Base Ordnance Depot #1,
A.P.O. # 701, Am. E. F.,
France.
January 15th,1919.
Dear Mother [handwritten]:
A diary kept while on a seven-day leave to Nice:
Tuesday- December 31, 1918.
I left St. Nazaire last evening about nine o'clock and arrived in Paris at seven-fifteen this
morning. I rode that distance and that length of time for less than two dollars. A soldier rides over
here on one-fourth fare when he pays any fare at all. Most of the tickets I have bought I am
keeping as souvenirs. I did not learn until today that I should have secured transportation from
the R.T.O. before leaving. I would then have been relieved of that expense.
I am traveling alone. The French that I havn't [sic] got would probably help me out many
times. However, I surprise myself at the way I get along. But now is the best time in history to
travel in France without a knowledge of French. One is seldom out of sight of an American
soldier, and most of the French now know a few words of English.
I had scarcely got into Paris station when I met a person I knew. It was one of the
Y.M.C.A. girls I had met over here. The World is too small to get away from people we know if
we were even to try.
The M.P. at the station would give me permission to remain in Paris only twelve hours, so
I resolved to find some solution for that. I went up town to the office of the Provost Marshall and
told him I was too tired to travel on a French train the next night. I also knew that Paris was
ahead of me for that day, and that evening would be New Year's eve – the last and only one I ever
expect to spend in Paris. He was generous enough to give me until seven-thirty the next morning
– the time the next train left.
―So this is Paris!‖-- the thought which I suppose comes to most everyone on arriving in
that city. It was damp and foggy when I arrived and remained that way during most of the day.
After getting my stop-over continued I set out to find the Hotel du Pavillion – a hotel run by the
Y.M.C.A. which had been recommended to me. I was settled in the hotel by about ten o'clock. I
went first to the Notre Dame cathedral because it was not far from the hotel, and I wished to
return by noon. It is an immense building. The interior, lighted
-Breakwith tapers, gave its halls a sort of wierd [sic] effect. A guide or bum – I am not sure which –
who soaked me three or four prices for a map, insisted on showing me the place. I think he
expected a tip, but I did not feel in the mood to tip him for showing me his church, if it was his,-and besides, I would have preferred not to have been troubled by him as he was compelled to

talk to himself most of the time, thru my lack of knowledge of his tongue. Regardless of my
guide, the trip thru the cathedral was exceedingly interesting to me. It is wonderful to see what
beautiful churches the people of France have erected.
After visiting Notre Dame I returned to the Hotel. I had been so busy that I had not taken
time to eat breakfast. I ordered dinner, and the order was so slow in coming – one French custom
to which the American cannot adjust himself – that one-thirty came. As I had arranged to go with
a sight-seeing party at that hour, I got up from the table just as a fine fish was placed on my plate,
though I was quite hungry. That was the last I saw of food until six-thirty – twenty-four hours in
which I had eaten but two small pieces of chocolate. But the trip was well worth the sacrifice. We
visited Napoleon's tomb and saw them taking out the dirt which had been placed in to protect the
fine statuary during the time the Germans were bombing Paris. You see they had no idea of
abandoning the city. His tomb is located in a building which he himself erected as a home for
wounded French soldiers. I never knew until I came to France how nearly sacred the name
―Napoleon‖ is to the French people. The art in the tomb is wonderful. Mansart, the builder, has
so made and constructed the glass in the windows over the alter that it reflects a light on the alter
which has the appearance of sunlight even on the cloudiest day or an hour after the sun has set,-a work which he himself was never able to reproduce, though often he tried. In the court in front
of the tomb are various relics of war, each having its own peculiar significance. I noticed this,
that everything that is considered really worth while in France is touched with a military aspect. I
suppose that comes from her numerous wars. It will be a great day when she can divert her
military energies to peaceful pursuits, – and she certainly needs to do so.
During the afternoon we visited the Eiffel Tower – the construction of which is
considered one of the greatest engineering feats in history. The tower was erected by Eiffel, a
French engineer, with a little additional aid from the French government when his own funds
were exhausted. I believe it was erected in 1889. It is nine hundred eighty-four feet high and the
base covers four acres of ground. A small platform at the top which looks as thou it might cramp
a dozen, I was told would furnish comfortable standing-room for eight hundred people. There is
a wireless station at the top – the finest in the world – on which France caught nearly all of
Germany's wireless messages during the present war.
