistant relative.
G most beautiful girl came to live
with them. The natural thing hap