Sharing Freight Car With Mules Pleases Yank; Gas Attacks Engender Bitterness

Sharing floor space in a French freight car with several good old Missouri army mules, is one of the interesting incidents in the exciting life where the Yanks are giving chase to the huns, experienced by Sergeant J. J. Schroeder, Supply Sergeant with the American Expeditionary Forces in France. Sergeant Schroeder, in the following extracts from letters received by relatives here possesses the good old Yankee faculty for the seeing [sic] the humorous as well as the dismal and grim side of the world conflic. Sergeant Schroeder is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Schroeder of 711 Park avenue.

"Of course it is impossible for me to give you any hints of just how or where I have been occupied but I may be able to give you a few sidelights on my experience. I have to save them all up till they are old so that no conclusions may be drawn from events that are often far apart. Sometimes I wonder how ti would impress you if you could see me just as I am. For instance on a railroad trip I made once upon a time. Of course you have heard that most traveling here is done in freight cars. They are all marked eight--Chevaux--forty--Hommes--on the outside. That means eight horses or forty men. You see the cars here are not the big fellows that we are accustomed to and the wheels are not solid either; usually they are flat in spots. Well, on this trip I had the good luck to be in a car with seven Chevaux--five from Missouri. IT is called good luck on a cold day because the Chevaux keep the temperature up. There were three other fellows in the car besides the Chevaux and myself. They put four horses in each end facing the middle with the halters fastened to the roof; that wedges them in so tight that they can't move around much and leaves about six feet in the middle for the Hommes and the harnesss. By the way one of the Hommes was young Hassenauer.
I had been riding all night before I got on the car so you can imagine that even a pile of harness looked pretty good to me--in fact, a pile of harness is not bad at all, it adjusts itself to the frame much more readily than a pile of paving bricks for instance. At any rate after a couple of hours I woke up and as I lay there on the harness with young Hassenauer curled up on one side of me and a long-eared old timer on the other and the solemn eyes of the seven Chevaux starring on us I wondered what mother would say if she could see her child down curled up under the noses of those old hay-burners like Christ in the manger. It's a long rod from that brass bed with sheets in it.

Playful Missourians
Of course the pose didn't last long for after their fatigue had worn off the Chevaux becan to cut up. Especially the five gentlemen from Missouri. There wre only three on one end and that gae them a chance to romp around and disturb the peace. On the other side was a patriarch of the hybrid family. She had the longest face I ever saw on any mule and if you are familiar with mules faces you can imagine how long that is. At least a yard not counting the ears which would give her a foot more. Anyhow she had a playful disposition. She would stand there with the most benevolent expression in the world and the minute everybody was asleep she would gently insert her fore foot in the harness and begin to work it back and under her. At different times I pulled a collar, a blanket roll, and all kinds of miscellaneous from under her hind feet. I had a riding whip and whenever I caught her in the act she would get a whack on the yard of fact. It was a fair target. The best I could figure out was that she had a bet with the other mule as to whether she would get more whacks or more harness. Then she found out another trick. The back of a freight car makes a good sounding board and she would throw one of her hind feet into it with a report like a cannon shot. She would stand there with the most innocent look in the world and fire that old hoof into the slats without a movement in front. But there was that tell-tale gleam in her half-shut eyes. She couldn't shut them all the way and see how we were taking it. It was worth the trouble to see her come to "attention" when I reached for the whip.
One of the other cummuters had a touch of influenza. Every two minutes he would give a sneeze and sprinkle the helpless passengers spread out in front of him. They say that you can get used to anything but I could never get to like that. But it was almost worth it to see the old Virginian trying to et out of the way. He burrowed under the harness and tried to hang up a blanket (which teh lady afore-mentioned reached down with her foot)--he even encroached on the three mules on the other end of the car and got promptly kicked out for his pains. It was expecially distressing at meal times, but anyhow they all helped to keep the temperature up.

You people talk entirely to irreverently of gas. I tell you it is the meanest thing that the mind ever invented. Poisoning wells is Christmas celebration beside it. I remember being yanked up out of a sound sleep one morning and told to stand to attention with gas-mask ready--that being my first experience. It was just breaking daylight as I went outside and a fresh breeze was blowing cooly across the dew-covered fields--from the wrong direction. I never felt so bitter in all my life as that cool breeze touched my face and I had to sniff it to see if it wasn't poisoned and would burn up my lungs to take that long invogorating draft that is almos instinctive when you come out into the fresh dewey morning. That breeze, that particular breeze, was not poisoned, but can you imagine poisoning the air a man must breathe. Well they can't hold us off with gas.

I am very well. I can ride most of the night now withoug crippling myself and I am getting much experience watching the sun come up. Sleeping in the day time is the stuff anyhow. My sistem is acustomed to army chow and I cannot even remember what a real meal used to taste like. I don't mean that we don't get real meals here but there is no pie-a-la-mode. The main thing is to relieve that gnawing pain on your insides and that can be sucessfully managed. Give my regards to all the kind friends and best love to you all.
Sincerely,
Joseph J. Schroeder