74 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



(Forest) before they split up, as I had to conduct one 

 of the officers to a forest I had examined. They seem 

 to be a fine body of men. 



"Sometimes I think the French are a wonderful peo- 

 ple, other times I can't see how they have managed to 

 resist the methodical Germans at all. They are extra- 

 ordinary in the way they save and make use of material 

 resources, but very wasteful on the whole of human 

 effort. Of course, their practical geniuses must be large- 

 ly at work near the front, and before the war evidently 

 labor did not count for 

 much. They are practical- 

 ly all excellent cooks, and 

 there seems to be plenty of 

 meat of good quality for 

 all except perhaps the ex- 

 tremely poor. In this re- 

 spect, however, conditions 

 may be worse in the later 

 years of the war. 



"So far, our long fight 

 with the Boche 'subs' the 

 last day of the trip across 

 is the only active warfare 

 1 have seen. Have had oc- 

 casion to see some practice 

 work with hand grenades, 

 etc., from model trenches 

 at a French training school. 

 On my next work, how- 

 ever, I should at least see 

 some air-fighting, but don't 

 suppose I will get in range 

 of shells and gas. 



"I am getting along fairly well with the language, al- 

 though I can not follow an ordinary rapid-fire French 

 conversation. When they slow down a little I can get 

 about everything now, and can express my own ideas 

 with much bad grammar. Can now order baked apples 

 without being afraid they will bring me fried potatoes. 

 I manage fairly well on the French "petit dejeuner," 

 usually taking chocolate which is nearly always good, but 

 wouldn't want to do much mountain climbing without 

 something more. The other meals are very hearty. I 

 am falling in with most French customs, but draw the 

 line at breakfast in my bedroom when there is any other 

 decent place. I also occasionally insist on a glass of 

 plain water, much to the astonishment of all present. 

 Have never seen a Frenchman drink water except in 

 mixture. 



****** 



"Am now chasing around in the Army Zone with 

 auto and chauffeur provided wouldn't be such a bad 

 job but for the cold and difficulty of getting meals in 

 the small towns just back of the front. Got pretty close 

 on my last trip could hear cannonading all the time and 

 saw much airplane activity. The Boche dropped a few 

 bombs the other night on a town near where I was stay- 

 ing. I went by there the next day and saw the damages 



FORESTER SOLDIERS OF TWO FLAGS 

 Forester Graves, in his United States uniform, is here shown with three 

 French officers at one side and two at the other. The picture was taken in 

 one of the Forests where lumber operations are being conducted by the 

 American regiments. 



several houses smashed to splinters and a big hole 

 back of a cafe. Met a medical officer hunting a new 

 billet luckily he had been out of his room when it got 



smashed up." 



****** 



Frank S. McNally, of the selling staff of the A. Sher- 

 man Lumber Company, chronicles some of the doings of 

 the Tenth. The regiment arrived in Scotland early in 

 October after an uneventful trip of approximately three 

 weeks on the Atlantic. Arriving there they moved im- 

 mediately across country to 

 an English Channel port, 

 where they remained at rest 

 camp for several days be- 

 fore making the channel 

 trip. From the French 

 port a rail journey of two 

 nights and a day brought 

 the regiment to its station, 

 where after a couple of 

 weeks, the regiment spread 

 over the country. Mr. Mc- 

 Nally's detachment, the 

 first, under Lieuten- 

 ant E. L. Lindsey, im- 

 mediately set to work lay- 

 ing out a side track for the 

 mill, and at the time the 

 letter was written woods 

 operating had been going on 

 for some time, while get- 

 ting out poles was the prin- 

 cipal item of interest pend- 

 ing the arrival of the mill. 

 The boys are quartered under canvas with a few old 

 buildings for headquarters. In a barn nearby a club- 

 house has been set up where the boys manage to knock out 

 a pretty good time. Mr. McNally likens the operations in 

 France to those in the Adirondacks. They are cutting 

 practically all softwoods, Scotch pine and Norway spruce 

 mostly, the latter, he says, being similar to our short- 

 leaf. The boys are all in good health, well fed and 

 on the job from sunrise to sunset. Mr. McNally 

 pays his respects to the officers and men in the regiment 

 who, he says are fine soldiers, first-class lumbermen and 

 naturally good fellows. 



Another recent letter is from Herman Work, formerly 

 deputy Forest supervisor on the Caribou Forest, and now 

 with the Tenth Engineers in France. He writes : "I 

 wish you could see our layout. It's the best camp I 

 ever saw. After the war I hope to be able to describe it 

 to you, with diagrams, but of course that would never 

 do now some friendly Boche might intercept the letter. 

 The timber is better than anything I know of in Dis- 

 trict 4 from a logging standpoint. I doubt if the dark- 

 ness of these forests has been bettered very much any- 

 where. Big trees and very dense stands walk a hun- 

 dred yards into the woods and you are in all over with- 

 out much chance of seeing out, for they have planted 

 younger shrubs all along the edges. 



