The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-01-31

might have opportunity to visit some
 Mediterranean coast city before I left
 Europe, and was glad to get orders to
 proceed to Nice.
 Mentone January 2-Left Paris g o'clock of the night of December 31. trav- eleo all night and all New Years day,
 reached Nice about o'clock D. m., spent the night and part of today. Most won-
 derful trip of my whole life. Stopped at Monte Carlo short time today-just a | few kilometres from here.
 There is no use trying to describe this | section of France-words fail me and l don't know where to begin. The Riviera | is just long strip of land lying along | the Mediterranean. Nice, Cannes, Mon-
 aco and Mentone being the principal | towns.
 | There is very little room for building anywhere along the coast, because the Maritime Alps come right down to the shore. But somehow at great expense and labor and with ingenuity they have
 built the most beautiful towns I ever
 saw. They build everywhere-on the
 beach. in the sides of cliffs and on top l of high cliffs Some of the mountains are covered with snow. The climate is delightful, though the nights are rather l too cold. This being fashionable re- l sort, living is very expensive. It costs
 me 12 francs day and this is a special rate for "Y' men,
 I This is one of the rest areas for the
 boys on leave, and the 'Y'' has pro-
 vieed for their entertainment in most
 wonderful way
 l My work is very interesting. I am sim
 ply guide for those who wish to visit the | many places of interest. It looks as if l I am very fortunate in getting the kind
 of work I like. Of course I had rather
 bs the preacher for the crowd, but if | can't do that I can do some talking | on the hikes we take.
 1 January 5.-Of course I haven't been ] here long enough to know much about
 the country, but with my guide book, I 1 can find any place.
 | The second day, after my arrival, l | took a party up the mountain to Castil- | lon It was once a big town, but is in
 ruins now having been destroyed in 1877.
 It also has a history running back to
 something B. c. A few buildings are standing and there is one inhabitant, all
 old lady, who refuses to leave in spite of the earthquakes yet to come. l A little farther down the mountain is the new town of the same name. From | this village the trail leads down the side
 of the mountain to Saspel, another in-
 teresting old town. was very tired when I got hack to my hotel at Mentone.
 l The Mediterranean is just 100 feet from
 my window, an awful surf is always
 raging and roaring. It sounds good to me Mentone. is the boundary line be-
 tv cen France and Italy. The actual line l is on the east side of town. l have been l in Italy several times. . l Guess you would hardly know me- I am so thin. My physical condition is such that little too much cold now might prove serious. But now, that 1 the war is over, I do not feel called on l to take unnecessary risks. Quite diff | ferent now to what it was during the i big drive" of Argonne, when death 1 stared me in the face every minute for
 five long, heart breaking weeks. I shall
 not attempt to describe my experiences there and elsewhere, but here is just 1 one little incident which may serve to 1 show you what front line service means | to a "Y" canteen man. | On the top of a high hill, there was | until it was destroyed by shell fire, a large town built entirely of stone. | Looking at the ruins, one might well imagine many large stone buildings. In the hull of one of these, just the four, or parts of the four walls stand ing, we had set up a chocolate stand or kitchen, as well as a canteen. Here
 we were trying to serve the boys be-
 hind the lines. All night long the big G. I. cans Gas the boys call the big 1 six-inch explosives used by the Ger mans) had been falling around us. All the next day they shelled us and about dusk succeeded in getting our range then things began to happen. One big