Oct. 20. 1918

Dear Pa

I wrote you one letter in reply to your
suggestion about coming home but I was
afraid you would not appreciate it so I
voted it to the board. I just got a letter
from Leverett saying that he was on the
move -- Surely you would not want me to
come home if I could be of any use to
him over here. Setting that reason aside
I feel as if I were just coming into my
usefulness & that now having learned the
ropes I am far more valuable than a year
ago. Anyway the war will probably be over
soon so let's not worry for a little while
yet. Do you mind very much my staying?
If you knew how much I am getting
from this Experience I am sure you
would let me finish it out. If I had not
come over I would have felt not to
have belonged to this generation & would have
felt all my life as if there were something
lacking to make me on a level with
all the up & coming crowd of my own
age & thereabouts.

I have to admit that there is a lot

of fun combined to the work -- Simple sort of
fun in which Everyone joins because we are
all playing the same game & we all look at
things in the same way. There is much less
worry over here because you are near Enough to action to
get the result of all the worries of all those
behind the lines. It is much more pleasant
to receive orders, [&?] [than?] To do what you are told
without thinking much one way or the other
than have to decide yourself upon the move.
Even at this moment we are awaiting
orders & are hoping for a big move forward.
Advancing has none of the Excitement of
retreat because you can take your time,
which we certainly have to do, because the
country is so wrecked that it is no
Easy job to install a hospital -- no water,
buildings without windows & roofs etc. -- just
like the hundreds of pictures you have seen
for the last four years.

We have had some gripe here but I
should not say as badly as at home. We
had a maid die of it & one or two of
the others have been sick but not
dangerously so, & there has really been no
general contagion. The maid had a
military funeral & I was responsible for

getting some flowers. I never knew before what
high wire fences I could climb -- we looted
freely & might Easily have been court martialed
for our behavior but the final result was
worth it, for we made a large wreath of
ivy & roses, a bouquet & wreath of dahlias &
some white shrubbery & a cross of roses &
ivy -- Pretty good for this season in the pouring
rain, don't you think so?

You need not worry too much over my
nursing because we are short chauffeurs just
now so that I cannot leave that service. I am
not sure whether you would approve of my
doing that work either because it is
decidedly unladylike. One cannot stand
on ceremony when it comes to oiling &
greasing Fiat 1 1/2 ton trucks, changing tires
& doing all the rest of it. I am clean
once a day & that is immediately after my
bath in the rubber foot tub -- the rest of
the time I belong in the stable. I have
developed a most enormous muscle in my
right arm & I am really rather ashamed of
it because it literally stands out. I'll
have to try to direct it into a tennis
stroke after the war.

Much love from
Nora