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[Camp La Baholle, near Verdun] |
| Dear Bess: | January 3, 1919 |
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I intended writing you yesterday as I agreed to do, but things happened so quickly and the day went so fast I couldn't do it. Had a basketball game in Verdun in the forenoon, in which I got defeated or my team did, rather, by a bunch of noncombatant engineers. In the evening we pulled off a boxing bout in which my Sergeant Meisburger lost the decision over a gorilla named Hamby, and I lost 1,000 francs. Of course being the loser I should say it was a rotten decision. I won't say it, but the other fellow had to be carried from the ring and my man walked out--so you can judge for yourself what I think of the decision. Also he's been going to the doctor every day since and my man was for duty the next morning. As I told you before, I think more of that sergeant than if he were a boy of mine and I'd rather have been beaten by anyone on earth than one of Salisbury's outfit. But as the French say, "It is the war," and somebody had to lose. I've paid fifteen dollars to see a fight that wasn't worth half as much as that one was though. It was a fight from start to finish and was really a show. Oh! loads of joy, my Christmas box came this evening. I started this letter yesterday and had to leave before I got it finished. This pen is a humdinger--writes better than any I ever owned, and those handkerchiefs are certainly the most beautiful I ever ordered. They are certainly grand and I shall use them when I go on state affairs, such as a dinner with the colonel or a trip to Paris, if ever I get another. I'll also save one of 'em to wear to my wedding--which shall it be? I can't decide which is the best looking. You've no idea what a lot of comfort getting that box was. It was exactly like a small piece of God's country arriving in this forsaken place. Even if it was late, it made no difference because all the days are nearly alike and we can make any one of them Christmas. . . . I hope I can write you a better letter next time. But remember I certainly appreciate all the things in the box and especially the pen and handkerchiefs. Keep writing. Yours always, Harry |
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