Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1919-01-17
DAN MASON SEES
WILSON IN PARIS
Continued from page one

she nau pretty ShSCIy shiii0i "'i
all reports Paris is very pleased with
her. The President looked hale and
hearty and seemed to have all the
ear marks of the vigor that 1. K. so
prided himself upon having lie seem
ed to be glad to see us soldier boys
When General Pershing's carriage came
along he was greeted with great en-
thusiasm and looked very proud and
happy. In my judgment he received
an even greater demonstration. Prem
Ter Clemenceau was there with a great
smile, and looks as though he was
man who gets about what he wants
when he comes to settling things.
"The weather was fine, and the city
was in gay costume Paris has changed
great deal since the signing OF the
armistice, for people have been pour
ing in at a great rate and the streets
where it used to be easy to travel, you
now have to rush and jam to get a
bout. The shops have lifted their shut
tiers, and now we can see that they
really have stores where before we used
to see nothing but to rent signs, and
we are beginning to see the return OF
some of the haunts that Cooks tour
lists told us about And | can tell you
that John Frenchman is waiting Tor
the tourists. He will have everything
they want from the Kaiser's old shoes
to the entire Boche army. Just bring
the money and he will furnish the rest
1t was great joke that when the
Americans got into Metz they found
German steel helmets for sale and later
found that these had been made IN
Metz for the Yankee pocket book.
They have cleaned out many OF the
late corners among our soldiers and
only the deacons are left. We have
good bunch and are living the hfe OF
Riley plenty to eat, good place to
sleep and plenty to do everything
that a soldier could want except to be
home"
In an earlier letter Mason tells OF
the 72-hour carnival with which Pans
celebrated the armistlce.
"The city was given the signal by
the roaring of cannon at II "a m. when
the armistice took effect, and from then
on Paris was truly the gayest place
in all the world.
NFor the last six months | have
r been about Paris many times and on
several momentous occasions, bu'
, whenever | was about at night 1t was
t CITY of blue lights or else darkness
On the evening OF the armistce the
old city was again ablaze with hght
and smiling, cheering people. l hac
MANY times thought that when tht
time came there would be multitude
of drunks, but there seemed no timt
for that, everyone was too busy ce!e
! brating. The streets and avenues were
flied with people OF every class. J.
=, YOU didn't get kissed it was because
E we weren't there For hours wa!
r hustled about by the crowd, and nevei
did anyone get mad at being pushed
a about or even trampled upon,
AT about S o'clock got as lar a
t the Place de- Opera and there | hearC
the French national anthem sung as
had dreamed it would be sung, and
guess the singers were good, but NJ
. one will ever know, because the thous
ands upon thousands who were presen
:. drowned out all individuality.
= con my way back to the Gar
Lazzare l was stopped by youn'
s French officer and his wife who insist
n ed that we join his party in doing tn
Il ring around the rosy Then he insisted
J. that | should kiss his wife. Say,
It would kiss her anytime. | didn't hav
= to be told to twice. That ceremon,
over we had ring around the RIOS,
Z again. As he was about foot tall ant
d didn't wear whiskers | concluded it wa
u all right How long this would hav
gone on | don't know, but the part,
d separated and when l found mysel
again l had been pushed about
block away finding my arms full O
French girls. | have played foot bal
e but | was never through a game lik
y this.
! "On Tuesday went into the cit,
9 again and found the streets still NOR
=. crowded, and all that day and evenin
= the celebration went on The Partisan
y merchants had dug up tons of con
6 fetti and other celebrating equipmen
:. and wherever you went the Shove
: was upon you The principal thing wa
q for groups of 10 or II boys and girls o
T men and women to form circles AM
b. dance around the soldiers The onl
+ way to get out of this pen was to ks
s all the girls in the line. Time and agar
:. YOU would stop and wonder what al
k this craze was about and it woul
IS come flooding into your mind tina
this day marked the end of world-wid
suffering, and that so much JOY ha
come to mothers hearts that yo
n would feel like taking of your hat an
ID yelling"
y On November Is, Mason wrote
l. yesterday I saw the celebration q
the return of Alsace-L Lorraine. The
se decorated the statue of Strasburg, an
~ I guess it will be long time before
d will be draped in black again, as
a has been for the last forty years.
N "The old Parisians are a funn
IS people They never seem in hurr
d unless it is when they are rushing 10
subway car, and then they are quit