T H E CHEM AWA AMERICAN
PAGE 4
JAM ES CRANE W R ITES
The following good letter was sent Snpt. Hall by
Janies Crane, who is now receiving training at Camp
Grant, Illinois. The letter follows:
Your letter finally caught up with me. We left
Camp Lewis on the 18th of September. There were
about 200 of us young fellows picked for non-com
missioned officers. I happened to be one of the 200
men picked from 40,000 drafted men to be sent to
Camp Grant for training.
At first I did not like the location or the weather,
but it seems I am getting used to the surroundings. I
am the only Indian in the company and they surely
treat me first-class. I feel right at home. We are
considered the best company at Camp G rant. The
beauty of the thing is that we are all from the west —
Oregon, California, W ashington, Idaho, Nevada and
Montana. We certainly had a nice trip and the cordial
receptions which we received at the various stations
on our journey proved it is an honor to be a soldier of
the United States.
In the East and Middle West a plague known as
the Spanish Influenza has started and many cases are
located here and nearby. Some are meeting their
“ W aterloo” from the sickness.
I think a soldier’s life is all right and yet sometimes
I feel pretty sick. Then I brace up and meet the new
day with the same old fight. I know that I never
played fair at school, but alperson in the army has got
to come up to the rules and has to be on the job every
minute.
So we are having a team at Chemawa! Wish them
luck. Who is coaching the team this year?
Thank you for the Chemawa American. It makes
me feel at home—recollections of school daj s are great.
So you have a larger number of pupils this fall than
you had a year ago. Are there any Pendleton children
there?
I think this war is going to end before I get across
the pond. Wish I could get across before it ends. It
is the ambition of every soldier to get across and put
away a few of the “ h u n s.” They are planning on a
Christmas dinner at Berlin—hope so!
We are under strict quarantine and no-one can
leave the camp or barracks. I am enjoying life great
ly and my health is O. K ., but I am losing weight.
We drill from 7:30 a. m. to 5:30 p. m. These are
special hours for us as we are working for non-com
missions. And say, it’s work, work, work, from morn
ing until night. I often wish I was with mother,
but I stick and keep on playing the game.
I am trying for the camp team and am playing
quarterback for my company. I am weighing only
165 pounds now, while at Chemawa a year ago I
weighed 185 pounds.
Is Mr. Bent still at Chemawa?
I am th e company barber.
There are a lot of Indians here, but all are strangers
to me. This is a great camp, but I hope to see Che
mawa again some day.
PRUNES
Under the direction of Mr. Westley and Mr. McLean
the big juicy Italians and the sugary petites have
been made ready for the w inter’s use. T he prunes
were received from the orchard in boxes. From the
box they were poured into a wire basket which is then
dipped into a scalding solution of lye, to prevent mold,
and then the fruit is spread only one-deep on the dry
ing tray. When a num ber of these trays are ready
they are placed in the big hot dryer where they remain
at a steady high tem perature for about twenty-four
hours. In the process of drying the prunes lose about
two-thirds in weight. When taken out they are in
spected and placed in the big bins ready for use.
The prune crop is unusually good this year and we
expect to have about 16 tons—twice the amount need
ed tor home consumption. As the price is good we
hope to make our prunes help us doubly in meeting
th e H .C .L .
LOCAL
The seniors had a meeting the first day of school
and chose temporary officers to serve until the entire
class is in. They put up their pennant, decorated
their new members with the blue and gold and closed
with a class song, thus showing that the spirit of the
class of 1919 survived the summer in good form.
Principal Devol took for the subject of his Monday
assembly talk recently “ The Spanish Influenza; How
to Avoid I t . ” He said the symptoms were very much
like those of la grippe—chills followed by high tem per
ature and intense aching. “ The best way to cure it
is not to get it, and the best way not to get it is to
keep cheerful—don’t think yourself sic k ,” said Mr.
Devol. “ Keep w ell,” he said, “ by getting plenty of
fresh air, eating plenty of wholesome food, well
chewed, keep the person and clothing clean and avoid
unnecessary crow ds.”
TH E H U N T E D H U N
There was a little H un,
And he had a little gun,
And his bullets were all dum dum ,dumdum :
He shinned up a tree
To snipe what he could see,
But now he is in kingdom come-come-come!
—R.M. Eassie, “ Odes and Trifles.”