Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1919-01-09
CHAPTER xIx-continued.

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noticed that ali the time he was
writing the word and giving us the
stationery, the. sentry was laughing
and having q great time with his own
little self. but I figured he was just
acting German. and that nothing was
Important about It.
We were all tickled to death to get
"A chance to let our people know where
we were, and each man thought q
long time about what he would say.
aud who he would write to, before he
ever started to write Each mar want
ed to say all he could in the small
space he had, and we wanted to let
our friends know how badly they were
treating us without saying it in so
many words. because we knew the
Huns. would censor the letters, and 1t
would go hard with anyone who com
piained much. So most of the men
said they yer having a great time
and were treated very well, and spread
It on so thick that their friends would
figure, they were lying because they
had to.
One fellow had an idea that was
better, than that, though. He had been
In Jail in Portsmouth, England, for
three months, for beating up a con-
stable, and he had had a pretty rough
time. So ne wrote a pal of his that
he had been captured by the Ger
mans, but that everything was going
along pretty well. In fact, he said.
the only other trip he had v e been
on, where he had a better time, was
the three months vacation he had
spent. in Portsmouth two years before,
which he thought the friend would re-
member. He said that trip was bet
ter than this one. so the friend could
figure out for himself how pleasant
this one was. Everybody thought this
was q great idea, but unfortunately
not all of us had been in Jail, so we
could not all use 1t. Which was just
as well, we thought, because the Ger
mans would be suspicious If all of us
compared this vacation with others.
A few of the men did not have any.
body they could write to, and some did
nOtAnow their friends addresses, SO
they would write letters to friends OF
theGother men, and sign it with the
friends nickname.
As soon as a man had finished his
letter. he had to go out to the center
of the camp, where they had built
raised, platform. There the sentrie'
took the letters, and the men formed
around the square. There were Off
GERS on the platform reading the let
ters. We thought they read then
there in the open, before us, so that
we would know they were not tamper
ing with the letters, and we though
the heaven would fall If they were
getting so unkultured as that.
Finally, all the men had finished
their letters and turned them over t.
the officers, who read them. And thel
we saw why the sentry laughed.
The officers tore up every n of tn
letters. They were anxious that W,
would see them do it, so none of u
would have any hope that our friend
would get word.
But we said to ourselves that, If /
was information they wanted, they ha,
as much as was good for them, whic
was, none at all, because I do not thin
one letter in the bunch had a singl
word of truth In it. But we were a
very, angry AND pretty low after tina
because 1t shIwed the Huns still ha
plenty Of kultur left, after oil, and W
knew there was rough shedding ahea
Of U.S., Also, some Of the men wer
sore because they had wasted the
time thinking up different ways Of til
ping, their friends off to the real stat
Of affairs, and all for nothing. VIII
they should worry about time, I coul
not see. Time was the only thing W
had plenty of, and I for one, though
we were going to have still more Of l
Going back to the barracks we trie
to sing "Pack Up Your Troubles" b,
there was not much pep in 1t. "
were not downhearted, though;
lenst, we said we were not.
F