The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-01-30
VERMONT HOUSE
IS FORsz1 LEAGUE
THE GERMANS
RATHER AGREEABLE
Private Allen G. Dix of Barre Had Chance
to Get Acquainted with Family in
Morschid, Germany.


Private Allen G. Dix, Co. i, 30lst engi-
neers, who is with the American army of
occupation in Germany, writes some in
teresting letters to his sister, Mrs. Har-
vey E. Averill Of Barre, in which he de-
scribes conditions in Germany. Two of
his letters are as follows:
Morschid, Germany, Dec. Is, 1918.
We are billeted in the small village Of
Morschid near Morbach where we are
guarding bridges and tunnels, working
eight hours and off "a. From Bous, in
the province of Luxemburg, we followed
the Moselle river to Trier and from there
we went over the hills to here. We had
some very long, hard hikes with packs,
rifles, gas masks, etc, but have fully re-
cuperated and am in the best of health
In this town Corp. Harry Godfrey Of
MorrisvilIe and | are billeted in a fine,
old German family who treat us like
part Of the family. The people here are
small farmers and very old fashioned.
The girls, of p and 2S, have just finished
making two pounds of butter and the
old lady is spinning fax. The old gentle
man (6sl has been in America two years
Scranton, Pa. and can talk some Eng
lish. He is very humorous, and we joke
with him continually. He had four sons
i'm the war--two have returned one is in
Rumania and the fourth was killed at
Cambria
The Germans are very good cooks
mostly potatoes, bread, butter, apple
marmalade, cabbage salads, roasted
wheat for coffee, and very little meat.
We would fare rather hard if these peo-
pie were not so kind. They do not dis
like the Americans. but have no Use for
the kaiser or the French. The returned
German soldier is tapping my shoes this
morning. Have been here since Dec. 8,
will stay a few days longer and then
move by train toward Bingen and Cob
lenz, which may mean we will be on the
sea before many weeks, but no one
knows for sure. The L. S. boys did a
good job over here and all are anxious
TO see the States as soon as possible.
| ran across Charles OConner Of Barre.
He is in Company d, 30lst engineers,
driving a team and is O. X. ] also met
two Barreites-Houghton and Leary, who
went to Devens with me.
We have been having lots of cloudy,
rainy weather, although quite warm un-
til yesterday. They never have snow
for Christmas and the ground is not froz-
EN- yet. We stay by the fire as much as
possible when not on duty land then we
have a fire. and amuse ourselves trying
to talk with these people Can talk con-
siderable German already and have a
German English dictionary to refer to
which the old man owns. Must close for
dinner with best New Year wishes to all.
Brohl, Germany, Dec. 25, 1918.
Now am sitting at table in !. NJ.
C. 4. room in Brohl Germany, writing
and Listening to a regimental concert.
We finished our guard duty on railroads
in Morsehid on Dec. % and hiked eight
kilos to Morbach that afternoon, leaving
that place at a. m. by train, coming
through Cohlenz to Brohl, which is a
beautiful trip along the Mosele and
Rhine, through numerous tunnels, and
winding around the hills and mountains
which are covered with vineyards We
Travelled third class, without heat, which
made it a cold trip, arriving here at l2:l5
Christmas morning, were billeted on the
concrete floor of an old factory building.
Breakfast at 10 a. m. Of coffee, bread and
sliced corn beef. Christmas dinner of
boiled beef and potatoes, bread and cof-
fee, Supper of beef stew. Also received
an issue of one bar chocolate one pack
age crackers, +wo packages cigarettes and
one can Velvet. By the way, four of us
had great feed of venison. brown gravy
n,I sr.uJs boFpra Ioo,yipo Morbanb VIII
be here or across the Rhine for a few
weeks prior to the trip across Changed
our billet and now Corp. Godfrey and |
are on some straw in schoolhouse where
we can overlook the Rhine and watch the
steamers pass. Expect to drill a few
hours a day unless we do some more
guard duty. We are all in good spirits
and feeling fine, but all of us are doubly
anxious to set foot on the good old L. S,
again.