Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1919-03-12
Decorah Boy WitIfCo. G. 314 Engin-
GERS Writes . a Most Interesting
Letter About Army Life i'm
Germany
VS. THE PEOPLE
~. LIyE5A SIMPLE LIFE
The =, pla Manage to Get Along
Without Many Things That
Would be Considered
Necessity I'm the United
States
III Irsch, Germany,
Jan. "a, 1919


Dear Mother: tIa
l have some spare time today and
am going to use part of~it in writing
to you. E3a
Have not heard from you for over
a week, but of course l may get a
letter any day. I hope you are we'll
that you have managed to escape ar
attack of the fluYand that you will
continue to do so.
wonder if you are alone now, or
If Ruth is with you now. Ethel
wrote that she, Jake and Ruth were
all home for Christmas but did not
say whether Ruth was only there for
a day or two or was staying at home.
| received two letters from Ethel
this week, one was written Dec. 20,
after her return from Decorah. Also
received letter from Anna Weiss
which I enjoyed reading.
This village, where we are stay
ing now, is a pretty sma
of course there. Is not much excite.
ment of any kind and most of the
men find life here pretty dull. About
all they think or talk of is goins
home. The worst of it is, none of us
know any more about when We arc
to start home than we did two
months ago. I think am as anxious
to get home as the others but do not
think I find life here quite as -irk-
some as some Of the others. man
age to see something new and inter
lesting every day though they may be
common everyday things that one
would not consider interesting at all
If they were not so much different
than anything we see in the U. s.
Yesterday p. m. went to Beurig
and Saarburg, about or kms from
here. Beurig is small .RR. town
on the Moselle river. Saarburg is on
the opposite bank, it is considerable
larger and there are a number of.in-
teresting sights In and near the
town. Both towns are built on a
steep hillside and one has to climb
10 get anywhere.
The ruins of an old castle, built
some centuries ago, on a high rocky
point a short distance below the
town of Saarburg is one of the most
interesting sights here. I did no.
Rave time to go to It but got very
good view of it from the bridge.
Jan. 25:-I did not get time to
finish this yesterday, but will do so
now. Your letter of Dec. 80 was re-
ceived last nightand of course I was
very glad to hear from you. think
I have already written that I re-
ceived the Xmas package and the
knitted things but possibly you did
not receive that letter. They both ar
rived the same day about Dec Is
think. -
We are still having mild weather
here, at least it seems mild to me
but some of the men from the
southern states complain OF. the cold.
1t is much pleasanter now than it
was short time ago. Then it was
cloudy and rainy most of the time.
Now we are having nice sunshiny
weather and the temperature is just
a little below the freezing point. I
do not think we have had any zero
weather, it is but little colder at
night than during the day and as
there is no wind to speak of the
weather is about as fine as one could
wish for at this season.
The natives say there will be sno "
in Feb. aid l suppose they ought to
know. About 10 days ago some of the
carpenters in our company built a
lot of snow plows so some one must
feel pretty sure that we are to have
some snow soon.and are taking steps
to keep the roads open.
We have been having some music
CD on the accordion this evening.
The old instrument is pretty nearly
total wreck,Ithe fellows who tried
to play evidePHs try to make up with
energy what they lack in skill. which
rs considerable, and as do not care
for an accordion anyway it has not
been a particularly pleasant evening
for me. The others seem to be en-
joying themselves and watching them
is more or less interesting. Just now
they are talking Of sending for an
other instrument. If they get two to-
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