Letter No. 3 Blois, France Sunday June 23rd 1918
My dear Mother,
Mailed you a letter yesterday. Have decided to write in diary form and mail it once a week. Only two chairs in our ward and both occupied. Sitting on the bed and writing is rather hard on the back. Some of the girls went on duty last night and others today. Suppose I will go tomorrow. Col. F wants us to rejoin the men and we hope orders to do so come soon. The captain who brought us here leaves us this afternoon to rejoin the men. Our own hospital is in a village about fifty miles from a large city, I believe, and in the Advance Zone. We are here for strawberries. Had my first French berries for supper last night and they are delicious, in flavor far superior to Minnesota berries. Took a walk about town with Miss Dunlop last evening. This morning she and I started out to find and English church but with no success so we went through the Chateau de Blois with a party of French civilians and three USA Officers. Our guide was a French woman but a member if the party spoke English beautifully and interpreted for us. Among others Catherine de Mecici, Henry II, and Luis 12th have occupied the Chateau. Very little furniture left it having been destroyed during the French Revolution. It had several beautiful tapestries and a few paintings sent from the museum at Amieas for safe keeping. Near it is the private Chateau of Ann of Betigny.
I see the Paris copy of the NY Herald frequently. Have there been many casualties among the St. Cloud boys in the Rainbow Division? As I hear they were engaged while we were on the sea. Wrote Uncle yesterday and Marion Dow today. After supper took a long walk about the town with Miss Dunlop. It certainly is a quaint old place. Margaret, you would be in you glory in it. You know you like old things and old places better than I do. The Chateau was at one time surrounded by a moat which has been filled in but the walls remain. Some of the streets so narrow and as the city is on a hill so many steps to climb in going up some of the streets. Everything walled in but through gates you get glimpses of beautiful gardens-lilacs in bloom, red and pink roses on bushes 6 or 7 feet high, and crimson ramblers covered with bloom. The streets are clean, in fact everything looks so on the outside, but go inside these old buildings!! The girls are horrified at the lack of sanitation in a city of this size. No garbage cans seem to be used here, garbage dumped into the street and a cart gather it up.
The hospital I am in faces the boulevard along the river Loire. Wish you could see them washing in the river. They have large boats-double deckers-do the washing on the lower deck and dry on the upper which is covered but the sides are open. Each woman has a slab of wood like an uncovered ironing board. She dips the garment in the river (the water is a slimy green) spreads it on the board, pours liquid soap over it, and scrubs with a brush. This is repeated several times then it is rolled in a ball and pounded with a wooden butter paddle, rinsed in the water and wrung. Have seen no evidence of boiling, but the caps of old women and nun wear are a very good color. This method has not appealed to us however and we have done our own.
Attended the services at the YMCA this evening. They were followed by moving pictures. We are getting very good food. Jam is our dessert and you know that appeals to me always. Do not worry at all about me as I know every nurse in the US Army will be very well cared for. You will find my letters awful jumbles as they are written 'by jerks' and note the conservation of paper. Lovely and warm here in the sun but these old buildings never get 'heat up.'
June 25th
Last evening walked through the town on the other side of the river and visited a very old church. It contains a statute of Joan of Arc and one of her banners. Gong to the Chateau Chambord this afternoon if possible. Said to be the finest in France. Just finished a letter to Dr. Jane Kennedy. Lovely and warm in the sun. Walked down town and bought stationary. Public market very interesting and strawberries so fragrant. They have a flavor like Minnesota wild berries. Has Fan gone to the house party? Miss Dunlop knows Mr. Lum very well.
June 26th
A party of nurses and officers visited Chateau Chambord yesterday afternoon. It is about ten miles from here. We took the electric tram which takes you within 1 1/1 miles of the Chateau. It is the largest and some consider the finest in France. It is built on the site of a former Royal hunting lodge. A table, several paintings, and trophies of the hunts are the only furnishings-everything else having been removed during the revolution. Sorry to say our Unit is being split, twenty nurses going to ----------- this morning. Sorry to say Mrs. Dunlop and Dundas are among them while I am not. Very likely the rest of us will be sent off in groups this week. We hope eventually to be reunited. They say we will receive n o mail for at least a month. What a pile I will get !! A number of us moved from the ward we were occupying in the hospital down to the nurses' home filling up the rooms vacated by those who left this morning. Very much more convenient here as it was a former residence and has a good kitchen. Electric lights and a bath have been put in by the US Army. In the afternoon visited the home in which Victor Hugo spent the last years of his life. It is now occupied by a family from Versailles who came here at the beginning of the war.
June 27th
Visited the old church across the river again this afternoon. With a party of nurses, then walked around the city and did a little shopping-my principal purchase being a pair of smoked spectacles. There is such a glare-the sun shining so brightly on the white pebble stones, pavements, and white walls that I can scarcely keep my eyes open. I wonder if Otto is over? Miss Thompson met a boy from her hometown, Faribault, the other day. Fifteen more of our nurse leave in the morning for a place very near the front. I would like to be going to the same place. One piece of mail arrived today for a member of the unit. It was mailed in Minneapolis April 30th, so has been on this side some time. Perhaps more will follow. I am going to the movies tonight. Believe Douglas Fairbanks is on the film. We can send pc's from here so will send you one each day for a time.
Love to all. Affectionately, Jane
Received in Clear Lake Aug 5th