The Chesterfield advertiser. [volume] (Chesterfield C.H., S.C.) 1884-1978, 1919-01-09
FROM OUR SOLDIER BOYS
w. Jeff. Hanna

| We So"' HiShh&
Mrs. w.. j. Hanna has received the
following letter from her son, Mr..
w. j. Hanna, who is with the "Y"
service in France.
Paris, France, Nov. 13, 1918
My dear Mama:
To say that this city has been wild
since Monday morning would give
you no idea Of the rejoicing. Old
and young, large and small, were on
the streets, and every where you
turned you heard "Vive L'Ameri-
que" and our response, "Vive La
France" Let 3 or Americans
start through a crowd, which meant
to start anywhere or any direction,
and they would soon have parade Of
their own. They seemed to think all
they had to do was to follow US and
they would see the fun. Last night
n bunch of us were in the midst of
something less than million, in front
Of the opera, singing and yelling,
when We sang Goodbye Broadway"
and when we ended with "Wc'vc
come to pay our debt to YOU" some
one standing near, and who spoke
English said, "You certainly have
paid that debt"
Hobson isn't in it with any of US
any more. think we got at least
ten kisses for every dollar the war has
cost, 80 you can estimate about how
many that would be, and what ticklcd
us was that the American women
were not exempt. 1t was certainly
amusing to see Frenchman make "a
dive for one of them.
When the news reached us about
ii O'Clock Monday ct was not made
public here until it could reach the
U. S. so that it would be known there
at the same time as here), we quit
work, of course, and joined the gang.
Then we tried to work yesterday
morning Stood it until noon, then
quit. About 5000 of us, soldiers
and "Y," formed on Champs Elyscs,
about 10 last night, and marched to
Concorde, where we struck the crowd
on the square 1t was so dense we
were broken up into little squads, and
each squad started a procession of it's
own. Sometimes we would meet,
then would come the tug Of war to
see which would have the right of
way. l was afraid sometimes for the
women and children, but they never
thought of trying to get out. l saw
old ladies running to keep up. Once
last night | saw n kid, about the size
OF Leila, his mother had him in her
arms and was right in the thick of
one OF the worst jams. He seemed
to be frightened and we managed to
hold the line long enough to pat him
and talk to him. He couldn't under
stand what we were saying, but seem
ed to fee! that he was alright, as he
grinned in perfectly good American
We can recommend Paris taxis as
unbrcakable. You would hardly ever
see one that was not running over,
radiator, running board and top, as
long as anybody could hold on. They
would ride that one until the fare got
out and then they would get off and
wait until another came by and climb
on.
One bunch Of boys were taking the
town as it came. They would 20
into crowded cafe and one Of the
crowd would get on a table and make
a speech, then on to the next, theat-
res, the same way, march right in
and stop the performance long
enough for their act, then march out.
This morning ] heard that they went
to one of the theatres where there
were good many high officers, Jack
Pershing among them, and the police
stopped them They left and gathered
up several hundred and went back,
taking them by storm, staged their
act and as they marched out, Gen.
Pershing joined in the applause. The
man who told me said that several
Australians with them said that
flag had never been downcd and they
did not expect to stand by and see
it stopped. ,
Just think of it, 100000 people
wild with enthusiasm, and not u
face that wasn't smiling. Some
times the boys were little rough,
but everyone seemed to think that
was part of the game and if someone
stepped on somebody's toes, they just
grinncd and stepped on somebody
else's toes. AS said, I saw old
women and men and children in jams
that were strenuous, but you could
mt have hired them to get out. Last
night was the first time the city has
been lighted in four years, so you
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