-BreakFrom there we visited the Louvre Museum. It was closed and did not remain there long.
We then came down past one of the old bridges across the Seine. I do not recall the name. It was
built at a very early period and is of historical importance in some of the early conquests. It
shows great skill in masonry. Its decorations are very artistic – thousands of francs having been
spent for the sole purpose of pleasing the eye.
A short distance from the bridge we came to ―Le Pantheon de la Guerre‖. In one hall we
saw some wonderful paintings – portraits – of the famous French leaders in the present war, by
________ __________. From that room we passed thru a long, dark hallway that our eyes might
be prepared for the next painting that was to greet them. We came out into a platform in the
center of the cylindrically shaped room. I never expect to see a finer work of art than the one
which surrounded me. The painting covered the entire sides of the circular room. It showed a

relief map of France, marking the towns and cities near the front. ―Verdun‖ was engraved in the
letters of gold, for it was there France sacrificed five hundred thousand of her noble sons. Down
at the bottom or front were all the Allied Armies marching in towards each other. The prominent
men and officers of the various countries were shown in the foreground. Their portraits were
very distinct. America was pictured as answering the call. You saw the cowboy from the West,
the mill-worker from the East, and various others too numerous to mention, all coming to serve
the country they love. The person who never appreciated any other art would appreciate that. The
light effect adds greatly to the painting. Words seem so useless in trying to describe it. If there
were nothing else in France worthy of note, I think their art would go a long way as a redeeming
feature.
I returned to the hotel about six and ate supper – something for which I was well ready. I
felt almost too tired to go out on the Street, but deciding, or hoping at least, that I would not be
spending next New Year's eve in Paris, I went out to see how they would celebrate. There were
many people out, but everything was quiet and the only excitement I saw was one taxi run into
another and the drivers cursing each other. I think they were, but I could not tell a word they said.
I soon went back to the hotel and ―turned in‖. I was curious to know how a real bed would seem,
for I had not slept on one since April. And it seemed like only about two minutes until I was
called for my train, although it was in reality about eight hours.
-BreakWednesday – January 1, 1919.- New Year's Day.
I caught a train for Nice at seven-fortyfive [sic] this morning, expecting to stop at Leon
over night, but the M.P.'s would not let us out of the station, so I had to get back on the train. Our
train arrived in Marseilles about two o'clock in the morning and we had to wait in the station
until about five-fifteen for a train to Nice – another instance in which the M.P.'s would not let us
out of the station. I went to a Red Cross establishment to get something to eat. I was not hungry
for I had just eaten a big meal in the dining car about eight o'clock, but thought eating would be
the easiest way to pass the time. It was a French Red Cross. I wish you could have seen the
crowd of soldiers in there, – they were from all parts of the Earth, and I do not know whether any
came from anywhere else, or not. I doubt it. Babylon would have been a one-horse place when
compared with that. I defy any person to name a language that was not spoken there. Well,
thanks for a good meal I had earlier in the evening, for I never got within three yards of any
window, and there were about six. And the Red Cross girls that remain in those places during the
nights and look after the wants of the men who are passing thru! I believe they ought to have a
special star to their credit, for they are doing a great work. I smile to myself when I think of some
of them – girls who never did a day's work before they came here, are now going thru the same
routine as the soldier and cannot complain. And none of them ever seem to think of complaining.
They are not as bad about that as the soldier.
ooOoo
Thursday – January 2, 1919.
When I got on the train for Nice I happened to get in a compartment with a young chap

about sixteen who had been away at school about six months and in that time had learned to
speak almost perfect English. He was very interesting.
The trip from Marseilles to Nice was wonderfully beautiful. The sun came up over the
mountain tops bright and clear that morning, and the day was fine. The section thru which we
passed was a fruit-growing country, and the people had the appearance of being much more
enerjetic [sic] than in the section I had been accustomed to. They had fine homes and well-kept
farms. They looked more like American farms. My impression of France was very much
improved. The weather began to get warmer as we left Marseilles.
