"We stopped at Port-au-Prince two days and Santa-du-Mingo
three-fourths of a day. At both places the natives came
out to the ship in small row boats with fruit. We bought
dandy bananas for ten cents a dozen, oranges eight or ten for
a nickel. Big cocoanuts for five cents, and grape fruit three
for a nickel.
"We arrived here the 13th. This is a queer old town,
built at the foot of a high mountain. The streets are crooked
and the
houses are quaint old stone structures, none of them over
two stories."
November 11, 1917.
"The population is mostly black. The natives are a better
class of people though than our negroes in the North. It is
surprising how bright they are and the way they pick up American
phrases. We can more easily understand them than our negroes,
for they do not have that southern drawl. It is more like a Norwegian
or Swedish accent. While the Danes owned the Island, of course
the blacks were Danish. Now if you ask them their nationality,
they reply, 'Yankee.'
"We sure have some bunch of officers. They are white
men and we don't have that fear and hatred for them that we did
back on Paris Island.
"Last Sunday I went to the Dutch Reform Church. They
have a fine minister in the Canadian army. Last night we had
a
meeting for the Marines and Sailors and organized a sort
of club for men at this post. Our intentions are to hire a room
and make it a sort of reading room and a place to loaf and then
once a week have 'stunt night.' A committee will pick up all
the home talent they can. We have an ex-magician in our company
and some night we shall put on a little party and invite the
ladies from the church. In that way we shall be able to stick
to the better class of people. The preacher and his flock are
doing all they can to help us. I hope it will work out because
it sure will keep the fellows straighter. Of course now everything
is new to them and they take pleasure in wandering around and
seeing things. But in a few months that will get old to them
and they will naturally drift to something else. If our plans
work out, that will give the fellows some place to go besides
running the streets when on liberty, and getting in wrong.
"You surely have the wrong idea of our little island
though. We are only a couple of thousand miles away from God's
country (Wisconsin) and we are quite civilized too. We even
have an 'American Ice Cream Parlor,' and a couple of Ford machines
here."
December 30, 1917.
"Christmas Eve sure was a big night for the natives.
They have a mighty odd way of celebrating. Instead of going to
church as we are used to doing at home, they all shout, shoot
fire crackers, and blow tin horns and just simply raise the dickens
around here. It's more like the Fourth of July than Christmas
Eve. They keep that up until about midnight and then they sit
down for a while. About 3:00 (I happened to be on guard from
2:00 to 4:00) they are at it again. But instead of being noisy,
they gather in crowds and march up and down the streets singing
Christmas songs. They do this until daylight. Christmas Day seems
to be dead, everything is closed up."
"There are no industries here to speak of. I cannot
see myself how all the people make a living. It does not take
much
to keep them though. They do a little fishing. Some of them
get work around the docks, coaling ship and handling freight
and around the ship yards. Some do farming on a very small scale
on the side of the mountains and in one way or another they manage
to exist. The coal is not mined here. They get it from the states
and haul it down here in sail-boats. The coal docks do not belong
to the U.S. Government. They belong to the West Indies Company.
They also have large oil-tanks and a big store-house on the other
side of the bay.
"Yesterday, Washington's birthday was a big holiday
for us. We sure did celebrate. Sunday Routine. The troops from
9:30 until noon had all sorts of water sports off King's
Wharf. At 1:30 the field events started. The Marines carried
off everything but running jump. A Gob (sailor) got that. He
jumped six feet two inches. He beat the Marine by one inch. At
night they had a big entertainment out in front of the Barracks.
It lasted from eight until 11:45. They took up a collection for
the Red Cross and got nearly $200.00. The enlisted men all gave
$1.00 each."