Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 293, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 December 1918 — DESCRIPTIVE LETTER 1 FROM COLONEL HEALEY [ARTICLE]

DESCRIPTIVE LETTER 1 FROM COLONEL HEALEY

The following„very!httereating letter was received by Mrs." Clara Coen of this city, from her nephew, Colonel George H. Healey: November 19,1918.

Dear Aunt Clara:— i I thought I would drop you a few lines from France. I wonder how you are getting along now and when I will see you again. I am stationed temporarily in a very quaint old city which occupies a high rock 600 fee above the surrounding country and comands a view of the valley of the Marne river for miles and miles. The Alps mountains in Switzerland can be seen on bright, clear days. This city is built of rock, the houses, barns,, sheds, toll fences and everything of rock. A thick wall surrounds it and since the first fortifications were built back in the days of Caesar, 68 yean before (Christ, it has been a point of contention in many wars and was to play an important part in this war had the Germans broken through at Verdun. It was surrounded by the Germans in 1871 and a cannon was placed by them on a small but tall hill about £-8 of a mile away. It is said the people gathered at (the church to pray for deliverance and pledged

themselves if the Germans were not allowed to fire to erect a monument on the hiH and to keep a light burning in it to the end of eternity. Just before the Germans were to fire word was received that Paris had capitulated and so the Germans did not fire. The monument was erected and within it for morethan forty years a light has burned constantly. I can not describe the narrow, winding Streets, the stone walls, the great cathedral and the several monuments and statues and arched gateways. They are so different from things in America, but the town is very much antiquated and although it has a population of ten thousand people there is said to be no newspaper published here. Paris is 290 kilometres away and its morning papers -do not reach lere until 4 o’clock in the afternoon, ’he valley below is very fertile and rom a nearby fort last Saturday I could stand in one place and count ve vllages, all built of rock. Poor •’rance has suffered intensely by the war and there is great rejoicing that victory over their old enemy has come after so many years. It is not improbable that I will return home before many weeks and then I will see you and tell you more about my experiences on sea and in ' England and France. Ido hope you are feeling quite weH and that you are in good hands. Remember me to all your children when you see them or write to them. Lovingly, GEORGE H. HEALEY. Col. U. S. A., A. P- O. 714.