We reached Nice about five o'clock and were assigned to hotels. I was fortunate to draw a
beautiful sea-side hotel – Beau Rivage – where I can look directly out upon the Mediterranean. I
have a fine room, a fine bed, and Brussels carpet,-- some contrast to barracks life in France. I see
now
-BreakI did not appreciate a life like that when in the States. I thought a hotel of anykind [sic] a poor
place to live. Now it seems great to be in one. I have on my old ―hob-nails‖. They seem odd on
Brussels carpet and tile floors. When I get on the tile floors with them I imagine I can appreciate
the sensation our horses have when coming on the concrete floor of our barn. I feel somewhat as
though I might be on skates.
I am now settled for seven days – until the tenth day of January, and counting on a great
week.
ooOoo
Friday- January 3. 1919.
I got up about 7:45 this morning. You see the habit of early-rising seems to have grown
upon me so that I could not sleep very late, even though I had the opportunity. I have a bed that
seems to have springs and a mattress about two feet thick,-- at least, that is the way it seems after
being accustomed to about two inches of hay in an old tick. I do not need to say I slept well. It
would be almost as logical to say a fish swam when put in water, although I have heard fellows
say they could not sleep the first night or two after getting into a good bed. Well, toilet
completed, I went down to a fine breakfast. After breakfast I started out to find a place where I
could get a coat pressed while I'd wait. You see, I did not bring an extra suit with me for two
reasons,-- first, I did not wish to be troubled with unnecessary baggage, and second, I did not
have but the one. I have seen times that such a predicament as that might have worried me, but I
have got over that since I came into the Army. The first places I struck were French
establishments where in a Jewish manner I made it understood what I desired. A little incident I
heard a fellow mention illustrates about the style of French we often speak. Two American
soldiers went into a French store. One professed to know and speak French. As they entered he
stopped at one of the counters to chat with one of the French clerks while the other made a
purchase. The purchases being made, and being unable to tell the clerk that she had given him
the wrong amount of change, he called on his knowing comrade to help him out. He stepped up

to the lady at the cash drawer and said: ―Parlez vous Francais‖, to which she replied: ―Wie, wie‖.
―Well, then why in the H--- don't you give him back his right change‖. I got the coat pressed
finally, although I am not sure that I can tell it by its looks this evening.
About 10:30 I met two fellows I became acquainted with last evening, and we took the
eleven o'clock train to Monte Carlo, arriving there about 12:30.
-BreakI would like to be able to describe the trip from Nice to Monte Carlo, but words seem so
utterly useless when one has looked upon such beautiful scenery. It almost equals the scenery I
saw at Colorado Springs. It is of a different type. The mountains near the coast are not quite as
high as Pike's Peak, but they drop off suddenly into the water. Man's work characterizes the
scenery to so much greater extent than at the Springs. I believe that when God made the Alpine
Mountains he intended as many people as possible to see them. There is no doubt that they
preached one of the greatest sermons I ever heard. God made the gift to man, and man arranged
roads and railways and buildings that mankind could see and enjoy that gift. The tramway
follows the shore, though several hundred feet above the water level at many places. Rocks hang
out over the car track in some places, and to look up you could see rocks directly over you
almost a thousand feet above. Millions of tons of masonry, the finest I ever saw, have been
placed in the mountainside to support the roads and buildings, and also, to support farms. And
that it may appeal all the more to the individual, the Almighty has seen fit to make its foliage
green while the Northern countries lie cold and dismal. Thousands of orange and lemon trees
yellow with fruit grow on the little terraces on the mountain sides.
The sun shone bright and warm most of the day. It rained some this afternoon and
evening. The waves are rolling up high onto the shore, and makes me glad I am in a comfortable
room instead of out on them. This is quite unusual here I understand. They have had no rain in
six weeks. My hotel is almost on the water's edge. I get full benefit of the music of the waves.
We reached Monte Carlo – not such a very large town, but all fine buildings – most of
them being expensive hotels. The Casino is the building in which the gambling halls are located.
It is there that fortunes have come and gone by one turn of the wheel or by the drawing of a
single card; it is there that men and women have let go the earnings of a life-time to satisfy the
god of fortune; it is there that men, after having staked the last dollar and lost, have gone down
and in the clear waters of the Mediterranean ended everything. I sat there today and thought of
those things, and watched those who were walking by. They were all there today – from the
young sport with his cane and monacle [sic] to the old man with his cane who by reason of age
had doubled his monacle. I wondered how the young sport missed the Army and why the old
man was there. This was all from without. A man in uniform is not permitted in during gambling
hours – from ten to ten. That, I believe, is a good thing, for most of the fellows who go there
would play if they know they would lose, simply to say they had played at Monte Carlo.
