Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 283, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 December 1918 — YANK IS A “HIGH-BROW” [ARTICLE]

YANK IS A “HIGH-BROW”

Paris. —"To get a good idea of the high intelligence of the average American soldier, one should have a job of censoring letters,” said an American officer, who had just been released from a front hospital where both privates and officers were cared for. “While recovering from my wound ” he continued, "I used to pass away the time acting as temporary censor for the wounded, and also for part of the hospital personnel. “And the letters that those chaps wrote were wonderful. Especially the letters to their mothers. They were diplomatic, that’s all. Most of the letters the wounded wrote, would start off with some commonplace eminent on the weather or the war and then the writer would casually mention that he had been wounded. But the next sentence invariably would be something like this: “TJon’t worry a bit, mother, about roe. Pm getting along fine; it’s only a slight wound and Pm getting fat on

hospital food. Everyone treats me great, the nurses and the. doctors are fine, and PH be out in a jiffy.’ “Another thing that struck me about those letters was that almost all of them were correct grammatically. Several times the writers would speak of books they were reading. PIT confess I have never read such deep matters as they were taking up. “And patriotism had jts part in every letter, always a line about the war ending with the Americans on top. They were ail going to Berlin, and going as conquerors, too—those chaps.”