Dear Folks:
It is raining as usual and I am spending an evening at home with my family. Cliff went over to Gondrecourt tonight. It is about four miles from here. I wasn't particularly interested in going over as it is too rainy and I don't like wet feet.
There are about 900 band men over there. They are bands whose divisions have been broken up and used to fill other divisions that have lost men in action. They have no regiment and the bands will be broken up and used to fill other bands. We are going to get nineteen of them to fill our band. Cliff knows many who belong to that 34th Division that was on the Mexican border. I didn't think I would know any of them and wasn't particularly interested in going.
We hear many rumors about going home but don't know anything definite yet. We all believe that we are merely awaiting transportation. We are sure of the fact that we are not in the Army that is going over into Germany. The list of divisions to go into Germany has been published and we are not included in it. We are in the list scheduled to go home. We are merely waiting our time to go.
Wish you could hear our quartette. It is a peach. It is one of the numbers we use in our Vaudeville show. Oh say - watch the Des Moines Register as we are going to have a write up in it in a few weeks. An old Register reporter is here at present in Salvation Army work and she heard our show the other night. Really it is excellent. We have some exceptional talent.
Had a nice long letter from John Bicket this morning. He seems perfectly happy - he and Mary. Said he had a good job there.
Had a letter from you also dated Nov. 18 and written from Des Moines. Have been receiving the papers you sent. They come in every once in a while now.
I didn't send a cablegram for the simple reason that a letter is just as quick. There are hundreds of cablegrams filed up waiting to be sent. So many have been sent that the wires can't handle them in addition to the Government and war business.
Started to tell you that the quartette is practicing. Seven of the boys are playing a friendly game of poker on the big bass drum. Some of the boys are reading and several are writing letters. I don't play poker but can write letters.
Want to write Merritt tonight so will close.
Grant
