The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-06-02
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
=
INFORM ALTON
BURE AU
FREDERIC J. HASKIN, DirectoE.
Washington. D. c
SIGHTSEEING sAMNIIEs.

/
hundred thousand American citizens
have toured France for pleasure dur
| ing the last two years. They have
gazed upon her historical monuments,
danced and flirted with her beautiful
| women, mangled her language and
/ luxuriated in her best hotels, just as
| thousands of wealthy or well-to-do
| Americans did annually before the
war. But all of these recent tourists
have been members of the American
/ Expeditionary Force, travelling at gov
| eminent expense.
| The order allowing Sammies on
| leave to tour France was issued a long
time ago, but it was not possible to
grant leave regularly while the war
| was on. Since the fighting ended,
however, thousands of American SOL
! diers have been zen tour" all the time.
and some of these tourist soldiers have
returned to this country to tell
about it.
Theoretically, the travelling Sammy
| has only seven days of leave, but he
| has travelling time in addition, and
| since the armistice, this has been
stretched so that the average tour lasts
/ for about eighteen days. During this
| period the soldier often travels several
| thousand miles and gets fine oppor-
tunity to exercise his American pen
! chant for sightseeing He puts up at
] the best hotels, eats the best food in
/ t C. = >
| IRENE courtesy, and spends all the
money he can get hold of. In word.
he is millionaire for day.
| When he starts out on one or these
| expeditions, the doughboy is assigned
! a travelling pass which calls for free
/ TRANSPORTATION, meals and lodging. His
/ destination is one of the big towns OF
| the 'leave areas" but he usually man
ages to stop off wherever he finds
anything that interests him. When ne
h C
at the station with the American rail-
road transportation officer, who di-
reefs him to the officer in charge.
The latter assigns him to hotel, and
tells him how long he can stay in
town. The rest is up to him.
Some of the hotels in these towns
are devoted exclusively to the enter
| tainment of American soldiers, While
| others have also civilian guests. Some
| of the American soldiers are billeted
in private French homes. Commits
stoned officers may take the trip. but
must pay their own expenses. These
| amount to from $500 to $500. IL
Here is a first-hand unofficial re-
| port of one of these tours of France
by a regimental sergeant of the Amer
lean expeditionary force who just got
| back home.
with seven pals, I started out from
1 camp at Atelier de Mehunsur- Y eyre,
ABOUT lUU miles from 9d1lS. Our luS-
gage consisted of some toilet articles
and a few francs each. Our first stop
was at Orleans, where we had supper
at a Red Cross house and then went
| out to look for Joan of Arc. We didn't
| find her, but we saw and heard a
| great deal about her.
Next day we set out for Paris and
made the trip in about four hours 1t
| happened to be New Years Eve. and
it was probably the liveliest New
/ Years Eve Paris ever witnessed. The
city was filled with soldiers of every
| allied nation. We went to see Zig
Gag at one of the famous theaters,
and here the flags of all the allies
were abundantly displayed. Every
person in the audience had flag, and
| the enthusiasm was at high pitch all
| during the show. A young Scotch SOL
der became so excited when he heard
| the bagpipes that he jumped from the
balcony onto the stage. During the
last act the Australians, 900 strong,
marched upon the stage and started to
dance with the chorus girls. This
brought the show to an abrupt end.
I'VE >left Paris the next day, an
hour after President Wilson's train
pulled out for Italy. Our funds were
about depleted, after the time we had
| in Paris. I was the wealthiest one of
| the party with about five francs. And
seventeen days to go!
I'VE reached Lyon the following
day, and stayed there several hours
before resuming our travels to Mar
settles. At the latter city. we got our
first glimpse of the Mediterranean,
and we spent several hours down
along the waterfront. watching the
activity of this busy harbor. We Wis
| tied the great cathedrals of the town
and registered in the Temple of Diana.
The Cathedral of Marseilles is still I'M
der construction, and when completed
will have cost 100000 france. The
cornerstone was laid by the last of the
| Napoleons, and the chair that he sat
in on that occasion is still there. While
! the guard wasn't looking, we sat in
Napoleon's chair.
"At Nice we were assigned to 0ne
of the finest hotels in the city. 1t was
large white building, surrounded
+ with palm trees, and instead of K. P. S
shout of Come and get it, we heard
the polite voice of the French waitress
calling US to dinner.
"Our first evening we spent at the
FCasino, which had been taken over by
the Y. M. c. A, writing home and
eating ice cream. I mention ice cream
for the reason that it was the first
time we tasted cream in many moons.
! There was dancing at the Casino, but
there were only twenty-five girls to
dance with 500 huskies. 1 was lucky
to get a one-minute dance with one
of the girls.
Next night we went to a French
dance. One of my pals and 1 met
two French girls, and made an en-
gagement for the Promenade des An
glais the next morning at IL o'clock.
We were right on time when we saw
our friends coming along the prom
enade. each girl with a cane. a dog
and a bouquet of roses. We did not
know whether to advance or retreat,
as we both We're wearing heavy field
shoes and our obs had not been un-
der an iron in several months. We
finally got enough nerve to advance,
and met them. The girls did not seem
to pay much attention to our uni
forms, but took us home for tea. We
were treated like a couple of field
| marshals.