The Press., 1919-03-20
HOLLAND

HOLLAND
 Mrs. Walter Taylor is soon expecte,
 home with her son, Theodore, who ha,
 been seriously i'll in the hospital at tn,
 Mount Hermon school for boys.
 Some hay in small lots is being solt at thirty to thirty-five dollars a tor
 in the barn, but there is not much fol
 sale whatever the price, as most o1
 the surplus crop was disposed oi earlier in the season.
 Mrs. Harry Bartlett has returned from a three-weeks' visit at her sis. ter's home in Montclair, N. J. She assisted by Mrs. Wm Barber, is to entertain the Study club at her home next Monday evening.
 Rev. B. F. Case, chairman of the Holland committee in the drive for re- lief in the Near East, has sent Tol- lands contribution of $286.5O to the county treasurer of the relief fund. To this is to he added a credit of $45, contributed by the Congregational and Methodist Sunday schools last Christ mas for Armenian relief work. Tol- lands quota in the present drive was $250.
 The C. B. society of the Congrega- tional church is rejoicing in the pos session of the attendance banner won at the recent meeting of the Rockville c. E. Union in Ellington. Every &C., tive member of the Holland society was present, 100 per cent attendance MT. and Mrs. Samuel Simpson went to New York last Saturday to visit their son, Sumner, who is sick in the hospital there. He is member of the 306th tank corps and only recently re- turned from France. He was quite sea sick on board, contracted a severe cold and was later threatened with pneumonia, but at last accounts he was doing well and no doubt will not be detained any great length of time in the hospital.
 Private Leslie Metcalf, who is at present in the convalescent center at Camp Devens, was visiting his par .ents, MT. and Mrs. Abial Metcalf, over Sunday. MT. Metcalf, who Is a mem- Der of the Sth machine gun battalion of the Sd division, regular army. was at the front in France for about five months and under fire large part of that time. He took part in three great battles, the second Marne, St. Mihiel and the Argonne Forest. Though he has not entirely recovered from the effects of being gassed in the battle of the Argonne Forest and is also recovering from an operation at Camp Devens he willingly came to the Congregational church Sunday even ling and told an appreciative audience a little of his war experiences and ob- lservations. He spoke of the impress sion made upon both English and French by the American soldiers in- difference to danger, as shown on the voyage over when periscope was sighted and when under fire. The Doughboys were great for joking even when machine bullets were fiy- ing, and when there was call for volunteers, for runners" say, to pass through barrage there was never any lack, though the volunteer was pretty sure it would end in disting- uished service medal being sent home to his mother while he was under the sod pushing up daisies" It was very intimate and vivid picture that he gave of the way the army lived, was fed, marched over shell pitted fields, went over the top and, in gen. eral, carried on." He spoke of the astonishment of the French at the great construction works accomp- lished by the Americans in so short a time, as when great docks were built in seven months that the French said would require three years. He re- called the pitiful scenes when at a moments notice the entire population of a large town was compelled to leave, abandoning everything. When he was put out of commission he was at work on shallow trench in con- nection with his machine gun loca- tion. He heard a shell coming and knew it was flying low. He had just struck few feet away and burst cov- ering him with mud and dirt. There was some gas in the shell and he got a whiff or two before he could adjust his gas mask. Other men of the squad fared worse, one losing an arm, another covered with blood when he got to him and all more severely gassed. That morning he had been thrown several feet by the concussion of a bursting shell, but the gas fin ished him off after he had given what aid he could to his wounded comrades. He was taken unconscious to the hos pital some hours later and eventually sent home. Private Metcalf tells his story modestly and one feels that the thing that was uppermost in his mind was simply to do his bit that the world might indeed be made decent place in which to live. It is of soldiers like this, with his spirit, his bravery and unselfish purpose that Holland is justly proud.
 UNION
 Rock Meadow
 Mrs. Cyntha Town Snow passed away March 18th in Springfield, Mass,