The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1919-07-24
HEPPNERBOY VISITS
IN GAY OLD PAREE
Cecil Lieuallen Gets Leave and Visits
In Paris and Takes Trip to Bat
tlefields of France and
Belgium.
Belgium,

allen OF Heppner from their son Cecil
who is a sailor in the United States
Navy.
Brest, France, June Is, 1919.
Dear Folks:
l just got back yesterday from four
of the most interesting days l ever
spent. We were given a four-day
furlough TO go to Paris last Wednes-
day, June 10. We left the ship at 8
o'clock p. m. and our train left Brest
at s p. m. / was a little puzzled at
first on how to get aboard my car.
The cars are very different from
those in the U. S. They have only
four wheels, with spokes in them like
an iron wheeled wagon, only larger.
When first saw my car l thought |
would have to crawl In through a
window, but found 1t had several
doors that slid back into the wall.
The upper half of the doors and
walls are all Widowed. When you
get aboard you are in a narrow hall
way and you en- see through another
wall Of doors and windows, into the
compartment where you sit. Each
compartment is like a small room
about six feet wide and long enough
for four persons to sit comfortably.
There are two seats running length
wise Of the compartment, so each lit
tie room holds 5 persons. There were
three classes Of passenger cars. The
elite ride first class, the common peo-
pie second class and the poor usually
third. The third class cars have no
cushions on the seats. Very few Of
the cars have sleeping Accommodations
or diners. So on our ride to Paris
we piled cushions on the deck and
piled up and slept like litter of
puppies. Two fellows slept in the
suit case racks.
1t doesn'c get dark here till after
9 o'clock and daylight comes about
4:30 in the morning, so we saw lot
of country in our 30O-mile ride. I
was surprised to find France so diff
ferent from what had expected.
The whole country outside of the war
zone is like one big garden. 1t is just
like travelling through a great park.
Every inch Of tillable land is made
to produce something and some of
their hillside irrigating systems are
wonderful. The fences are all hedges
or stone walls and field Is seldom
larger than an acre and very irregu-
lar in shape. At this time they are
cutting their hay and their machin-
cry is scythe and rake. l saw two
binders. They work about as many
oxen as horses and haul as much hay
on a two-wfieeled cart as we do on
regular hay rack. The creeks all look
like they were made to order and
even the rim rocks are covered with
vines. The houses are all made of
stones plastered together with kind
of mud, somewhat like cement only
not so hard. Most of the houses are
small, but there are some chateaus
that look like palaces.
When we got to Paris we stopped
at a depot called Mort Ponasse. From
there we started out to see Paris. I
could parley vous about dozen
words in French so l acted as inter-
prefer for our bunch of four. We
didn't know thing about Paris but
we got map that was a dandy so
we started out. We visited Napo-
Icons tomb and went to the top of
Eiffel Tower. We visited few more
interesting places and in the evening
went for promenade with our party
increased to eight. We learned a lot
of French and had a swell time.
The next day we went to Chateau
Thierry and from there to Rheims.
We travelled In one of the trains TAX
en- over from the Germans. All along
the track there were dug outs which
had been used by the passengers In
case of an air raid on the train. AS
we got nearer to the front we began
to see the ruins of villages. In some
places there wasn't house left
standing and all over the country
there were big holes where bombs
and big shells had dropped. The
nearer we came to the front the more
ruins and shell holes we sam and
some trenches. When we got to
Rheims We saw the famous ruins of
the Cathedral of Rheims. Rheims Is
a large city and had some wonderful
buildings, but there isn't whole
house left. We took an auto from
Rheims out to fort, five miles dis
tant. The fort is so blown up that
there Is only mound of dirt lel,.
We didn't stay long in the French
trenches. wanted to see some dead
Heinies. Those we got all went down
with the U-boats.
There Is whole forest shot to
pieces and killed, only few stumps
and skeletons left. Most Of the
trenches were about feet deep and
some had sidewalks in them. The
whole country Is a network of
trenches with barbed wire entangle-
ments In between. l didn't know
there was so much barbed wire made
as there in between those trenches.
We went into some dugouts. Some
of them seemed to have all the COM