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Show CIORPORAL RAY S. HUNTER, who writes entertainingly of impressions received in viBit to Paris M WHY FRENCH UOHEJLD PARIS Doughboy From Salt Lake Writes of Impressions of Capital. Newsy Letter Received by ' Mother of Corporal in France. S The "doughboy" seeing France on "his own" for the first time absorbs so much of the wonders of the country that he I finds himself utterly lost when he at- tempts to tell all of his impressions In on letter home, long though it be, and written on typewriter at that. "Just never i had such a time and saw so much in my f jiVWtt is. in any other ten days be- V--4?F Corporal Ray P. Hunter says. ff Corporal Hunter's letetr is dated Octo- iber 6, and in it he mentions the names of towns, villages and cities he visited on his ten-day junket. American soldiers are idolized, he declares. "I never before thought that a soldier would be idolized, vet, although hardly that, the treatment we received was almost that." j Support for this statement is provided " in a subsequent paragraph in the letter, j which says: "Every place we passed they invited us in for some vin blanc or vin rouge, till we were nearly 'stewed' making mak-ing friends." Why Paris Is Loved. Although Corporal Hunter stretched his ten-day leave into almost two weeks, spending a goodly portion of the time in Paris, he was unable to see all he planned In the French capital, and wants to go back and finish the job. "Paris is not a part of France," the writer iterates, "but a country and people of its own which stands out in beautiful contrast with the rest of the world. No wonder the French look upon Paris with so much affection; no wonder when the Huns were advancing on Paris in 1914 that the French went out so strongly to defend iL You caip't blame the Hun for wanting such a magnificent palace of the world." Corporal Hunter is the son of Mrs. Josephine Jose-phine Hunter, 616 Downington avenue. Salt Lake, and before enlisting was a draughtsman in the employ of the Oregon Short Line at Pocatello. He is now a member of F company. Second battalion, Twenty-third engineers, American expeditionary expedi-tionary forces. With his company he left America last April for France. He states, in his letter, his recommendation has gone in for sergeant. His Newsy Letter. Here is his enjoyably newsy and descriptive de-scriptive letter to the folks at home: "Just been on a vacation and, oh, boy! some vacation. Just never, never had such a time and saw so much in my life, that is, in any other ten days before. Don't think me absolutely 'nuts' to speak as I am going to, even if I may speak as a kid just home from his first time at a circus, for in this old rather monotonous life, changes like these stand out in such eonv?Tt that it is absolutely impossible JSet them slip by without honorable Rnention of what has been an interesting. , j story to me. "Leaving Nevers, we took the train , tehrough Moulin, Clermont-Ferin to Laque-and Laque-and Mont Dore. Mont Dore and La statues, and every big public building is a mass of statuary inside and out. More Superb Structures. "The, Arch of Trlumphe Is as large as a six-story building", literally covered with statues and carvings. The Eifel Tower is a marvelous structure. The opera, superb. But ono of t ho places that appealed to me most was the Rue des Jtaliens and the Rue de Moiitmarte. The Hue des Italians is one of the main business streets, while the Rue de Montrnarte is the center of the Latin quarter and of the Bohemian life of gay Paree, and gay it is, even in this time of war. I thought I knew before what pretty girls were, but on this street in ten minutes, I'll say you can see more pretty girls and pretty in every way, face, form, figure, and dressed in clothes that speak of class, than you can see in a week In any city anywhere else in all the world. It's a good thing we had but enough francs to eat on and had to leave Paris by the S o'clock train, or I would be there yet, still looking at those girls. But we had to go, and now I'm back here at camp, waiting and intending to save with that one thing in view, that return trip to Paris, so I can really see the city. And I wish that you all, too, could get that chance to see even what I have seen. "I have heard the expressions of many 'Amex' saying, 'They wouldn't take a thousand dollars for what they have seen in France, but wouldn't give ten cents to see it again," but these fellows surely have not seen Paris. My one ambition is to see Paris again with plenty of francs and time and really see the city, and I trust this opportunity may present itself before be-fore we go back. "I enjoyed every minute of my vacation immensely and got almost two full weeks out oi it before returning, yet was rather glad to get back to the camp again with the rest of the fellows, and even back to the featherless bed and the slum and beans. After all is said and done, army life has a fascination about it that cannot be denied and for the first time since I enlisted I have had the opportunity to realize just how it feels. But this feels like a home. After getting used to it, our regular hours with revielle and taps and every meal at the same time, the whole life regulated like clock tick, it is going to be hard to break away from it after the Hun is licked and we all are discharged. Bourboule are almost twin cities, about five miles apart, and situated in