Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 67, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 March 1919 — RAINBOW MEN LIVE LIKE LORDS [ARTICLE]

RAINBOW MEN LIVE LIKE LORDS

150th Field Artillery Is Billeted in Famous German Health Resort. TAKf BATHS, SHUN WATERS Buck Privates Elevate Heels on Private Balconies and Hear Music as Often-as Military Duties Permit in Neuenahr. With the American Army of Occupation. —The competition for softest billets, open to all members x>f the American army of occupation, appears to have been won by the One Hundred and Fiftieth Field Artillery of' the Rainbow division. Its members are leading near-mil-lionaires’ lives, when not otherwise occupied by military duties, in Bad Neuenahr, “the Rhenish Karlsbad.” This “world fame cure and bath resore” (according to the guide books) was before the coming en masse of the Americans, visited annually by 22,000 guests, not countingtransients ; ancT though the Teuton sick, who suffered from ailments for which Bad Neuenahr’e hot spring waters are vouched sans specifics by legions of long-bearded German professors, are giving the Rhenish Spa a wide bertii just now, lt is probable that between the One Hundred and Fiftieth Field Artillery’s Missouri mules and mixed personnel, and the bathing fans flocking in fromjieighboring garrisons, the Karlsbad of the Rhine nevei; enjoyed a more lively or picturesque season. Many Baths, No Bathti^s. From morning till night, the grand hallway of the bath hotel is well filled with men and officers, waiting their turns to"take hot mineral baths. The establishment boasts 100 private bath establishments and as one of our medical officers from the middle West put it, contains every bath fake known to science, but our military Kur- guests wisely confine their activities to the straight hot water variety. There are no bathtubs. The Individual bathrooms, averaging 'lO or 12 feet square, are done in spotless white tiling, sometimes figured in Pompeiian hlue. And the marble baths are sunk below the tiled floors, Roman style. Bustling German women attendants draw these, regulating the temperature electrically. When the rush Is on the men bathe in batches of three. After the bath, there are couches in each room on which they may recline. The German women attendants, accustomed to playing millionaires ffi* unoccupied times, may have been inclined to be a bit snobbish at first, and some seemed still to wear an air of suppressed resentment, but our military authorities see to it that they give efficient service to the buck privates and doughboys.

who, after all, are distinguished bath guests of the German government,. which foots their bills. From the hotel your trail naturally leads to the Kurhaus, with its reading and conversation rooms, its theater and concert hall and, above all, the springs that made Bad Neuenahr famous. Here the signs of American military occupation are. quite unmistakable, for certain heavy field mortars are drawn up in line In front of the Kurpark, while along the favorite walks of wealthy valetudinarians are picketed flocks of. Missouri mules and long lines of artillery horses. Array of Mules and Monuments. You pick your way judiciously through the -park between the mules and horses and arrive at a large structural iron shed, with Its frpnt open and sides done In stained gldss, mostly cracked or broken. Over the entrance arch stands the inscription in Latin: “For the Edification and Benefit of the Sick,” while among the mules across the pathway Is a granite monument surmounted by the bust of the discoverer of these alleged alkali sulphurous hot springs. Mules and M. F.’s permitting, you climb down into the structural Iron shed or pavilion to drink the waters, if you dare. ; A tour of the principal, hotels of Neuenahr showed that every man jack of the garrison had drawn a bed; in many cases, the artillerists were billeted in expensive suites with private baths. In the garden of one hotel, the regimental band was giving an

afternoon concert, and buck privates could be seen sitting on their private balconies with their feet on the rails, smoking and resting after their midday “chow.” It’s a great life at Neuenahr, but after its fighting record, it is generally agreed the regiment is fully entitled to this break of luck.