The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1919-08-05
Paris, France, June 25, 1919.

Paris, France, June 25, 1919.
My dear Sister Polly,
Thanks for your charming letter.
1t was awfully sweet of you to write.
This is the first opportunity have
had to answer it. My studies have
been taking up quite a bit of my
time.
So, you want to know something
about Paris and my life here. Well,
sister dear, that's quite an order. l
could write volumes on either but
whether it would be of interest to
you I am sure I don't know. sup
pose, as usual, that anything 1 say
YOU will use against me when / get
home.
Yes, I'll do it! I'll tell you about
night before last. Think of it, one
whole night, in detail! Remember
when you finish that you asked for it.
Honestly, though Polly, it was a
memorable night. Any one who was
here in the great City Of Paris will
have some memories to carry through
the rest of his life.
I spent the whole afternoon in try
ing to improve my knowledge Of the
French language by reading "Sappho"
in the original. I had really forgot
ten that it was the day the Boches
were to say that they were going to
sign. I came down to dinner at
about a quarter of seven. Mademoi-
selle Berthe, our waitress, was in a
terrible hurry to get US served
because it was her dance night. She
is learning the American dances
which she processes to be crazy about.
No wonder. If you ever tried to
dance with one Of the real French So
ciety girls you'd appreciate that re-
mark. We've been invited to quite
a number of entertainments given by
the French Home Society. I went
to several. One in particular l re-
member. It was at the home Of a
munition manufacturer. He operat-
ed nine munition plants during the
war. His daughter, whom some OF
the fellows called the "Poor little
rich girl" has marriage dowry OF
the trifing sum of two million francs
but for all that she can't dance.
There's a reason for it too. They
always dance on carpeted floors to
the music of a piano played by some
man or woman who has no more con-
ception of what "time" means than
o salmon knows about salted peanuts.
We were leisurely eating our five
franc Y. M. c. A. dinner and the
lieutenant remarked that this was
the day they had to sign. Personal
ly l was pretty well convinced that
they would not sign. So much so
that I had made bet with Madame
Moussu, our French teacher at t..-
Alliance Francaise, of three beers .
gainst three roses and a pound Of su-
gar that they wouldn't sign and was
so sure of it that 1 went ahead and
drank the three beers in advance.
One of my best friends here is a
lieutenant from Boston. It's rather
funny that we should be friends too
because he is still rabid Bostonian
and certainly hold up South Caro-
lina's part of the Civil war. We ar
que like two Irish washerwomen but
when I tell him that Boston has but
ted into everything that ever happen
ed and that in my opinion the best
thing for the whole United States
would be to divorce the New England
States from the rest of the states and
make Boston the capitol and then
move all the negroes up there, he
gets peeved because when he came
over here they very appropriately as
signed him to a negro regiment and