Edgefield advertiser. (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, October 30, 1918, Page FOUR, Image 4
Eatahlisfe? lf?35.
J. L. MIMS,_Editor.
Published every Wednesday in The
t Advertiser Building at $2.00 per yeai
in advance. '
Entered as second class matter at
the postoffice at Edgefield, S. C.
No communications will be pub
lished unless accompanied by thc
writer's name.
i Cards of Thanks, Obituaries, Res
olutions and Political Notices pub
lished at advertising rates.
"Wednesday, October 30
Haddon Johnson Te?6 of
France.
The following very interesting let
ter was published in the Aiken Stan
dard. Haddon Johnson is well known
and highly esteemed in Edgefield hav
ing, graduated at the S. C. C. I. and
visited our town on successive occa
sions
(While the following letter from
Captain Haddon Johnson to Walter
E. Duncan is of a personal nature, be
cause of Captain Johnson's populari
ty in his home town it will be read
with the greatest interest.)
France, October 1, 1918.
Dear, dear Dunc:
Believe me when I tell you that
next to my baby's picture and letters
from my wife and mother, the most
precious thing I have received since
I reached France was a big bundle of
Aiken Standards that came Sunday.
I got these around me and proceeded
to enjoy a most riotous revel. Every
bit was good! I even read the Tanlac,
Castoria and Lydia Pinkham ads; and
studied with great gusto the numer
ous "Summons for Relief" that J. B.
Salley is. always sticking in. It was
all fine. Keep it up. Yo\i can never
know just how much that means to
a fellow over here. It's like running
across an old pressed flower that re
calls something you thought had
grown away from you, and found tc
be very sweet.
It's no uge trying to tell you just
how wonderful it feels to realize that
I am at last in France-something 1
have yearned for for over a year. But
knowingyou as I do I am sure you can
appreciate to a large degree the sen
sations I experienced, the emotions
that crowded thick and fast when
with the stars and stripes fluttering
above, the band playing the French
anthem and the French calling wild
ly, we placed our feet on French soil!
Dunc, it was worth everything. And
somehow, one could feel only glad
and very, very proud of the privilege.
And all the days since nave been
equally wonderful-constantly some
new experience. And in the minds of
the French there is nothing too good
for the Americans, And, I am glad
to say, the Americans feel there is
nothing too precious for France
not even life itself-for France is
a wonderful, beautiful country of
wonderful people. I sometimes think
"that their favorite hymn must be,
"In the Cross of Christ I Glory," be
cause at least they are very religious,
and along every cow trail and at
every cross-roads there stands, wea
ther-worn, patient and centuries old,
a marble sculpture of Christ on the
cross; sculptures that were standing,
some of them, before the American
nation, whose soldiers now pass, was
born. Here we stand, side by side,
en old nation, a young, young na
tion, and both with but one supreme
passion-freedom! Ah, Dunc, a man
has to be here to feel it. He has to
see the women going about in black,
and smiling; he has to take the fath
erless little children and hold them
close and listen to their childish "Par
ley-voo;" see the young girls who be
come old so quickly because a holo
caust of sad and terrible things comes
so swiftly to the blue eyes and the
.golden hair and the rosy cheeks. And
yet they always laugh-laugh to hide
the tears; but sometimes a hollow bit
terness creeps in and sometimes you
hear a sad and horrible story. Still,
they prefer to smile; to go about
% helping where they may. Their pas
sion is to give more,more,more,al
ways more ?That is best illustrated
by the following: 1
One lady had three sons at the
front. One day an officer came and
said: "Madame, hn. brave." She stiff
ened a Bit and in a cold, calm voice,
asked: "Sir, which one of my sons is
dead?" The officer turned away sad*
ly. "All three of them, Madame," he
replied. And in a oroud voice, the
woman said : "Thank God I have with
me here four more boys that I can
give. Sir, they will take the place of
the dead." And she sent these other
youngsters away. That's not a fable,
Dunc. That's the story as I got it
from the woman's niece, a girl who
:new much, too much of the war,
.v.io laughed alv. Cj 3 und sought
to make people happy.
I tell you, the Americans are
to be here. And thejy don't w?n
leave until the peace is a right
peace and the Prussian menace i:
moved. And I'll tell you, ?nings
: tarni? are looking^ up now, ai
. they? Good news alPthe time, an
course everybody is gloriously ha
All we've got to do is to keep pou
it into them, not a single mom!
rest. Keep 'em running while 1
are at it, and when they get t
? jus prod them a little and see t
: run some more. That's what we
doingj to the Hun.
Write me whenever you can
? give my love to all your folks.
Yours,
HADDON.
? Haddon Johnson.
