The Meeker herald., 1919-01-18
c..Asrsa x,x-esa.s.s.s.


cAAprgR xIx-osatlNued.
Ill
noticea that Ill the time be was
writiag ~ word aad giving ~ the
statioessy. ths ssatry vas laughing
end havtag crest hms with his own
little SELF but I figured he was Just
acting German, and that nothing was
important about Y.
We were all tickled to death to get
. chance to let our people know whore
we were. and each man thought .
long time about what he would say.
and Who he would write to. before -
ever started to write. Each man want.
I'd, to say all he could In the snail
space he had. and We wanted 10 1T
our friends know how badly they were
treating rs without saying It In %
many words, because we knew the
Hens would censor the letters. and II
would 20 hard with anyone who COM
planned much. 30 most Of the men
sald they were having q great time
and were treated very well, aud spread
II On 70 thick that their friends would
figure they were lying. because they
had to.
One fellow had an idea that was
better than that. though. He had been
in Jail In Portsmouth. England, for
three months, for beating mp q COO
stable. and be had had q pretty rough
time. 30 he wrote q pal Of his that
hs bad been captured By the Ger
mans, bot that everything was going
along pretty well. In fact, he sald.
the only other trip he had ever been
On. whsrs he had . better dime. was
tho three months vacation he had
spent b Portsmouth two years before.
which ~ thought the frieed would re-
member. He said that trip was bet.
ter than this one. % the friend could
fgure out for himself how pleasant
this one was. Everybody thought tbs
was q great idea. bst unfortunately
not al Of % had been In jail. % We
could not all use Il. Which was Just
a. well. We thought. because the Ger.
saAas would b Suspicious u Ill u -
cs0paFsd tAis vacation with ethssA
A fsw Of ~ ~ "a BOT havs any
body thsy could wits 70. and some did
not know their ffisods' Addresses, -
thsy veaid write letter. to frieads &
ths s<Aee nsn, ard asa Il With ~
frlsaGs aieknans. M
~ ssea - Q oan Nd 1aAsAed his
lstAes. ~ haa y - 81 b H. ssatse
II IL eanp. WAsfe tAay had boilt .
raissd platesen. TAses H. ssatrsss
took ~ lsttseA and IL no 6sensA
arsas1 ~ sQuase. TAsee vses -
cess - ~ paatfosn reading he Lot.
tera We tAoaeAt thsy read thsn
thefs b ~ epea. beeoee - % tAak
ws vosA know they were ~ taapsss
NJ with tAe letters. and Ne thssShe
~ Aeavsa would nm " no were
gettlng % unkultured - that.
Finally. sll The men had finished
their letters and turned them over to
the olicees, who read them. And thea
we saw why the sentry laughed.
The odicefs tore Up every one Of the
letters. They were .anxious that We
would - them Do II. 70 none Of -
would have any hope that our frisn1s
wssid Get word
But We said to ourselves that, II 4
Was lnformatioa they wanted. thsy had
as much ~ was good Tor them. which
was none at all. because ! do not think
one letter lii the bunch had Q einsle
word Of truth In It. But we were all
very angry and pretty low after TINT.
because II showed the Huns stin had
plenty Of kultur left. after all. and we
knew there was rough shedding ahead
Of rs. Also. some Of the men were
sore because they had wasted thsr
time thinking up different why's Of II =
ping their friends of to the real state
Of Affairs. and all for nothing. Why
they should worry about time. I could
not sse. Time was the only thing We
had plenty Of. and for one. thought
We were going to have still more Of It.
0olng back to the barracks We tried
to sins Pack Up Your Troubles." but
there was not much pep In It. We
were not downhearted. though; at
least. We said We were not.