The Elbert County tribune., 1919-06-06

uSk Wnen tney reacn washington Is
How can we get to Mount Vermont"
! The old place where Washington
1 lived and died is closed to the public
on Sunday. This has aroused criticism,
and TO many people 1t seems to be
perfectly Just criticism. Sunday is a
day of comparative rest in the military
| camps and naturally therefore Sun
day is the day on which most of the
soldiers find 1t convenient to visit
the home and the grave of the great
George. 1t is hard to understand why
the rule of peace times has been con-
tinued in war times and visitors still
are shut out from Mount Vernon on
| the Lords Day.
At Its Best In the Spring.
| The pilgrimages to the Potomac
mansion still are continuing. In this
| spring season Mount Vernon Is at its
best. The old hedges which were
planted by the hand of George. him
self, still are green and fourishing
and several great trees which us sap
lings he planted still cast their shade
over the historic mansion.
The soldiers outnumber civilian WIS.,
itors to the place today certainly ten
to one, and 1t Is an agreeable thing
to say that virtually every soldier of
foreign army who has been III Wash
ington with the various missions here
present has made 1t matter of con-
science, Of heart, and of interest to
go to Mount Vernon as a mark of
respect to the man under whose hand
tot tnc nf
the limbs of the American colonies.
Living in France to Be Better.
A bulletin just issued by the de-
partment of labor carries this head
line: British Housewives Want
American Conveniences."
The department of labor might have
gone farther than this, for it truth
fully could have said that the French
housewives and the Belgian house
wives want American conveniences.
The American soldiers ideas of living
conditions took hold of the men and
women of France. One thing was set
down as a truth: When the villages
of France and Belgium are rebuilt.
bathtubs therein will not be Curl
osity as in former days.
The wonder is If Americans who
have not travelled abroad have an un-
derstanding of housing conditions In
France outside of the big cities. and
to d considerable extent In the big
cities themselves.
Everybody read at the beginning OF
the war how amazed the villagers
and the farming people In France
were at the determination of every
British soldier to have bath daily II
he could get 1t by hook or by crook.
ish also was hard for the French and
the Belgians to understand.
Getting a Drink In Brest.
One can speak from personal ex-
perience of certain things which hap
pened after the American army got in
to French territory. In a hotel In
Brest 1t took me forty-five minutes to
| get q drink of water. l asked a young
woman acting as what we would call
a bellhop If she would be good
enough to get me a drink, or tell me
where could get one. Her answer
| was a question In French:
What sort of wine does Monsieur
wish?'
When l told her that l wanted q
drink of water she looked perfectly
fiabbergasted. request of that kind
probably had not been heard In that
hotel for many moons.
There was consultation Of young
women on the subject of how to get
me a drink of water. 1t must be said
that this request was made between
meals. On the French tables there is
always caraffe for ornamental pur-
poses, but brought into occasional
| use by Frenchmen who like to mix
their water with their light wines,
| although the wine is so innOcuous
| that a dozen glasses of it will not in
| toxicate.
After the consultation was over
young woman who gave it to me said
| that she didn't think 1t was quite
| fresh.
No Ventilation for Peasants.
In France the peasants have had the
centuries long habit of sleeping with
all their windows and doors tight
| closed This fuct probably Is respon-
| sible for some of the tuberculosis
which exists In France. American
soldiers asked the French people in
| the village in which our boys were
billeted why they did not ventilate
their houses. American doctors, vol
unteering to care for some of the sick
among the French peasants. insisted
on ventilation and many French
man, woman and child. under the d.
rection Of American physicians, slept
with windows open for the first time