The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1919-05-15
EVERETT RUNDLETT
WRITES OF GERMANY
TELLS OF SCENIC BEAUTY OF
THE RHINE
Found Winter Climate Delightful and
Every Acre Possible Under
Intense Cultivation

For a long time, so long, in fact,
that we are somewhat ashamed to
state it exectly, we have been going
to publish some extracts from a num-
Der of letters which Private Everett
Rundlett has written to his parents
from Germany, in which country he
Occupation since about the first Of
December last. Omitting all the
| purely personal matters contained in
the letters, we publish the following
extracts relating to strange and beau
tiful scenes and interesting exper-
fences in the land of our recent ad-
versaries. The letters cover period
extending from December to April
and the quotations are given seriaIly
as written:
"Dear Mother and Father:
"After having been "'hiking" for a
long time, am once more. privileged
to write. am now at Oberwesel,
Germany, on the bank of the Rhine
River. 1t is very beautiful place,
between two ranges of mountains.
The river is very narrow here and
very deep, and tug boats are engaged
constantly every day in towing barges
up and down the stream. The
weather (Dec.) is fine, no snow nor
even frost"
Il am now at place called Plaidt,
in Germany, not far from the Rhine.
We now have the first snow have
seen here christmas day.. There is
two or three inches Of snow on the
gronnd, which is frozen to a depth of
an inch or so. Just nice, fresh air
here and it makes me wish that we
had this kind of winter at home
| (which we did have at that particular
time). My main fighting experience
was on the Verdun front, of which
you have no doubt read lot in. the
papers. / was under artillery shell
fire for 28 days, and l can tell you
that il. took lot of nerve, to stay.
After New Years will have. been in
service over here for six moths and
viii be entitled ta.y~ service ssssssvs,
that is, small orange colored chew
ron to be worn ON the sleeve" =
81 got letter from young lady
at home, the other day, in which she
told me that was the only one from
! our school district in the army and
| that the servce flag in the school
bore its single star for me. So was
gladdened to know that not everyone,
at least, had forgotten me. l might
tell you a little about my long hike:
1t was about a month after we start
ed that we hit the Rhine. The
greater part of the way was uphill,
before we reached the Rhine, but the
last two days the grade was downhill.
certainly climbed some of the larg-
est hills that anyone ever heard Of.
The Rhine lies very low and on both
sides are high bluffs of rock and
gravelly soil. The scenery along the
river is very beautiful. The bluffs
have mentioned are covered with vim
yards. and as a consequence, this is
great country for wine. You
would wonder how they can pick
some of these grapes, as the bluffs in
some places are so steep, but every
little space capable Of growing a
vine has grapes on it."
'As this is Sunday and l have a
little time to spare, think will tell
you something about my trip to
Coblenz. The coty is about twenty
five miles from our station, and hav-
ing been fortunate enough to be one
of those who drew pass, l was a
member of party of soldiers who
were taken there and brought back
by an army truck. had fine time.
We were given a good dinner and
supper there and also went to big
Y. M. c. A. tent where we heard
some fine music by German orches-
ira, in addition to that furnished by
u. S. Army band. They also fur
nished movie show and had choco-
late, cookies, jam and such like for
sale. At night a masquerade ball
was provided for the boys, and while
l did not take part in this, liked to
see those that did enjoy it. We were
allowed to go anywhere we liked, and
in company with three other fellows
I went over the whole town, which is
large, ancient and very pretty. l
bought post card album and
a folder of cards, showing the Rhine
! River, the roads I had hiked over
and the towns I came through.
Private Rundlett and John Howard
Payne agree perfectly in the senti-
ment, "Mid pleasures and palaces
though oft we may roam, be it ever so
humble, there's no place like home,"
/ for the New Year resolution that he