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  • Monday, November 5, 1917

                A very fine day but a day of many trials. But God was good.

                Made cakes and donuts. Was tired at night. A few French soldiers went by.

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  • Monday, November 12, 1917

    Cleaning up day. Served 500 cups of coffee at night.

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  • Sunday, November 4, 1917

    My first bath since I reached Montiers. It was taken in a place fashioned off with canvas, and the tub was a wash basin but I got clean.

                Had meeting this morning with a few of the soldiers, a very good meeting. The 15th Psalm.

                Gave a sick soldier a cup of tea and he said God surely sent me here.

                The Major received a letter from a soldier who was saved here a few days ago. He says, “I am doing fine. God is helping me to be good and to help others.”

                There is a little village over the hill called Belvieu. A small but pretty place. A few refugee families live there. One woman has five children and lost her husband and oldest son at Verdun. Another one who lost her husband and has three children. It is a sad place.

                Had a very good meeting. A large number asked for prayer.

                Two months since I left Chicago.

                Good night.

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  • Saturday, November 3, 1917

    Cooking, made pies and donuts. Watched the French troops go by. It is interesting the way they hitch their horses, in tandem, one after the other, and the stoves on wheels. The poor men looked tired but cheerful. It was a long line of wagons, horses, and men on foot. Then the town crier came out; he is a funny old man and is a picture.

                Two prisoners scrubbed the hut. A guard keeps right with them and carried a gun. We gave them a pie right out of the oven. They like to work for us because we always give them something. It’s fine to see the men come up to the hut door and get a pie or a donut or a drink of coffee They call it a sample.

                One of the men went to the hospital at Grundy Carps. He came in two mornings for coffee and was very sick, but the doctor here didn’t think so. At Grundy Carps he is very sick and has a bad strain from over lifting. The men do very hard work and have no beds but a blanket in a barn and no cots and very poor eats, but with it all they are men.

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  • Friday, November 2, 1917

    A very heavy misty day. We made cookies and donuts most all day. Rolled them with a grape juice bottle and cut them with a baking powder can and the holes with a funnel. Can’t get many things here in the line of cooking utensils. The French like the American cooking.

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  • Thursday, November 1, 1917

    Some of the men slept in the barn and did their best at making a noise.

                A very busy day and a very busy night. The boys like pie, donuts, and coffee.

                One of the men from the front was telling me about a bomb that landed in front of his car, and he and his friend just jumped out as it let go and were not hurt.

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  • Wednesday, October 31, 1917

    This is All Saints Day, but at night we were busiest. We had a meeting, and it was my turn to do my little so I did. One of the boys gave his experience and did fine. Brady was his name. The men sang and the meeting was a good one.

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  • Tuesday, October 30, 1917

    Heard that the French had lost 3 million men and that in the winter of 1915 sixty men were found frozen to death in one line of trenches; and at present they haven’t enough men to guard the front and keep a few men at different posts and change them at night to fool the Germans.

                The 26th and some of the 16th went in on October 15. They went in at night, and when the Germans came out to look for the French there was the Stars and Stripes. What a surprise.

                Some men from the Swiss front came in on autos and told us some of their experiences. They belong to the Artillery Train.

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  • Monday, October 29, 1917

    A beautiful day. I was busy making two hundred donuts and was busy indeed, but at night I was glad because they went so fast.

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  • Sunday, October 28, 1917

                Bread got into the coffee urn. When I tried to strain the coffee it would not run, so I looked and found that bread had been put in the urn to save.

                Scouring soap is scarce, and so we found a good substitute in a soft stone we found, and it worked fine.

                A story Major told: In India a supposed Christian wanted to go on a week drunk. So he tied his prayers to a windmill and set it going. After the week of what he considered a good time he looked at his prayers and found he was up to date. Just like the form of prayer some people have.

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