er, I was
invited to a show given by one of the other companies in one of the
mess halls, and as there was half an hour to spare, it was decided
that we have a parade through the town. Of course it was dark by this
time. So with a sergeant taking one arm and a corporal the other, we
marched and marched, singing all the time, through the little black
streets, up the hill and round the church and down again, over the
bridge and back to the mess hall where the show awaited us. "Now you
can write home that you have marched with the American army," said
Sergeant Riggs.

On another day I happened to be passing when F Co. was drilling. The
sergeant insisted that I join the ranks. So with a rifle I blundered
through the drill, my mistakes causing much merriment.

I really have been doing a little work; don't worry. I have been cook
and nurse for three boys with influenza, two in their gloomy billets
and the other in a cold, damp house. That has taken a good deal of
time. Also the Y.M.C.A. has just put up a large tent to be used
instead of its present inadequate quarters and I, with the help of
many boys, have been fixing it up. On Wednesday I went to Semur on a
shopping tour, riding in on an open limber drawn by mules. The driver
told me those mules had delivered many loads of rations to the boys in
the front trenches by night and had been through gas and shell fire of
the worst kind. It seems that mules can stand much more than horses.
At the Semur Y.M.C.A. I was able to get flags and posters, tables and
benches for our tent, which were loaded on to the limber. The next day
we set to work on our interior decorating. Never did the hanging of
magnificent paintings in a rich mansion receive more consideration
than the placing of our French and American posters. Symmetry is the
rule of the army! If I put a picture on one side of the tent, it was
absolutely necessary to put one of the same size exactly opposite. At
the end of the long tent are the French and American flags crossed,
and under them, cut with painstaking care from a 1917 Liberty Loan
poster, hangs the Liberty Bell with the words "Ring it Again" above. A
wreath of smilax gathered from the woods encircles each electric
light. Really it is very pretty and gay. But there is a big drawback;
the dampness. The floor is covered with damp sawdust, and one little
stove burning green wood is not enough to dry it. The captain of the
Supply Co. has promised another stove, but un