[Illustration:  “The only place there flat is on the map”]

[Illustration:  “You can read em to your granchildren”]

Now I got started an found a fountin pen an the Y.M.C.A. givin away paper like it does Im goin to rite you regular.  They say there goin to charge three sents for a letter pretty soon.  That aint goin to stop me though, Mable.  There aint no power in heavin or earth, as the poets say, as can come between you and me, Mable.  You mite send a few three sent stamps when you rite.  That is if your fathers able to work yet.  And willin, I should add.

Of course it aint nothin to me but Id keep these letters what you get from me as a record of the war.  Some day you can read em to your granchildren an say “Your Granfather Bill did all these things.”  Aint I the worst, Mable?  Serious though I havnt found noone so far what has thought of doin this except the newspapers.  I guess Ill get a lot of inside stuff that theyll never see.  So this may be the only one of its kind.  But it doesnt matter to me what you do with them, Mable.

Later Ill tell you all about everything but I guess you wont understand much cause its tecknickle.  Lots of the fellos are gettin nitted things and candy and stuff right along.  Dont pay no attenshun to that, though, or take it for a hint cause it aint.  I just say it as a matter of rekord.  Independent if nothin.  Thats me all over.

     Yours till the war ends
          Bill

Dere Mable:

Having nothin better to do I take up my pen to rite.

We have been here now three weeks.  As far as I am concerned I am all ready to go.  I told the Captin that I was ready any time.  He said yes, but that wed have to wait for the slow ones cause they was all goin together.  I says was I to go out to drill with the rest.  He said yes more for the example than anything else.  Its kind of maddening to be hangin round here when I might be over there helpin the Sammies put a stop to this thing.

[Illustration:  “You walk A post but there aint no post”]

In the mean time I been doin guard duty.  Seems like I been doin it every night but I know what there up against and I dont say nothin.  Guard duty is something like extemperaneus speakin.  You got to know everything your goin to say before you start.  Its very tecknickle.  For instance you walk a post but there aint no post.  An you mount guard but you dont really mount nothin.  An you turn out the guard but you dont really turn em out.  They come out them selves.  Just the other night I was walkin along thinkin of you Mable an my feet which was hurtin.  It made me awful lonesome.  An officer come up and he says why dont you draw your pistol when you here someone comin.  An I says I dont wait till the sheep is stole I drew it this