WWI May 1918 Letter from Major of 14th ENGINEER Regt. in France GREAT CONTENT

Description

World War I soldier's letter, 2 pgs., approx. 5-1/4" x 8", written in
France,
and dated
May 1, 1918"
, from Major Robert G. Henderson, 14th Engineer Regimen (Ry), to his sister-in-law, "Mabel" (married to his brother, Harry P. Henderson).
Includes the original envelope, addressed to Mrs. H.P. Henderson, at NYC and forwarded to her at Burlington, Mass.,  Burlington, Mass. with ARMY POST OFFICE/S. 52 postmark, purple British "PASSED BY CENSOR" handstamp, and with  Major Henderson's self-censor signature at bottom left.
The 14th Engineer Regiment was recruited in New England, mostly from railroad men, and arrived in France in the fall of 1917. They did important work repairing railroads, building railroads and bridges, often under gun and artillery fire.
Great content,
noting that a lively baseball game is going on outside. He writes that they hear German shells whining over head practically every day, and that if you hear the whining, you know the shell is not coming near you, but only if it's a high velocity gun, and that you can hear shells from howtizers coming at you, "which causes you to search frantically for a 'better 'ole' and then go to it. He also writes out the lyrics in full to the war song of the 14th Engineers, which brags of their (the "Boomers") beer drinking ability.
Includes:
"Dear Mabel,
...Today is May day, a cold, overcast day, so that it is good to hug the stove if you are so fortunate as to have one. Outside there are the sounds of a lively baseball game...It is fairly quiet again just here, although practically every day we can hear shells whining over us - a pleasant sound because you know the shell is not coming near you when you hear the whine. this is true of high velocity guns, but not of howitzers. You can hear those shells coming at you, which causes you to search frantically for a 'better 'ole' and then go to it.
It was very funny to hear the men singing in the tents last night, both because of the singing, which was bad, and because of the songs. 'Oh! Oh! Oh! It's a lovely war' is a favorite, and one very lugubrious song which ends 'Oh my! I don't want to die; I want to go home', and which really cheers everybody up. But the war song of the 14th goes this way:
The Boomers! the Boomers!
With the dirt behind their ears.
The Boomers! the Boomers!
They lap up all the beers.
The infantry and the cavalry
And the rest of the engineers
The couldn't lick the Boomers
In a hundred thousand years.
chorus
Glorious! Glorious!
One keg of beer for the whole of us.
Thanks be to God there's no more of us
For one of us could drink it all alone.
This ribald song is sung to a good swinging tune (I never heard it before) and is our standard marching song, even in the politest society.
Everything well with us.
Cheeryo
Bob"
Fine-Very Fine
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