The bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-04-18
AN INTERESTING LETTER IRON
OUR IOWA BOY.

AN INTERESTING LETTER FROM
OUR IOWA BOY.
Co. @, 869th Pion. Inf,
Camp st. Luce, Nantes, France,
March 90, 1919.
Mr.. John u. Thompson,
Des Moines, iowa.
Dear Sir: I thought would answer
your letter. I am well and getting
along. The weather is very bad now.
It rains from morning until night. /
never saw or heard Of such a country in
all my life. i can't understand how
these people live here. They never have
any fire to amount to anything, summer
or winter. They say that we are due
another high water, which will be the
last I hope. When it came up before
we started to move out, but it finally
went down.
I had the good fortune to have
leave of absence granted me last month
! visited Chambery, and Lies Baines,
also Savoie. The government furnished
everything except spending money. I
stopped at the best hotel in Chanbery,
the Grand Hotel De La Paix Et Ter
minus, which has about $50 rooms. T
even had real bed to sleep on When
I retired for the night and got in be-
tween some sheets once more couldn t
help thinking of that old familiar say
ing, "Oh, boy, amt it grand and
glorious feeling The Y. M. C. A. ar
ranged sight seeing trips for all the
boys on leave. I attended just about
all Of them One especially I had to
take and that was up on the mountains.
We went to Aix-Les5 5Bains, where we.
stopped at the Y. for a while, and it is
certainly beautiful. You have no doubt
heard Of the Casino, :, which used to
be second to Monte Carlo, well that is
an American Y. now, It is very
beautiful place inside. Passing through
the imposing (porte cochere) entrance
and the vestibule, one finds himself in
the Gallery Of Mirrors, from which
branch off all the other rooms of the
ground floor; large, well lighted Ii
brary and reading room, amply supplied
with writing tables; a theatre built by
the architect, NJ. E. Enstache, with ar
tistic taste and elegance, and seating a
thousand persons; two large open halls
with Venetian mosaic ceilings and used
by soldiers for games, concerts or rest
ing, grand salon where free movies
are given every afternoon and evening
Z for the boys; an auditorium where re-
ligious meetings are held; a large and
beautiful ball room, and last of all the
cafeteria. One curious fact relative to |
the Casino: when the Y. took over the +
building, the contract obliged them to
take over the employees as well. All Of /
these / imagine meet the needs Of the
Y. except one man, the supervisor Of
gambling, and I suspect that he is the
only man on the Y. pay roll who is al
lowed to lie down on his job.
We stopped at the Y. until AS p. M,
when 1 went to the station where I I
caught train for Mt. Reward. A cog
railway affords opportunity twice day
for one to 60 up the mountain. AS we
start off an ever winding panorama
presents itself. As the little engine
climbs higher and higher we see in the
distance the city Of Aix-Les- -Bains. Fin
ally it seems to vanish and we see moth |
ing but clouds. Imagine my feelings,
as this was the first time ever had
the chance to be above the clouds, and
our little engine is still climbing up
ward When ] left the station it was
warm and raining, but now the air is
beginning to grow cooler, and "- finally
come to on: first stop, where the engine I
takes on water. Fifteen minutes later
we started again. Suddenly the WIN
dows became frosty, and we looked out
to find that the snow was falling fast
and thick, and every one began button
ing his coat little tighter around him.
At last our train gave three shrill
whistles, and we found ourselves at the
summit Of Mt. Reward, which is 500
feet in height.
From here one gets wonderful views
of Mt. Blanc, the highest mountain in
Europe, apparently not more than five
miles away, though in reality IS miles
northeast Of us. To >our right across
Lake Bouget, which is the largest lake
in France. We could family see chain
Of mountains part Of the Jura range
descending in places abruptly to the
waters edge. This range separates us
from the Rome valley, the highest point
which is the Cats Tooth (Dent du
Chat) has an altitude of 800 feet.
just below this point is the famous pass
called Hannibal IS Pass. It was through
this pass that Hannibal (the famous col
ored) led his army on his way to Italy,l
2ls B. G. To our left we could see the
Swiss and Italian Alps.
The snow was about eight inches deep
and afforded much pleasure for the boys,
for there were many sleds and skees for
them to enjoy themselves. After en-
loying the sport for about an hour our