Last I visited the little principality of Monaco
-Break-

proper, separate from any other country, with its own government and a real live Prince ruling. It
is in this principality that Monte Carlo itself is located. The principality proper is really nothing
but a small arm extending out into the sea – a plateau about two hundred feet high. I visited a
very nice museum while there, but one which does not begin to compare with the Carnegie
museum at Pittsburgh. I arrived too late to get into the palace. I understand it is very interesting.
The Palice [sic] was erected in 1215 by the Genoese, Fulco de Castello, and has been improved
at various times since. Persons are permitted to go inside twenty minutes daily, from two to five
when the prince is absent. I am told that he spends most of his time in Paris. The college de la
Visitation, conducted by the Jesuits, is also located there.
After that we caught a car back to Nice. It rained some this evening.
ooOoo
Saturday-January 4, 1919-Morgan's Birthday.
I got up this morning about eight o'clock – and had not been disturbed by the sound of a
bugle. There is a song, which, though being a little pathetic, nevertheless, appeals to me at times.
It is a song I never heard sung by anyone but a soldier, and is entitled ―Someday We're Going To
Kill the Bugler‖. I went down to a good breakfast about 8:45 – I could not go much later because
the dining room closes at the early hour of nine. Then I went over to the Y.M.C.A. The Y.M.C.A.
building is what is known as the Casino – formerly, a gambling hall, but now taken over as a
place to entertain the fellows who are here on leave. It is a wonderfully fine building and very
attractive.
This afternoon I climbed up to the top of the Chateau – a cliff rising almost perpendicular
from near the shore to an altitude of several hundred feet, and has served as a fort and natural
protection to Nice thru numerous wars, even down to the time of the Phoenicians and the
Massalites who founded Nice in 350. While up there I met a fellow by the name of Keener,
belonging to the medical corps, who went there with me. We went thru the Catholic and
Israelitish [sic] Cemeteries. We lingered in the cemeteries for quite a long time. That may seem
strange to you, but it would not if you saw the cemeteries. They were filled with tombs and
monuments of immense proportions, and of still more immense prices. Fortunes had been placed
in them. It was not one or two, but all. I thought the people must feel that the places of those
dead in
-BreakHeaven would probably be proportioned to the monument erected to their memories. The gravedigger showed us into one of the vaults that he had just opened to receive another infant member
of the family – ―petite‖ as he called it. The caskets in there were finely ornamented, but Death's
solemn stillness reigned just the same. In the same cemetery I visited the tomb of Gambetta, the
great French patriot, of whom France is justly proud. It was just about dusk when we came to the
gates. A funeral procession was entering. I had never before seen the same kind of funeral. The
horses to the hearse were covered with black velvet, even to, their heads. It had the appearance of
the most expensive funeral I had ever seen. It was then that I wondered what places in the

Heavenly Kingdom those would inherit who were sleeping out under the soil of the battle-fields
of France with only a little cross of wood to mark their last resting place. Leaving the cemetery,
we dropped down over the mountain side to the city again. Not knowing the place very well we
wandered into the ―slum district‖ where people exist in places in which we would hesitate to pen
our hogs. The children roll around in streets so narrow that one could shake hands with his
neighbor across the street, the sunlight seldom reaches them, and they never know there is such a
thing as morality. It was then again I wondered why so much wealth was lavished on the dead,
and the poor unable to find enough to eat. Why not give flowers while the person still lives, and
while the breath may yet catch their fragrance?
I was at the Y.M.C.A. this evening. I met a nurse from one of the hospital units who is
also here on leave. We have nurses, Red Cross girls, and Y.M.C.A. girls here. It seems good to be
with real American girls again.
It is raining this evening. I guess it followed me here, for it rained in Paris the day I was
there, and it rained yesterday and today.
ooOoo
Sunday-January 5, 1919.
