Same old Bill, eh Mable! | Page 2

yet on
account of its avin been so foggy since we got here. We didnt deboat in
Paris as I was expectin. We sailed up a river to a town with a wall

around it and got off there. I dont know what the wall was for unless to
keep people in. They certinly wouldnt need one to keep anybody out of
that place. Were now in what they call a rest camp. If this is restin then
all they say about war is true.
For the last two days weve been unpackin boats. You havnt any idear
how refreshin it is to pile up about 5 milyon cases of corn Willie. Ive
been puttin on weight ever since I got here but its all been on my back.
Some of the fellos think they got us mixed up with one of these Steva
Dora regiments. It dont seem to worry the Captin much. Theres no
reason it should tho. All he has to do is to sit on a box an keep the
quartermaster from gettin over-stocked on cigars.
The day we got in they tied us out in the middle of the river. They left
us there so long that there was a roomer the war was over an we was
goin to turn around an go home. When it comes to takin that trip right
over agen I say on with the war.
We lay around there so long I was beginnin to feel like the keeper of a
light ship. Then they got into an awful hurry all of a sudden an piled
pretty near the whole boat load onto one coal barge. Our Bilitin oficer
met us at the dock. Hed been over here a month gettin things fixed up
for us. From the way he acted youd think he was the fello that invented
the war.
After that we got out in the country and marched till my pack gained a
hundred an fifty pounds an my tung was lyin on my chest. Joe said we
needed a rest camp after a hike like that. When wed walked about six
miles, or killen meters as they call them over here, we turned into a
bare field. The Bilitin oficer said that was the camp.
Just then it started to rain. The Captin told the Top to make us all
comfortable. Then he remembered some business in town and went
away before he had a chance to hear any first impreshuns about rest
camps. The Bilitin oficer must have wore himself out findin us a nice
place like this with only a month to do it in. Id like to see what hed turn
out if he only had a couple of days. It rained all night. When I get home
Ill be able to put in a good night in the swimmin pool of a Turks bath.
The next mornin we started in on intensive restin. We unpacked a
whole boat out onto a dock. Then some General came along. I guess he
thought we still looked a little peaked. He says "Just run that stuff into
the shed across the tracks." The place he called a shed would have

made a nice hanger for the New York Central stashun.
They tell me now were not goin right up to the front. We got to go to
school agen to learn something. If I had a diploma for every school I
been to in the last year my room would look like a dentle parlor.
The French seem glad to see us but they cant express themselves very
well. They dont seem to talk the same kind of French the fello learned
us in the Y.M.C.A. last winter. There all mixed up on there money too.
About the only way a fello can buy anything is to hold out all hes got
and let them take what they want. I guess theyll never overcharge me
by takin all I can hold out.
The whole sistem is based on the Sue, Mable. As near as I can make
out a Sue aint worth anything. A hundred Sues make a Centimeter an a
hundred Centimeters make a Frank. Five Franks make a dollar only
now they dont. That gives you an idear how simple it is to go into a
store an figger what you can buy with a quarter.
I hear the battery comin back so I guess Ill quit this and fall in on the
tail of the colyum. It isnt that I wouldnt just as soon have them all know
where Ive been, but it makes the Captin feel a lot better to have me
there at formashuns.
Yours if I survive the rest Bill
_Dere Mable:_
If you ever have to do any travelin