Captain 318th F. A.,
American Expeditionary For
Miss Watson of Ridge Spr
Writes of Life as Y. W. C
A. Hostess in French
Coast Town.
Nothing brings the war more vi
. ly home to us than to read the leti
I from our own South Carolina b
. who are over in France, but few
us realize that we have some So
Carolina women over there, too, A
I ure forming the second line of
" fense, for it is' very seldom we e
. hear of them and to read their lett
. is a rare privilege.
Miss Sarah P. Watson, daughter
Col. R. B. Watson of Ridge Spri
and recently one of the faculty
Coker college, is one of these patr:
ic women who volunteered her s
vices to the Y. W. C. A. for overs
? service. She received a great cc
; plirnent of being accepted and s
? overseas at once, though she had 1
; no previous Y. W. C. A. training,
a teacher of history at Coker, he
ever, she had taken an active inter
. in the Y. W. C. A. work there a
was very successful in her associ?t:
and influence with girls. Miss Wats
. had been educated at Greenville Y\
man's college and at Hollins Ins
: tute where the morale among 1
. girls is at its highest. Later, aftei
i few years' teaching in the cour
; i schools of this s:ate she went to N
. I York and took a Master of Arts <
[Igree at Columbia University, speci
i j izing in history. Afterwards s
taught at her alma mater at Grec
. ville and was teaching at Coker c
. lege until she went to France h
? spring.
. In France Miss Watson has be
acting as hostess for a group of S:
nal Corps girls at a lovely town
?I the coast of France. Her duties a
?various and she writes most amusin
.?ly and cheerily of the difficulties
?French housekeeping, finding ai
(keeping both house and servants. B
j she also gives many pathetic ai
. heart touching instances of our bo
over there, -as the first extract fro
ber letter shows:
"Yesterday I went to the Ame]
?can cemetery to take some flowers f
a boy that stopped me on the stre
?one day and asked if I would bi
? some flowers and take out there f<
!his friend's grave. The place is ke]
'very nicely, there is a caretaker ther
?There are wooden crosses at tl
'graves with the boy's name, compan
land date of death. In one case thei
'was a marble cross, with the inscri]
tion, ^Erected by his comrades.' Th
French decorate their graves wit
wreathes and other designs of art
ficial flowers. I had difficulty pei
suading the caretaker to remove thes
to the side of the grave and let m
put the four pots of daisies that
little French boy and I had carried
"There were men working the roai
I all the way out there, others clean
jing out ditches-it is just off one o
I the main roads-and I was impressed
? as I am more forcibly every day, tha
war isn't some romantic, excitinj
time, as you may think from readinj
the papers, but it is endless, hard, dis
agreeable routine. Especially tryinj.
is it on these men and boys who have
to do menial tasks-peel potatoes
sweep roads, dig graves-and the offi
cers who have all the monotony ol
work, all of them far removed from
the scene of action, and with nothing
stirring to keep up their spirits, but
their own' vision of the cause and
the realization that the first line,
while it is more thrilling, is no more
valuable in attaining results: in fact,
is dependent for results on the back
line."
Elsewhere Miss Watson says:
"You see it is most difficult to cook
for 15 people on a stove about 25
inches square, and also to have lunch
at ll for one girl, for five at 12, and
for the rest at one. Now I have al
ways scorned people who talked con
tinuously of food and servants, and
now I am worse than any. I can talk
of nothing else, and scarcely think
of anything else. In between seeing
j to the house here and making ar
rangements for the new one I play
ragtime for the girls to sing and
dence. Never let me hear, when I
come horne, " Long, Long, Trail," or
"Missouri Waltz" or "Mother Mach
X
~ee" to mention only a few of those
-hat must bc played sentimentally
innumerable times each day. Miss
Gordon, the Y. W. C. A. woman out
at the hospital, said the other day,
chat when she went home she didn't
want to hear any ragtime music or
see any men except her brothers for
years ?nd years. I have never been
so graceful for anything as being
able to play the piano a little, I can't
imagine how I should have got on
without it. It enables me to do some
thing for the girls-that none of them
can do, and which they are anxious
to have. Then I have interesting ?x
periences with many kinds of folk.
Yesterday as a sample, I played a few
American songs at the house where
I was looking for an apartment for
the girls who will come soon-found
a nice place next door with/harming
French people, a lady and her daugh
ters in the afternoon. I played for
a private, who is a beautiful violinist,
later around at the new house played
"Beethoven's Fifth Symphony" with
my madame there, last night made ar
rangements to play with the French
officer who is commander of the
French troops here. My private wants
me to play with him all around the
country and I was invited last night
to dine with a French family at St.
Marguerites, a lovely little town on
the beach several miles from here. I
was to go out on a ^heel and be
brought back at nigh't in a car. I
couldn't for \ve went around to the
Knights of Columbus to a party.
