100 years ago in The Saratogian
Thursday, Nov. 15, 1917
Like many newspapers during the U.S. war against Germany, The Saratogian prints as many letters as it can acquire from soldiers with connections to the Saratoga area. Today the paper publishes a letter from Eugene B. Page, a former chemist with the G. F. Harvey laboratories who’s now stationed in an American Expeditionary Force base hospital “somewhere in France.”
The hospital is “a big stone monastery which has been closed for about eight years” before the war. “The equipment for the hospital has not arrived,” Page writes, “Consequently we have not had any hospital duties to perform and have a lot of time to see a little of France by walking.
“I say walking for we do not have any money to ride, our pay having been delayed almost two months.
“The French people continuously give us a hearty welcome; so much so that it is becoming a nuisance. Every time we go down town the children run after us asking for American cigarettes and souvenirs and everybody we pass says ‘bon jour.’
“A great number, anxious to display a knowledge of English, yell ‘good night’ and ‘good morning’ at any time of the day or night. It sounds funny a 9 p.m. to hear them say ‘good morning.’
“When you stop on a street corner or to look in a store window a large crowd gathers about. The more intelligent ones who understand a little English act as interpreters for the rest. Sunday night while walking down town about fifteen boys gathered around me and started to talk very good English.
“Upon questioning them I found that their homes were near the trenches and that they had lived there during three years of war, learning English from the English soldiers.
“One said to me, ‘Do you know Charlie Chaplin? We love him here. I think he is very comic.’”
French morale remains fairly strong, from what Page sees. “The French people are not a bit sad or dishearted and always have a ready smile. Most of the women, however, are dressed in black and you see very few young men in civilian clothes.”
The French aren’t quite as optimistic about the war as the English, however. According to Page, English troops believe the war will end next spring, while the French “will be glad if it is over by 1920.”
Page seems skeptical about some wartime propaganda. “I have been trying to confirm the alleged cruelty of the Germans to children,” he writes, “but those who say it is true admit that they have never seen any victims.”