Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1919-01-29

mas b6en connected mas been transfer
red and that he is now in charge of
the pneumonia service ward. He gives
the following description Of the NOV
ing from French to German territory:
Treves. Germany, Dec. s, 1913
My dear Mother: An hour after |
finished my letter last Sunday, evacu
alton II got its order to move. /
rushed down to Toul to get ny pay
voucher cashed, and spent tie evening
packing. Monday morning ambu
iances took tie nurses and some of
the staff, and at noon a convoy OF
trucks came, twenty of them, and load
ed up, and started away at ten o'clock
III a long string across to Royaumiex
and UP through Flirey and LiIuey and
Font a Moussoh. had a place in a
Ford at the head Of the procession,
but at the last moment the adjutant
espied me, and | was straightway de-
tailed to personally conduct the hos
pitfalls portable disinfesting or delous-
ing apparatus-a big heavy boiler and
sterilizing tank almost as clumsy as
a steam roller. Drawing that at a
prescribed rate of six miles an hour,
with a Riker truck, set out at 2.S0
o'clock last Monday afternoon with
the driver and a detail of five men, We
figured on a trip of some days and
be found--and seven mattresses, and
my bedding roll, and of course the
mems packs. It was a gray day, and
as we tugged along up the rough ar
tillery- trodGen road. l didn't know
what would become of us-a new
driver, unknown possibilities of the
heavy disinfector getting ditched,
some bad hills ahead, daylight gone
by four o'clock.
But we rumbled along and if we
moved slowly, We saw the landscape
and the ruined villages and the actiy-
tiles of the road men minuteiy. We
groaned up steep and muddy hills on
third speed and dashed along, so it
seems, even at six an hour. the
stretches of fat going. At four o.
clock we saw against the gray sky the
ruined church tower of Flirey, high
| on the hillside over the ruined village.
| The church at F'lirey is not like many
! Just a mass of tumbled down stone
but with half its tower still rising, a
! Gothic window showing, it is still 9
| thing Of beauty-beauty persisting in
the midst of death and destruction. On
! its face, g, great mass of rock, sepa-
rate from the wall and held up only
by a tWig Of iron, is curious sight
| There is a steep hill with "a sharE
| curve at the bottom beyond Linley-
ut is a ravine leading down through
the hills to former sites of some OF
our field hospitals. We made that
safely, but climbing out again we hat
half an hours struggle, finally win
Eing with the aid of all our chains and
the wonderful low gear. It takes vol
up almost any kind of grade through
anv kind of rock or mud.
At $50 in pitch darkness We ar
rived at Port a Mousson. the town il
self was inIIy, its population still al
most entirely American. ! decided !
was enough travel for the day and
sought the town major. Or A. Z. NJ
| american provost marshall for billet
for my men and myself. He took u
over a couple OF blocks and usheret
US into a deserted house, before Whicl
We drew UP our two machines, the
, he took us over 10 the kitchen of al
artillery outfit and we ate to the ful
rcast beef and hard bread and coffe
and steWed carrots, l think, an
prunes. Then / went dogn the dar
street to the Hippodrome, q larg
building which l found filed up, foo
rand walls, with whistling, shriekin
negroes, waiting fer a concert by tn
regimentai band of the 35oth artillery
colored. They started with AneTic;
and then q march dedicated their oil
colonel, now General Austin, and the
=: played some kind Of "BIues"-an
! there was opera, and clarinet solo
and the Liberty Bell was sung-an
Il was darned good Then at SO
vent home" found nay mattress an
bedding roll on the second floor-la
e men were in tie first-undid the lai
ter. climbed :, between the blanket
r and tried TO steep But it was too ir
d teresting day to sleep readily-an
e was wondering If that new woode
e bridge acro~e - ~-''H would carr
: apparatus nAen I started out
n the morning, a-e lne adjutat
= and some others said goodbye to II
y delouser when We left the hosDitaI.
We were up at six Tuesday morning
a had chow at the battery's kitche
g filed UP with gasoline and were off b,
: fore eight. The trailers took half
l city block to turn around in-but Y
went down one street and back anotl
=, er, got the bridge road and went ov
without the slightest hitch. Then Y
were on good road straight to Met
y Crossing the Lorraine frontier-qarl
4 ed by toll gate, we found oursalv
= in the land Of German signs and d
e rections, but the tricolor was floatil
u on every house-after IS hours Il
country was France again. AS We fC
y lowed up the valley Of the Moselle, t.
high hills on either side Of the windii
- stream became sprinked with fortres
es-guardians of Metz-rendered 8
s, most impregnable half a century a.
" by the French and trebly strengthen
since by the Germans As we bowl
- along at our merry rate OF 10 kilom
tres an hour-all kinds of cars viii
zed by-F'rench generals and BIRTHS
and American staff cars, and long co
n voys OF French trucks, carrying
supplies to their advancing trool
# For this was the main trunk line
IN all the Allies.
j. We went so well that we rolled i
Up to Metz before II ocock and to 81
ne a chance to see a bit of the old ci
rs deferred departure until / o'clo,
to I took especial care on this occasi
to to see the cathedral, including t
Is. saint carved on its front with t
Lr. haiser's face now wearing handcu
It. and the motto, Thus goeth the gle
of the world, or something like Il
in Latin. I'm SO mixed up betwe
~ French, English and German, that Ii
In is the straw that breaks. And
h side, der Dom is a very beautiful pl;
the spirit of the ages is in its stain
glass windows, great columns a
4 lofty arches.
$ I ! took my trailer through the he
~ of the city-and my heart was in
z mouth for fear we'd get hung up
i \ some narrow street But we esca1
a again-and went sailing along to I
denhofen-the French Thionville
fine city of 20 thousand or more.
y began to have breakdowns-links
? / our drawing chain giving way
,I~
e bunch of French women who ha,
IS walk of many weary miles back he
: the train being very. irregular,
. lhegan to 80 BY great steel factor