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Show I LAUREL F. BROWPJ WRITES f S I 10 EXPERIENCES II QUARTERMASTERS" I COUPS IT MP MM FLORIDA In a letter -written at Camp Joseph j 'E. Johnston. Fla.. on the 15th. Laurel F. Brown of Stenographers' company No. 1, Q. M. C, gives an account of; the day's tasks and of a trip with thirty companions to Palatka, where! thoy -were royally entertained in the, cordial southern way which is so pleasing to the average northerner far .from1 his home and friends. The patriotic spirit. 01 the southern women and their warm welcome to even' boy In khaki will be remembered remember-ed long after the war is over and recalled re-called by greyhaired men at fireside as they recount their experiences in America and over then- " Laurel Brown, son of Mr. and Mrs. 'Chris J. Brown of 552 26th street, enlisted en-listed last December and was immediately imme-diately sent to Camp Johnston for training. He passed his examinations with a good rating and was enlisted "with seventy -five other stenographers for over seas duty. The quartermaster's school ha.- re opened and of the daily routine, he "writes as foil' "At last I think wc are settled down for another schooling We bocan the new school this morning and the schedule thus far is typewriting from 7 a. m. to 8 a. m.: then study of the Q. M. work until 9 o'clock and from that time until 11 shorthand. In the afternoon we have hikes and drill. "Not satisfied with turning the clock ahead an hour we also get up one-half hour earlier. Oh' for the life of a soldier! We are up at 5 45 o'clock and retire at 8:30. Soon we will be a the class with the chickens. Probably will be going to bed at 7 p. ra. and getting out at 3 or 4 a. m. "This school is run by experts ap- pointed by President Wilson so guess they will be 0 K. The course is goinp: to be a stiff one and each man has to qualify at 100 words per minute or run the chance of being shot into some Other branch of the service. The rati of 100 words a minute will not be so ibad as we have already taken as high as 125 to 145 words. This course may last from six to eight weeks. "Yesterday, along with thirty or more of our company and together with the M tscellkneOUfi Repair com ! pany. I took a trip up the St. John's river to Federal Point From there some of us wanted to go to Palatka. a city of some 8000 people, so we started start-ed to walk Bv the way, some of the people of Palatka were to meet us and take us all to dinner and to see the city Well, when we landed there were no machines or vehicles of any kind to meet us As I said before we started to walk We had qono poselbl a mile, when we stopped an old negro and asked him the distance to Palatka. Palat-ka. 'Well, boss he said, 'I'd judce it 'war some twelve mile.' I think all felt like ghing it up but I said. 'No. I'm hungry, and I'll go if all drop out.' So the entire party walked the twelve miles. We wi re met by two very hospitable hos-pitable ladie- and three other soldiers in a machine and we were taken to I their beautiful home and entertained -at dinner. We certainly did justice to, tho food placed at our disposal. We thanked the ladies very kindly and ! they asked us to come again. They had I had several hundred soldiers dine at I their home since the camp was estab- i lished last November and thought It ' terrible that people did not take more interest in the soldiers; also that those who did not take an interest, in their welfare, were not loyal. They were good Red Cross workers and ery patriotic After dinner we were taken about the little city in cars and at 5 30 o'clock to the boat where some of the, boys sang songs, such as "Over There,"' 'We're (Join? Over,", etc., while we 'waited for the boat to start The people gave us a glorious send-off. send-off. We had the camp band aboard, along with a Jazz band and enjoyed the trip back to camp." Young Mr Brown is eager to go over seas as all the boys are at the cantonments, canton-ments, and is anxious to do his bit lor .a great and good cause at any place He is now on his way to a new scene of action as a telegram received last Friday stated that he was to leave the camp Sunday the 21si . |