The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1919-02-06
CORPORAL OLSON WRITES
ABOUT FRENCH PEASANT LIFE
Norwich Soldier Has Learned Many
Things About the French Mode of
Living and Writes Delight
fully About Them.

Hagbardt Olson, prominent Nor
WITCH farmer, received the following
letter from his son, Corp. Thorvald
we have received:
st. Afghan, France,
Nov. "a, 1918.
My Dear Daddy:
1t happens that l am on duty all
night tonight, on my old job in the
railroad yards, therefore I have plen-
ty Of time to write, and since writ
ing the other letter which is this en-
velope, to you ! have thought, of q
great many other things that want
ed to say. Therefore, I am taking
the liberty of writing another letter
simultaneously, and making it two
in one combination.
don't think it would be out of
place at this time to say something
about the beauty of France, that is
from my point of view. As, so much
has always been said about the hard
much has been said about the other
side of the story. Everything which
| have seen stated SO far, about our
hardships, is true, but SO much has
been stated about them and so little
about our pleasures and amusements
that you people perhaps think we
don't have any amusements at all.
When first landed in France, l
was struck by the great difference be-
tween it and the States. France is,
as everyone knows, very old coun-
try, and the people here seem to be
very slow and easy going. That is,
they seem to fit in very nicely with
their natural surroundings. Every
building that l have seen in France
SO far, was of stone, and looked as
though it might be from 100 to 1000
years old, except of course, the wood
en- buildings put up by the American
soldiers over here. 1t seems that
the French are wonderful architects,
as some of those buildings are wonder
full, both for beauty and lasting quail
tiles, Take for example, the Casino,
at AK les Bains. 1t is one Of the
prettiest buildings have ever seen,
even in the States. The funny part
of it is that it was built for and used
for gambling house, similar to the
famous Monte Carlo, but now it is US
ed for a Y. NJ. C. A. and it is given
over entirely for the purpose Of fur
nishing amusement for the American
soldiers who visit AK les Bains on
leave. It is built in the center of
very large lot, and is entirely sur
rounded by beautiful gardens, that
really don't believe could be improved
upon. l will not try to describe the
building itself because that would be
impossible, so | will let it go at that
and try to tell you little about the
French peasants, that is, people of
the poorer classes, as | associate with
them every day. When l landed in
Brest, was very much surprised at
the condition the people seemed to be
lin. Before we even got off the trans
port thaSs were old Frenchmen and
women anu.children too, on the wharf
begging US for bread and tobacco and
even money. They certainly looked
tough so we all did what we could to
help them, and / guess that by the
time we got through with them that
morning they had all the food they
could carry and plenty Of money too.
/ noticed that everybody wore wood
en- shoes, of course, it looked rather
odd to me at first, but I actually be-
lieve now, that they are better for
doing rough and wet work, than our
leather shoes, as they are warmer and |
drier and they don't pinch a PERSONS !
heavy, and rude looking. The streets
in most Of the cities of France are
paved with the old fashioned cobble-
stones, and when peasant comes |
gathering down the street with pair
of wooden shoes on, you would think /
"a troop of cavalry had broken loose. I
Instead of having sewers underground !
to carry away all excess water when
it rains and also the usual garbage
that goes through a sewer at home,
they have cutters along the edges of
the sidewalks. Every time it rains
these cutters get flooded and conse-
quently the streets are all flooded too. !
You ought to see all the half drown |
ed rats hopping about the streets
during a rainstorm. You will Won
der where on earth they all came
from. And still people often wonder
how disease spreads.
The sidewalks here and the streets
olSo, IOi CIIot IldCISl, GiS VCIy lIdI
row, except in the largest cities. 1t
is usually very difficult and some
times impossible for two army trucks
to pass each other on one Of them,
so you can imagine the excitement
and the congestion of traffic which
results when a large number Of
troops are passing through one Of
these small villages. That's when
the poor M. P.'s catch it in the neck.
They are ridiculed more than any
other soldiers in the A. E. f., but
the poor devils have big job at
that, especially if they are in place
where many soldiers pass through.
One thing which | Immediately no
ticed and for which | admire the
French very much is their great care
and pride in gardening. In the west
ern part of France, where first land
ed, every inch Of ground is under cul-