268 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



with some half a hundred 



the American Forestry Association arrived in England 

 early in October, where he received advanced training in 

 flying and aerial fighting with the Royal Air Force. 

 Writing recently from Scotland to American Forestry, 

 Mr. Douglass said: 



"The other day I saw a picture of the English machine, which 

 has been doing demonstration flying over Washington. Only the 

 cockpit of the machine showed but that was enough to iden- 

 tify it as an English training machine. That was the second 

 bus' I ever flew and in it I learned to loop, spin, half-roll, 

 side-slip, roll, Immelmann, etc. It's a very nice machine to 

 handle. We're thing scouts now smaller and much faster ma- 

 chines. They make over loo miles per hour level and dive at 

 over 200, and are very fast in stunting. In fact, the "bus I m 

 going overseas on is the fastest stunting 'bus' in use today, and 

 has the record for Hun machines downed the last few months. 



"For a long time flying did not appeal to me^as^a P sUme 

 even after doing a lot but now 

 air hours to my credit, I can't 

 see a machine up without want- 

 ing to be up myself. Nothing 

 is quite so much fun as flying 

 low along the shore, or chasing 

 a railroad train, or scrapping 

 with another machine. Flying 

 low one gets all the sensations 

 of speed that you get in a car, 

 except that the speed is faster 

 and air bumps are not nearly so 

 hard as those on the road. . . . 

 Have been doing so much trav- 

 eling around that settling 

 down will be hard. A few 

 trips of too miles or so by 

 aeroplane, done in solid com- 

 fort in one and a half hours, 

 or less, with an unobstructed 

 view of the earth, makes even 

 a short railway journey very 

 irksome by contrast. The blue 

 sky and if you are above the 

 clouds in a world apart, the 

 carpet of bumpy, uneven vapor 

 with white crests and deep 

 shadows in the valleys is very 

 new and beautiful. And to get 

 up on a clear day to six or 

 eight thousand feet and see the 

 earth stretched out like a mo- 

 saic is even more entrancing. 

 You can see silver ribbons, the 

 rivers, winding down for many 

 miles gradually growing by ad- 

 ditions from others until they 

 reach the sea. Flanking them 

 are the brown and green fields, 

 or gray-black patches of wood- 

 land all separated into apple- 

 pie order rectangles. The 

 towns, with their red-tile roofs 

 and myriads of chimney pots, 

 make a pretty contrast in the 

 bright sunlight with the browns 

 and greens of nature." 



Writing of the special 

 work for the welfare of the 

 Forest Regiments, in which 

 the American Forestry As- 

 sociation has been so ac- 

 tive, Mr. Douglass says: 



"That's 'great stuff' you folks 

 are doing for the F'orest Engi- 

 neers. Those boys will certainly be pleased with the real, 

 material aid, and I'm in something of a position to know, being 

 over here. The knitted things come in mighty handy, the can- 

 teens in camp are a priceless boon, and especially does the 

 grafonola fill the musical need. We fairly starve for music and 

 when a pianist appears he is pampered and fed and jealously 

 guarded and worked to death at the piano. The special aid 

 fund is fine, too. The whole thing is a splendid, patriotic service." 

 From Chaplain H. Y. Williams, of the Tenth, we have 



the following: 



"Dear Mr. Ridsdale: 



"I )n behalf of our regiment may I thank you and through 

 you all those who have co-operated through the Welfare Fund 

 for Lumbermen and Foresters in sending us the splendid check 

 for our well-being, and the grafanolas. You can know that this 

 goodness will mean even more than you can realize to the men. 

 The efforts that you have put forth in the sweaters and in these 

 new gifts are heartily appreciated and for it all we thank you 

 from the bottom of our hearts. There are ten battalions of 

 Forestall in the Twentieth and two in the Tenth Regiment. 

 Chaplain Smith therefore turned over to me for our work one- 

 sixth of the 4,000 dollars or 3,790.80 francs. If you wished a di- 

 vision on any 4 other basis it can b. = changed at ^your request. The 



Treasurer.' Every 



the fund, with account of purchases 



The grafanolas have not ar- 



rived as yet but will be here shortly. We have a few but the new 

 ones wi.. y fil. in big gaps. I should 3*. -^ ~ee 



needles for the same as they 

 are difficult to secure in France 

 and can only be purchased in 

 very small quantities. 



"Am attaching herewith a 

 copy of my weekly record of 

 'doings,' some of which you 

 may find interesting. With 

 hearty appreciation of your 

 good work for us, I am with 

 deep gratitude," etc. 



The "record" is printed 



in full : 



Regimental Headquarters, 

 Tenth Engineers, A. E. F., 

 April 10, 1918. 

 "This has been one 'tres vite' 

 week and yours truly quite on 

 the jump. Monday, a week 

 ago, I went for my weekly 

 visit to a small camp of men in 

 charge of our loading and ship- 

 ping to the front. They are 

 some twelve miles from our 

 big camps and located in a 

 small railroad town, where the 

 British have a similar detail 

 of men. Just one visit a week 

 means that I try to make it a 

 specially worth while night. 

 Early in the evening we held a 

 lottery. Several boxes had come 

 in with tobacco, books, socks, 

 etc. Every man had a number 

 and the lucky fellows get the 

 lucky numbers which mean 

 presents. It is great fun. Then 

 we had our church service in 

 the mess hall and you ought 

 to hear those men sing. We 

 have no piano, and I am not a 

 real leader, but it seems to 

 make no difference. I spoke 

 on 'The Difference Faith in 

 Immortality Makes in This 

 Life,' and afterwards called for 

 hymns. Perhaps you think that 

 soldiers do not think much of 

 heaven but you would have 

 been surprised as I was, to 

 have them ask for 'When the 

 roll is called up yonder,' 'Saved 

 by Grace,' and others on the 

 future life. Then the men 

 listened to a victrola concert, 

 many of the records having 

 just come from friends in the States. Every single man in that 

 camp attended the service voluntarily and some invited British- 

 ers of whom we had several. I rather imagine that some 

 ministers at home would think that the Kingdom had arrived 

 with a record like that. While I am writing of the evening and 

 thinking of others like it, just let me add that any of you who 

 would like to send things to soldiers will find them most ap- 

 preciative of magazines, books, victrola records, socks, cakes, 

 candies, games and tobacco. Personally I would not emphasize 

 the latter, for men can buy it here, and when given out in 

 quantity free it leads men to take up the habit who have never 



LI FAT. C. W. II. DOUGLASS 



A graduate of the New York State College of Forestry, late Assistant 

 Editor of this magazine, ami recently commissioned in the Aviation Sec- 

 tion of the Signal Corps. 



