The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1919-01-23
pink" GOES TO q r
Private Bellinger Al-o Visits Many
Other Places in France.

Other Places in France.
| Following are some interesting ex-
cerpts from a letter received recently
by a Bamberg friend from Private R.
p. Bellinger. 1t will be noted that
Private Bellinger expected to leave
for the U. s. about January 18th:
Il have just returned from a week
end leave TO Moulins, which is the
capital of the Department of Allier,
and a city of $4,000 people. Think
| of a city OF that size with no street
cars and no electric lights on the
streets-that's typical of France. Al
ter night it is as dark as the hinges
of hades and as dead and gloomy as
the Kaiser, with absolutely nobody
on the streets. French people go to
bed about 8 o'clock. l had to pay
extra for my soap in the hotel and
think it's really against the law for
anybody to take a bath in France.
Early Saturday night l attended a
theatrical performance there at
which. of course, ladies were present.
A bar is attached to the theatre and
all during the performance walters
pass among the audience serving
wines and liquors. Drinks are not
expensive. On Sunday morning 1 at
tended religious services in the huge
Catholic cathedral--yes, l said it;
1 actually went to church. The ca
thedral is a marvellous edifice, far
grander than our American churches,
and would probably accommodate
10000 people. There are two such
churches in that city. The music
was magnificent and the entire choir
|great. The chants were very striking,
and the rendition of ''The Rosario"
the most wonderfully vivid and grand
that the Imagination can conceive Of.
Il found the court house very in
teresting and although it was Sun
day and the building supposed to be
closed, we were fortunate to chance
upon the janitor whom l told that l
was a lawyer and would like to go
through. He kindly conducted us
through the entire building and ex-
planned everything. A visit to the
Museum of Moulins was worth while,
and here we saw some Of the most
marvellous masterpieces of French
art, sculpture, paintings, etc. Two
very large oil paintings which would
especially command ones admiration
are LA Crucifxion," the French
name implying what it means in Eng
lish, and Episode du Combat au Out
bonier," portraying a particularly
horrible scene enacted during the
French revolution. There were many
exhibits of all kinds which would
easily rival anything in theMetropoli-
tan Museum of Art, New York City,
or the National Museum in Washing
ton. A scale of fees for marriages is
posted in cathedrals over here, and
is quite interesting. If n desires a
first class marriage the fee is 40
francs for the priest; End class, 80
francs; 3rd class, 20 francs, and 4th
class, Is francs. Baptisms are along
the same line. A franc is Is cents.
1 suppose funerals are paid for In
proportion to where it is expected the
deceased will go. Some of the streets
in these French cities have no side
walks and in the main business parts
of the cities the sidewalks are about
two feet wide, which of course, ne
c~essitates the people, ladies, gentle
men and soldiers, TO walk in the mid
die of the street. But this makes no
difference as there are no street cars
and no automobiles, and so no chance
to get run over. And-oh we'll, l
could write a book about these
French towns, and what l have seen
and done over here; however, l shall
not bore you with any more now,
but we'll let it keep until I see you
and tell you about it.
"In all probability I shall leave
this camp about the 18th of January
destined for the United States. How
ever, that will be only a short lap OF
the trip, and a considerable while
will be required before land In Gods
country, the slow trip being due to
the poor transportation facilities in
France-and also from France to
America. After I get to the States l
suppose it will be a couple of months
before 1 can get a discharge from the
army, but they can't make me mad to
fire me from my job before then"
removed the cotton so as to use the
wagons for a dancing stand. Mid