Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1919-05-08
WRITES A LETTER
FROM FRENCH CITY
TELLS INTERESTING EXPERI-
ENCES OF STUDY AND SIGHT
SEEING IN STRANGE CITIES


Dear Folks:-I received your let
ter of March 29th yesterday and as
it was addressed to me direct l
know that you are aware of where
/ am located. l received the pa
pers today. There was quite "a
lot of interesting news in them. l
suppose there will be many things
different when l get back. 1t looks
as though lots of the soldiers are
getting home again. l suppose
they will be having big holiday for
them sometime this summer. l re-
ceived a letter from Iowa City the
other day and most of my friends
there are back in school again. 1t
seems as though very few of them
came to France, so they managed to
get back in school pretty soon. III
be able to tell them lots of interest
ing things when l see them again,
although they will be about year
ahead of me in school l don't
know whether my work here in this
university will be accepted in the
United States or not.
l guess / had better tell you first
about my weekend visit Saturday
and Sunday. l suppose 1t will
surprise you, but l went to see Sid
ney Henderson. He is stationed at
Dole, about 80 miles from here, in
the French mission. happened
to meet him last Saturday, a week
ago, when he was in Besancon get
ting his final discharge papers from
1.-The military authorities. 1t was
quite a coincidence that / met him.
/ didn't recognize him nor did he
me, but after we found that we
were from the same state, it wasn't
long before we found each other out.
He is working under the Red Cross
and is helping to saw lumber and
make houses to be put up in de-
vastated regions around Verdun. l
had a pleasant visit with him at his
camp. There are about 80 of them
at Dole. They live in a camp much
the same as the army camp. Most
of them are American conscientious
directors but there are few Eng
lish also. They all seemed like fine
fellows. The work they are doing
is very interesting. They have a
regular shop in town with machin-
cry TO do the work with. They
make sections of houses and ship
them already set up for the people
returning to their homes in the war
area. The house, when set up, con-
sists of four fair sized rooms and
really makes nice comfortable
temporary home for a family They
have a few set up in Besancon for
refugees from Alsace. Sidney ex-
poets to leave Dole in a short time
for Verdun to help in setting up the
houses. I was certainly glad that
/ had a chance to have a good visit
with him while he was so close. He
seems to be in good spirits and en-
joys himself over here. He thinks
that his work here will be finished
about November of this year.
The city of Dole is not such a
large place-about 10000 people.
The country is quite level, but the
mountains are visible in the dis
lance. On a clear day one can see
Mount Blanc, but those days come
about once a month. The city has a
merry-go-round for the children,
the first thing of that sort I have
seen in France. Instead of having
the horses and lovers tubs" ETC.,
they have bicycles and automobiles
to ride. 1t certainly was fun to
watch the children who were riding.
/ guess l didn't tell you about my
trip a week ago Saturday and Sun
day. The Y. M. c A. here is fur
nished a White truck, carrying IL
passengers and they take load out
to the country ever day. OF course
we can get away only on Saturday
and Sunday. Last Saturday after
noon the trip was up in the noun
tains to the Source de Love. 1t
was about 80 miles away and was
situated in some of the most beauti-
81 fost i m
plain that the thing itself is where
the river comes out of the side of
the mountain. The road up to the
place was very pretty. Sometimes
we would be on top of a small noun
tain where we could look almost
straight down into the valley, per-
haps 200 or 800 feet below. At
other times we would be half way up
along the side where on one side the
mountain sides would slant almost
perpendicular above and on the 9TH
er side it was straight down to the
bottom of the valley. In some places
/ don't know what we would have
done IL we met anyone. IL was
much sleeper and narrower than any
place that l saw in the Appalachian
mountains. / sure did enjoy the
scenery though. 1t Is almost thrill
ing to see the rocks standing with
perpendicular edges $50 feet high,
especially so when a person stands
on the top and looks over the edge.
To get to the Source de Love we
had to leave the car in the main
road and take a path along the
mountain side for about two and a
half miles AS We approached the
place where the river came out of
the mountain the roar of the water
became louder and we began to feel
the spray from the water falls. The
river was not large nor was the falls
high, but there was something pic
turesque about it. We had our
pictures taken near 1t and will
send you some of them as soon as
they are finished.
Last Sunday We were out all day,
starting about eight o'clock in the
morning. We went over the same
road and after we had seen the
Sourse of Love for the benefit OF
those who were not along on the day
before, we went on to Pontaclier,
near the Swiss border This was
UP quite high in the mountain re-
gion. There was about six inches
of snow on the ground, while there
is none at all here in Besancan. We
stopped for dinner at Pontaclier.
The roads were so bad that we did
not dare go any nearer to the border
so we had to satisfy ourselves with
merely a sight of Switzerland down
through one of the valleys. lit
tie later after the sno wis gone we
will be able to get over to the Dor
der and then l think that | will take