the most beautiful, picturesque country. Both towns are celebrated French summer resorts re-sorts and full of pretty buildings and excellent ex-cellent hotels, and Oh, boy! imagine how hard it would bo to sleep in a featherbed between sheets and on real pillows, and believe me, these French have real beds. Then there was a private room, just 'Sun-kist' 'Sun-kist' and I. Then the meals. French Good Cooks. "These French are real cooks, and I'll say a five or six course dinner with a real table and linen and all the trimmin's was hard to take. Between that bed and the big eats I enjoyed my stay at Mont Dore, but for excitement and sport it was a dead place. But we happened to hear of a small town called Besse, just seventeen miles south of that place, where American Amer-ican soldiers had never been, and we wanted to try it, so took the seventeen-mile seventeen-mile hike through a rainstorm that was a bird. We got there and stayed three days, and talk about swell treatment I Ever since I have been over here I have wanted to visit a French town where 'Amex' soldiers had never been, and the way we were treated was sure candy. I never before thought that a soldier would be Idolized, yet, although hardly that, the treatment we received was almost that. Every place we passed they invited us in for some vin blanc or vin rouge till we were nearly stewed making friends. At a hotel there they turned over the private parlor and the old folks and the mademoiselles ma-demoiselles sure enough showed us a good and royal time. Singing, dancing, eating and everything. We were sure the king bees for awhile. It was. well worth the seventeen-mile hike there and the seventeen seven-teen miles back for the time we had. Runs Across Friends. "Upon returning to Mont Dore last Tuesday I had my first luck at running across old friends In France. They were Tom Bumgarner, a Blackfoot boy that I knew in Pocatello ; Paul Broxon, whose dad was editor of the News in Boise, and Leo Marinan. It did look good to see these boys, and from them I learned a great deal of the old gang that used to hang around Pocatello and Boise. "We left Mont Dore Thursday morning. I was sorry in a way, for these meals and that bed were hard to leave behind, I'm telling you, but there wasn't much excitement excite-ment there and our time was up. But we had a wonderful time at Mont Dore with a more wonderful time coming up. Thursday we left there, going to La-queuille, La-queuille, where we changed trains for Monestier-Merlines, Paris-bound. This was not supposed to be in our trip, but we do lots of things we are not supposed to do. so acicdentally (on purpose) caught the Paris express out of Monestler-Mer-ltnes, arriving in Paris Friday morning early. I have heard a great deal of Paris, but words can't tell of what a beautiful city that is. "Before te day was over we decided that Paris is not a part of France, but a country coun-try and people of its own, which stands out In beautiful contrast with the rest of the world. No wonder the French look to Paris with such affection; no wonder, when the Huns were advancing on Paris in 1914, that the French went out so strong to defend their city, and you can't blame the Hun for wanting such a magnificent mag-nificent palace of the world so do I. Washington at Its best can't hold a candle to Paris, neither can any other place. Unlike Un-like the rest of France, Paris Is metropolitan, metro-politan, It's push and go, Amerique style from start to finish. The most beautiful of streets, boulevards, bridges, arches, statuary, buildings, churches, parks and everything imaginable. One feels like he isi visiting a land not on this earth, but some place like a second heaven. Visits Notre Dame. "We arrived at the Gare -d'Orleans and followed the river up into town. The first large place we stumbled across after breakfast was the Cathedrals of Notre Dame, and never again in all my life do I expect to see such a wonderful building. And to think that any nation could be so barbarous as to drop bombs and shoot guns at such beautiful buildings. The cathedral ca-thedral has not been hit, that is, we could not see that it had, although at one time this summer a big Bertha shell exploded ex-ploded among a crowd In the square in front, killing over a hundred people. We could see no trace of where the bombs have damaged Paris, it seems they cover it up immediately after such raids, but at the Madeleine, another beautiful cathedral, one of the large statues in front on the building had the head shot off completely by a big Bertha. From the Madeleine we walked to the Place de Concord, the Rue de Rivoli, and on to that boulevard of boulevards, the Champs d'Elyses. "I'm going to quit trying to tell of all we saw, it's too big a job for me to undertake, un-dertake, yet that Champs Elyses is well worth traveling thousands of miles to see. We saw the Palais Royal, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Palais Glace, Arch de Tri-umphe, Tri-umphe, many, many other beautiful arches, the Pont Alexandria, which I Would say, with its golden statues, is without doubt the most beautiful bridge in all the world. There must be fifty or more bridges that cross the Seine in the uptown district and every one is a masterpiece master-piece of art, covered, and some seemingly totally constructed, of masses of statu try. The Place de Concord is a park absolutely filled and crowded with the most beautiful |
