Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1919-01-14
LETTER FROM ALsAcE.LoRRAINE

: celVoQ Dy MIS-. JOnn AD0l, VI flOtuS-
child. Mrs. Abel formerly lived in that
country:
Belfort, Dec. 7th, 1918.
Dear friend and your family
| / wanted to write to you right after
the signing of the armistice, but want
/ ed first to go to our old home to see
the sights, as it appears now, in
deed it looks very forsaken. | could
not help but sit down in the kiiometer
stone and weep bitterly at the road
! side.
l cannot explain it all to you. Just
| imagine yourself outside of Belfort,
! from Batricourt Dane-Marie to Alt
kirck, Walheim Karsjack until near
Mulhausen, every mansion is in heap
OF ruins, the floors are out, probably
used for fuel, as the soldiers used
/ them. l have not found living per-
son in Walheim, it just looked like
| dwelling place of murderers. More
than a year ago the inhabitants had
to leave all those places, ordered by
| the Boche, and now, they have come
back homeless, and so it looks along
the whole front here. Near Hartman's
Peiler-kopf, there are a million SOL
diers buried.
4 n
many. the Huns now send them back
| to look at their ruined homes; the
| fields impossible to get in shape for
years, and the cattle were taken away
! from them also. Where our beautiful
vineyards and our rich fertile meadows
| were, you see, schrapnel pieces and
bomb-shells sticking out of the earth
and immense big holes and trenches.
| went to Strassburg. Stayed there
from Saturday until Wednesday, after
the 18th of November, and what l saw
there was distressing. The people
from upper Alsace arrived from some
where out of Germany, with their little
| bundles, carrying the younger, sup
| porting the older. There was the Red
Cross, that noble organization; they
were very busy; they gave those poor
unfortunate-dirty and sickly-clean
| quarters, food and clothes. They had
| not seen any back for three years.
There were about fifteen hundred re1
| fugees.
Dear friend, | want to tell you
| that our beautiful cathedral of Stras-
bourg has not been injured, like the
| one in Reims. 1 don't suppose the
Germans expected to lose Alsace-Lor-
raine.
l passed the statue of General Xiii
Der, and there stood a good while at
the gate in meditation, dear friend
then with fortitude went home.
When father and l would come to
spend the evening with you, you and
| l working on our lessons for the next
| day, and we were interrupted when
our fathers spoke of your great, great
uncle, and now l thought of you all.
You are the descendants of this famous
General-spread over the world.
| Tell Mr.. and Mrs. Walters l regret
very much that l could not find out
| about their son Leon. ] wrote a few
cards to the address you sent me.
| Neither have | had a chance to see
my grandson, Frank Bisle of Cincin
natl. Have seen lots of American sol
| diers from Wisconsin, and as 1 in
! quired about Rothschild they did not
| know the place, and really they we're
/ too busy chasing the Boche, and they
did it good, too. They certainly
showed the Prussians how the Ameri-
cans could fight.
In my next letter l can give you
better information about all the folks
at home. l found only two people
there that you know, We can not go
by rail because all railroads are
ruined. Some take trucks and load
them with all kinds of provisions and
clothes; the people are all clothed in
rage and we do all we can, with pleas
ure and sorrow for all these poor des-
titutes, deprived of every thing they
owned and yet grateful they belong
| to France again.
| want to tell you about the fright
full prices of food, so you can see that
the Boches were on the verge of
famine. Allotment to person.
bread, 200 gram, flour made from bark
and potatoe Feelings; meat, $50 gram
for one week. oil 80 mark, per litre;
butter, 20 mark, pound; 20 mark for
pound of milk; sugar, 8 mark a
pound; wine, eight and ten marks a
pound; coffee and chicoree, they have
not seen any for three years. A pair
of shoes, 100 mark and more; a pair
of shoes for ten year old child, low
shoes, 80 marks; baby shoes, ten and
fifteen marks, and when they get wet
the soles fall off and the upper part
remains on the foot; for goods for
dresses, 100 mark the metre. / must
say it was not so bad here in Belfort,
everything was high priced but peo-
pie could get food if they had the mon
ey, and the working people are busy
if they want to work.
l will close now for this time. Give
my regards to every one whom l met
while in Wisconsin, and especially re-
member me to Mr.. Stearenetki, who
was the station agent at Rothschild
when l left there. l cannot forget the
courtesy of that gentleman as he pre-
sented me a bouquet of your favorite
flowers, arbutus of Wisconsin and
considered that very respectful re-
gard toward a person.
l wish you all a happy. peaceful and
prosperous 1919 New Year.
Your devoted friend,
MRS. MARGUERITE FREY,
1876 Fanbourg des Vosges,