There was a band of about 5 Opieces
and we danced and talked. The gar
den there is quite the loveliest I have
seen here, grapes and pears growing
over the old grey stone walls and all
manner of lovely shrubs and flowers
growing in the beds. One very inter
esting thing is an ash tree that was
allowed to grow about 5 feet tall.
"I have been riding four times
with some of the girls on wheels; they
are quite the style over here, and ev
ery one rides. The roads are wonder
ful and the distances are not great.
On Sunday afternoon we rode down
to Bornichet, and from there along
the beach almost to La Baule. Coming
back, we came the shore road, right
along by the ocean. The road runs
up and down hill. I should like to
have a wheel, and if I find that I am
to stay here for a time, I think I
shall ask for one, or buy one myself.
It would be great fun ta ride all
through this section of France.
"A letter from Paris the other day
says that Mlle. Millet has turned ov
er her famous cottage at Barbizon
for eight months to_ the Y. W. C. A.
as a rest place' for ."the -secretaries. It
is right by the Forest of Fontain
bleau, so I want tb go there for a
few days some time.
. "The trip to Paris to attend the
Congress of Allied Women on War
Service was a very wonderful experi
ence. The -speakers were good and
the spirit of unity that prevailed
among the more than 100 organiza
tions represented was an inspiration.
I wish you could have seen the vari
ous uniforms-every color and style;
Probably there were pictures in the
papers and magazines at home. The
garden party at the president's home
was like being in a grand opera, the.
gorgeous palace, the magnificent foot
man who waved you in, the beauty of
the garden with a band playing and
the" women in the motley uniforms
and speaking many languages wan
dering about, the marvelous:food, oh,
it was wonderful and I wished for
you many, many times!"
The epoch making conference to
[which Miss Watson refers, brought
tdgether women of 128 organizations.
Women of France, America, Great
Britain, Belgium, Russia, Roumania,
['Poland, Serbia, Montenegro South
America, Asia and Africa were weld
ed into one great whole by a common
cause-a body of free women work
ing to back up the men who are
fighting for world freedom.
The above communication appear
ed in Sunday's State and will be of
interest to friends and relatives of
Miss Watson in this section.
Special Notice of Arrival of
Cartons in Which to Send
Christmas Gifts to
Soldiers Overseas.
The cartons for the Christmas box
es have arrived at the Red Cross
chapter rooms and the chairman of
the Trenton branch and chairmen of
the county auxiliaries are notified to
come for their quotas of the cartons
to be given out in their communities.
They have to be given out at once
as all packages must be turned over
to the Red Cross for mailing before
November 15.
R. G. SHANNONHOUSE
Chapter Chairman.
NOTICET
Notice is hereby given that all
trespassing in every form is forbid
den upon the lands owned and con
trolled by the undersigned. The law
will be enforced against all who fail
to heed this notice. This means ev
erybody.
Abner B. Broadwater.
10-23-8tpd.
j
Why the Government Wants to
Fix the Pri?es
Something must be done to put a stop to the rising scale of prices,
and the sooner it is done the easier it will be to re-adjust business af
ter the war. Price fixing is the only remedy that'can be applied to
a rising market now almost beyond control.
And wc'believe that the majority of the merchants are willing to
abide by anything that the Government wants done. If fixing the
price of any article is going to help win the war, then they are for it,
and they don't care how soon the arrangement is put into effect.
We all want to see the war brought to a successful conclusion, so
that we may begin living a normal life in a much better world.
The War Industries Board has a tremendous task ahead of it, as
all merchants and manufactures operate on a different cost system,
and it will take some time to arrive at a just price.
You will find that the prices we are asking for our fall goods, for
their quality and workmanship, won't have to be changed to any
great extent when the Government gets ready to fix the price.
A pretty line of Agate ware and Wall paper just received, and is
going fast. Better come in Und see what we have if you want any
thing along this line.
THE CORNER STORE
Now Ready for Delivery
As the time for fall sowing is here, we lia ve purchased a large
stock of reliable seeds:
? * '
Blue Stem Wheat, Red Stem Wheat,
Dwarf Essex Rape, Hairy Vetch,
Abruzzi Rye, Crimson Clover -
Now is tlie time to purchase these seed while you can get what
you want. Good seed for planting is scarce. ,
Large shipment of RED RUST PROOF and FULGHUM OATS.
Let us show you our GRAIN DRILLS and CHALLENGE PLOWS,
all sizes in stock.
AVe have recently greatly increased our stock of FANCY
GROCERIES, (.'an supply you with everything you want for ,
your pantry and table. Come in to see us. lt will be a pleas
ure to serve you.
. W. Adams & Co.