I did not get up very early this morning. I guess I could come back to the habit of
sleeping late without any trouble. After breakfast I went up to a studio to look at some proofs of
photographs I had taken yesterday. They looked like me I guess. I will sent [sic] you some and
let you decide. After that I loafed around the ―Y‖ until noon.
-BreakThis after noon [sic] I took the tram up the mountain side to a place called Cimiez. I
could have walked the trip, but riding is so cheap that I decided not to waste Uncle Sam's shoe
leather – probably a slight touch of laziness added to the car's charm, for you know it is warm
down here. They charged me two cents up and two back. I should have said four cents up, for I
moved from one end of the car to the other – from a second to a first class compartment – and
they doubled the fare. I did not know the difference.
Cimiez is an ancient relic of Roman times. It was founded at a very early period, dating
back to the 50's, B.C., about three hundred years after Nice was founded. Under the Romans it
became a town of about thirty thousand inhabitants. It was destroyed by the Lombards in the
fourth century. Many of the Roman ruins still remain. The walls are in good condition. I
wandered thru it and tried to conceive what a long space of time they had stood there. I think I
could study Ancient History with much more interest after having seem some of these old places.
I came back in time to attend services at the Baptist Church. It is a missionary branch of
the Baptist World Alliance. The old minister was one of the most devout and sincere old
Frenchmen I have met. They were meeting in a small church – not even their own – and very few
present, but I felt that there was more religion there for me than in some of the magnificent

cathedrals I had visited. Of course, a Catholic would probably think different.
ooOoo
Monday-January 6, 1919.
There are times when visiting a place like this that one gets tired of sight-seeing and
prefers to rest a short time on his oars. That is the way it has been with me today. I have felt that
this trip was one of a lifetime, and that I should make the most of it. I scarcely expect to return. I
got up this morning and caught a car at 6:45 with a Y.M.C.A. party and went to Monte Carlo
again. I wished to see inside the place, and as men in uniform are not permitted in during
gambling hours, we went early that we might see inside before the gambling started – at ten
o'clock. I was in the Casino for about
-Breakthirty minutes. It was very interesting to see the halls and think how many millions had passed
over the green tables. I was surprised at how particular they are at whom they permit to play or
gamble,-- and the qualifications a gambler must have. I was told he could not have dependents,
nor be a merchant, and that he must possess various other qualifications. I never saw a gambling
club before that was so particular. There is usually only one requisite – have money. The halls
were all very beautifully decorated, and it looked as though it would be a very nice place to
spend a few thousand francs. I shall probably come back as a civilian sport and break their bank
– that seems to be the chief ambition of most of the gamblers. I guess aloud [sic] suit, monacle
and cane would fit me out. There would probably be only one drawback—money. I might
persuade my father or mother to let me add a little to their fortune. I will talk it over when I get
home.
From Monte Carlo we crossed over to Monaco which I described to you before as located
on the plateau of a very steep neck of land about eight hundred feet long and four or five hundred
feet wide at the widest point. There were several cannon which had been placed there about
1735, and I doubt whether they had ever been fired since that time. They had been in Strassberg,
Germany. If they have been making guns that long they should have had better ones than they
did, it seems to me. I learned how this principality was formed and conducted. The French
government abandons all its claims to the little section of ground included in its bounds, but the
Prince is required to pay a certain amount to the French government each year and also a
percentage of the profits from the gambling. I imagine that is in the nature of a sum for
protection. The Prince is then at liberty to make his own laws and govern to suit himself. So that
is one example of a Prince. Did you ever have a question in your mind as to what one might be?
I was informed that they kept a standing Army of twenty-four men. One young fellow
about seventy years old, who I took to be a new recruit, was on guard at the entrance of the
Prince's Palace. I imagine he belonged to the 24th division. I think it would be sort of nice to be
in that Army – you would not have so many officers to salute. I do not know whether they were
called into active service during the present war, or not, - or whether the Prince even took the
trouble to come down from Paris to declare war. Aside from joking, it was fine up there, and

many things of interest.
I came back in time for lunch as I wish to cover the same trip and more by automobile
tomorrow.
-BreakWhile reading the evening paper I came to a statement made by Napoleon which in thinking
over, I decided was probably the best answer as to why Germany started the war. He said
―Prussia was hatched from a cannon ball‖. It was the spirit of war born in Germany. And she is
having trouble to change her color. But I hope that it has changed.
ooOoo
Tuesday-January 7, 1919.
