Mexico weekly ledger., 1919-03-20

Hoxsey Hotel, writes an interesting
| letter to Mrs. Green from Cardiff,
Wales. He is a wireless operator in
the navy. The letter follows:
Dear Sister,
Cardiff, Wales, Feb. Is, 1919.-To-
day / was transferred from the U. S.
| S. Lake Arthur to the naval base here.
| Will probably be here a week or ten
| days waiting for another ship. All
/ the ships which have been in the coal
trade are being manned with reserves
and sent back to the States, while
| the regulars are being transferred,
as | have been, to get some German
liners. l do not know where we will
get these ships; we are liable to go
/ to Germany for them, or We may get
| them at some English port where the
| Germans have turned over
In the meantime, while | am waiting
| to be put on a draft, l will go to school
to get some "dope" navy slang) on
| German wireless sets.
, This base will probably be broken
| up in about a month. One of the two
Y. NJ. C. AS here will close ton1or-
row and the other will also close in a
short time.
We were in St. Nazaire, France, for
over three weeks. The stevedores are
very slow since the war is over, and
| didn't seem to ARE if we never got
unloaded.
During the stay here | got three
days furlough and went to Paris.
: While there l saw the place where the
Bastile was; the Notre Dame; the
| Pantheon de la Guerre, a most won
derful painting of the great war,
which was only recently finished and
which was painted by four artists;
every nation which took part in the
war has a section and the French part
has 5000 portraits in it. The Eiffel
Tower; the Trocaders; the Arc de
Triumph; LIE Petit and LIE Grande
Palais DIES Champs Elyses; the Place
de la Concord, where the guilotine
used to do its work; the Madeleine;
the Louvre; the Luxembourg and the
Tuilerees Gardens, the Invalides; and
Napoleon's Tomb. Napoleon's Tomb
is still covered by sand bags, but was
nearly uncovered while | was there,
In the Museum at the Invalides Nap
oleon's horse and dog are to be seen.
Many other relics of the Napoleonic
wars are also there, including battle
flags, swords, helmets, etc.
/ was over at Versailles one after
moon and saw the Palace there. ]
cannot find words to describe the
beauty of the parks and gardens there
but I can say that they were surely
eft for a King" In the Palace the
paintings, ceilings, decorations, the
grand marble mosaics, sculptured and
gilded wainscotting, ~lintels, copper
carvings, antique furniture, pictures
busts, etc, are very beautiful.
| was in the glass gallery where
the most important courtefetes took
place and where King William OF
Prussia was made emperor of Ger.
many. At one end of this gallery Is
the room of war where war is declar-
ed, and at the other end is the room
of peace where peace is signed, and
where undoubtedly this peace will be
signed. The rooms most worthy OF
note in the palace are the rooms OF
the crusades, the rooms of French
History, room of Hercules, room of
Venus, Diana, Mars, Mercury, Apollo,
rooms of Louis XIV, Louis XIV's room,
Irooms of Marie Antoinette, the
Queens bed chamber, the oom of the
queens guards an dthe apartments OF
the dauphin!
Between the large and small TRAN
ons is a small museum which contains
-state-coaches dating from the first
empire and the restoration. They are
magnificent and are extensively trim
med. Napoleon had a new M every
time he got married.
l certainly enjoyed myself while
there and must say that the Red
Cross is a great thing. They give you
a bed free, and three meals for two
francs, or forty cents. For the same
thing the Y. NJ. C. A. would charge
at least ten francs. There is a mill
tary fore in France, which is one
fourth price, so my expenses were not
great.
There are many rumors floating
around now about us going to Genoa,
the U. S., Hamburg, Russia, Africa
| and nearly everywhere. That IS a
pretty good sign that we may keep on
the same run until summer at least.
The navy slang for rumor is galley
DOPE" so the latest "dope from the
g~alley"is that we will get German
| ship from Hamburg.
We have a frost now and then, but
| have seer no snow yet. This morn
ing some water on the deck was frozen
| but melted when the u came out.
| You will have to excuse the
brevity co of this letter. am writ
| ing it in the Y. M. C. A, which is so
| full of Gobzs and noise that / can
hardly think what / am writing about,
Address my next mail to U. S.
Naval Base 90, Cardiff, Wales.
Your "sea going " brother,
J0HN RIGGS