FROM AM OLD FRIEND:
Station Hospital,
Presidio of San Francisco,Calif«
Sept.6th, 1922
To the Editor of the "Chilkat Post11
Eort Wm*H* Seward, Alaska<
Dear Editor
I suppose that I should begin this letter with an apol
ogy for not having written sooner,but you know the old alibi,”so busy11*
Not only that,my wife left me in Seattle,-temporarily,-and I have been
so busy missing her that I have not written to any one to speak of,(ex
cept her)*We certainly had a wonderful trip coming down,the weather was
all that could be imagined.still I was glad when I left that boat*As
a sailor, I’d make a good courier-jumper*When a boat is tied up good and
hard to a dock I love to sail, -otherwise, nix on the sea* About the first
thing I did was to feed the fish,and I .sure hate to see good food wasted*
Travelling on transports ht*s‘ its drawbacks,but I suppose we should not
kick.For one thing they chased us out of bod at 10*00 A.M.for Inspection
at 10*30,and you can well imagine what it means to be chased from year
downy couch at that unearthly hour,after having been at Fort Seward for
two years and eleven months*And if all the passengers on the boat were
on the passenger-list they sure had a bunch*I don’t know how many we
shared our room with,-hundreds,-they ran up and down the wall,they craw
led over out pillows,and one wcke me up one night digging into my elbow*
Before we got used to so much company,every now and then dfcriend Wife
would let out a squealf’T0,there’s one-chase it away”.But really they are
harmless, and they seemdd to be having so much fun chasing each other up
and down the walls,Poor little cockroaches’,’.
But the grub,-AH-there is something to talk about.I’ll
give the eats the best recommendation I can,as well as the service*For
Sunday dinner,-roast young turkey,ice cream,0 everything, and the other
meals just as good#
Somehow or other I miss Fort Seward, and the friends we left,
but I know I’m going to like this place.I’m in the Station Hospital,and
am Property Sergeant,-with nothing to do but eat and sleep,-and what
more can a soldier ask.If that isn’t ideal,I’d like to know whfctfc is?
I do miss my old gang and the Boss,-I wish he could have come along,but
I live in hopes that I may get to soldier under him again, and with as
fine a crowd as I left,including Rainey.I don’t know how good he was,
but he was O.K.at that.This place is so big that I am in awe whenever
I go out,and when I come back I have to put my arm in a sling,it’s so
sore from saluting,and I’m thinking of inventing some sort of a brace
with a spring in it to hold your arm up there in the air,in position*
I think it ought to take, and would make me rich.
But one thing everyone doming here from Alaska will miss
is the good old water.The water here is fit for nothing but to bathe in,
awful stuff,-and moonshine and horn ^rew are higher here than in Haines,
so I hear* I believe,without a doubt,that this is the most beautiful
Post on the Coast,you never saw so many and such a variety of flowers
in your life outside a greenhouse painted white,-you can hardly walk
around without stepping on them,I haven’t seen much of this town yet,
but when my Commanding Officer arrives,then,subject to further orders,
we’ll step out and look her over,and from what they tell me,there’s
beaucoup places to go#
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