I had a fine trip today, regardless of the fact that it rained most of the day. I went on an
auto trip in a big fourteen-passenger car to the Italian frontier. The party was made up of two
majors, five or six Army nurses and four or five fellows of my own rank. You could not have told
that the officers were majors had they not been wearing their gold leaves. They seemed to be
perfectly satisfied with the balance of the party. A young lieutenant came to the ―Y‖ one morning
last week to take the same trip, and when he found that a few privates had secured seats in the
same car, he refused to ride and demanded his money back. The ―Y‖ secretary told him that if he
had his way he would not refund him a cent. The Army is a mirror of civilian life to a great
extent. The men who amounted to nothing as civilians amount to nothing in the Army. A major
who was in St. Nazarire a few days ago said that the higher a man goes in rank the more nearly
he becomes a private. By that, he was referring to that feeling of superiority which a few fellows
seem to possess when first commissioned, and which he says wear off. The same is true in
civilian life as well. Well, the nurses were real American girls, and it seemed good to be with
them. I made my debut onto Italian soil in company with one whom I considered very attractive.
I was not over into Italy far enough to get very much of an impression of it. The scenery,
however, was beautiful. The part I saw consisted principally of Mountains and seashore. We
visited an old castle that was built by an American who went into bankruptcy in building it. It
was sold to an Austrian Prince, and after Italy declared war against Germany and Austria, it was
taken over by the Italian government. The building and its surroundings were beautiful. The
guide told us that it was there that Queen Victoria spent her winters, and even took us to a
beautiful vine-covered seat where he said she sat, that we might have the opportunity to sit in the
same seat. I forgot to sit down in it.
-BreakI picked an orange and a lemon from the same tree today. I think the tree must have been
grafted. The orange was almost as sour as the lemon. The trees are yellow with oranges and
lemons at present. We ate our lunch at Menton – a French sea-coast town near the Italian border.
The trip cost me about thirty francs, including five francs I let a girl short change me, but the trip

was certainly worth all it cost me. The only thing I regret was that it was too late to come home
by the mountain road.
I was told that General Pershing was here a week ago today. He went thru the Y.M.C.A.,
inspecting it. At the cigar counter he asked the ―Y‖ girl in charge to sell him a cigar. The girl
replied: ―I am sorry, sir, but we are not permitted to sell to officers‖. Isn't that an American girl
for you? There is no one too high up for her to refrain from a witty retort.
ooOoo
Wednesday-January 8, 1919.
I got up, in time to catch a 5:35 train this morning, and went to a town called Grasse –
about a three-hour ride. It not only rained on me all the way to the station, but during most of the
trip out there. The rain spoiled the trip somewhat as scenery never appears so fine when looking
out thru a wet pane and thru a damp atmosphere.
Grasse is noted for its perfumery. It has the greatest perfumery manufacturing plants in
the world. I did not remain there long enough to go thru any of the plants. I was planning on
seeing Cannes on the same trip, so was there only about an hour. It was the First French town I
have been in where I did not see a single American soldier. There were some there during the day
but I was there too early to meet them. My French comes too hard to enjoy a town like that. I
talked to the French enough to find out at what station and when I could get a train out. The
French always seem glad to accommodate Americans, and permit them to do things which they
will not permit their own soldiers to do. They seem glad to see the Americans taking interest
enough in their country to visit places of interest. The trip there would have been fine had it not
been raining. The road I took follows around the mountain side all the way. The scenery was
gorgeous. We crossed stone and concrete bridges of immense structure. I will send you the
picture of one large curve-Breakshaped concrete and stone bridge of two stories – one for train and one for carriages. It is a
wonderful feat of engineering, not so common in the States as here.
I took a train which got to Cannes about noon. Cannes is a beautiful sea-side city, and is
now a ―Leave area‖. Most of these towns are being made leave-areas for soldiers, and they are
very beautiful. Most of the Casinos-- gambling halls – have been converted into Y.M.C.A.'s.
Monte Carlo has not turned its over yet. I cannot describe to you what fine and attractive
buildings these Casinos are, but simply say they are wonderfully fine. While out on the jettee at
Cannes I met an English captain who impressed me very much. He had been at the front three
years and a half. He gave me a better insight into the war than most any other person I have
talked to. He was also discussing the task of getting England's Army back to civilian life. He said
the soldiers were all extremely anxious to get back to their old civilian jobs again – that they
were all sick and tired of war.

The afternoon turned out beautiful – the sun came out and made it as pleasant as a
Summer's day. From the jettee, I could look back upon the Alps covered with a beautiful coat of
snow. From the ―Y‖ where I am writing I can see one or two snow capped peaks. I am
wondering if that is not the way it looks in old Pennsylvania today. It often does at this time in
the year. I will lose a season if I am not careful.
At Cannes I saw another palace where I was told Queen Victoria spent her winters. I am
beginning to think she must have had several winter homes in this section, or else the people are
claiming undue honor. I told you of one in Italy which I visited.
French customs differ from those of America. I was coming from Cannes to Nice on the
train this evening. A French officer and his wife were on the train. He took a cigarette and
handed her one. She smoked there publicly. I tried to imagine an American lady smoking in a
railway train. This evening, one of the girls at the ―Y‖ told me that she and some other girls were
charged a franc extra each because they did not take wine.
Two more days, and I will have to be traveling back to St. Nazaire to begin work again –
fierce, is it not? In reality it is not so bad. Traveling gets tiresome, and even St. Nazaire begins to
seem sort of like home, though I have no desire to make it a permanent one.
ooOoo
Thursday – January 9, 1919.
-BreakI am living like a real gentleman yet. I did not get up until 8:30 this morning. Went down
to breakfast about nine. After breakfast I went over to the ―Y‖, got interested in a magazine
article and remained there until noon. The article was one entitled ―Do One And One Make
Two?‖ When thru I concluded that it was very seldom that that formula was true.
Today has been one of the most beautiful days I ever saw. I think that when I am worth a
few millions [sic] I will spend my winters in the South. I do not know whether I shall come to
Nice, or not. At a sea-shore is a fine place to spend a vacation. I am thinking that it will be a long
time before I return to France no matter how soon I become a Millionaire. I like America best.
The Frenchman says the same thing of France, and I am glad he thinks so.
This afternoon another fellow and I walked almost to the mountain top. From there we
could see Nice below us and the Mediterranean beyond. I enjoy to get to the summit of a
mountain and look down. I never did like to stand at the foot and look up. When up, there one
can catch the spirit of the old poem Mother used to read to us as youngsters: ―The shepherd of
the Alps am I‖. I suspect everyone who ever studied geography has had a desire to see the Alps
mountains. While those here are not the Alps proper, still they are a chain forming a part of the
Alps system. I have not been disappointed in their beauty and granreur [sic]. To be in their midst
and see such a work of Nature gives one a feeling that he is just a little nearer his Creator.

I was at the ―Y‖ this evening. There are a great many girls here at present and they have
fine dances in the evenings. I danced a few dances this evening even though I had hob-nails
shoes on. It reminded me of the pleasant times I used to have at our old College dances.
ooOoo
Friday – January 10, 1919, and Jan. 11, 1919.
I left Nice at 1:30 today and reached Marseilles about 11:00. As there was a train due out
in a few minutes I could not get out of the station. I arrived in Leon the next morning. It was
foggy and damp. As usual I could not get out of the station again. I got into Paris about 7:00 – a
thirty hour ride. I was so tired I took a taxi as soon as I got something to eat and went to the hotel
– Hotel du Pavillion. After a good bath I went to bed, and was so
-Breaktired that I could not sleep. I think I slept about an hour towards morning.
ooOoo
Sunday – January 12, 1919.
I got up this morning and caught a train for St. Nazaire, and arrived there about 5:30 in
the evening,-- rather at Montoir. There is where I got off. After a good supper I felt fine.
I saw a lot of high water along the Loire as I came from Paris. People were going out to
their homes in boats; long bridges would begin and end a long way out in the water. There were
thousands and thousands of acres lying under water.
Thus endeth almost two weeks, which, if not perfect, were indeed very pleasant.
ooOoo
Monday – January 13, 1919.
Back on the job and glad to be at work again! ―Be it ever so humble, there's no place like
home‖.

Finis
[signed] Guy B. Hoge
O.K.
F M Gore
2nd Lt. Ord. U.S.A. [all handwritten]