TRANSCRIBED FROM THE PINE BLUFF DAILY GRAPHIC NOVEMBER 18, 1917 P. 9
The company that left Pine Bluff is all split up. Tomorrow at 8 o’clock I will become a member of another organization, and the friends I have made so far will all be separated from one another. Tonight we had a farewell supper. Major Crawford told us of the love he had for us, and how he hated to bid us farewell at this last supper, but it was easier for us to bid one another good-bye now than it would be on the battlefields of France. As he talked the tears ran down his cheeks, and he finally ended by saying ‘Boys. remember you always have a friend in me,’ and he left us quickly, displaying great emotion.
Sister, ---- ----, is just the age when he will be exposed to all sorts of temptations, and it will be much better for you to take him in your confidence as a mother would and talk to him of the great truths of eternity, and how necessary it is for a boy of his age to keep himself pure in every respect. Tell him to keep his mind pure, and free of all smutty stories, as they will cling with him thru out life, and he will not be the man that he can be, and will be if he does the will of his god and creator, and remember the One that made him and breathed the breath of life into him. Sister, you will pardon me speaking so plainly in my letter but if you only knew the depths of vice that the great majority of mankind has sunk to you would not wonder that the world is suffering in war today..You certainly see this in army life.
The thought was expressed at the Rotary club’s banquet to us at Pine Bluff that this was God’s way of bringing the sinners back to him. I believe it. Tell Ernest that he must say his prayers every night; to adore his God; to thank Him for past favors; to ask Him favors for himself. and all of us; to offer his prayers up to Him in satisfaction for his past offenses in his life-sins of omission and commission, for none of us mortals are perfect.
Sister, I have not heard from Jack or anybody. Tell them I don’t think they have treated me right. Wish you would tell them to write me, as this may be the last opportunity. And if we should not meet again, to do nothing but will be to our glory in the great country beyond the grave.
My friend, Mr. S., is a Catholic and believes in the doctrine of purgatory-that if a man dies with some sin on his soul, but no great ones he will remain in the middle place for a time before ascending to heaven, or until the stains on his soul are prayed away, “as nothing defiled can enter heaven.” And, as none of us are perfect. it is ‘a whole and wholesome thought to pray for the dead.’ It is a beautiful thought to think we can be of assistance to Father now, by praying for him. I do.
Fred Lipps is transferred to the same company to which I have been sent, so will be with him.
NOTES: This partial letter is written from Camp Beauregard, Louisiana by Garland Monk to his sister Mary Monk. He was serving with the Motor Truck Company No. 10.
TRANSCRIBED BY PAYTON DHOOG
The company that left Pine Bluff is all split up. Tomorrow at 8 o’clock I will become a member of another organization, and the friends I have made so far will all be separated from one another. Tonight we had a farewell supper. Major Crawford told us of the love he had for us, and how he hated to bid us farewell at this last supper, but it was easier for us to bid one another good-bye now than it would be on the battlefields of France. As he talked the tears ran down his cheeks, and he finally ended by saying ‘Boys. remember you always have a friend in me,’ and he left us quickly, displaying great emotion.
Sister, ---- ----, is just the age when he will be exposed to all sorts of temptations, and it will be much better for you to take him in your confidence as a mother would and talk to him of the great truths of eternity, and how necessary it is for a boy of his age to keep himself pure in every respect. Tell him to keep his mind pure, and free of all smutty stories, as they will cling with him thru out life, and he will not be the man that he can be, and will be if he does the will of his god and creator, and remember the One that made him and breathed the breath of life into him. Sister, you will pardon me speaking so plainly in my letter but if you only knew the depths of vice that the great majority of mankind has sunk to you would not wonder that the world is suffering in war today..You certainly see this in army life.
The thought was expressed at the Rotary club’s banquet to us at Pine Bluff that this was God’s way of bringing the sinners back to him. I believe it. Tell Ernest that he must say his prayers every night; to adore his God; to thank Him for past favors; to ask Him favors for himself. and all of us; to offer his prayers up to Him in satisfaction for his past offenses in his life-sins of omission and commission, for none of us mortals are perfect.
Sister, I have not heard from Jack or anybody. Tell them I don’t think they have treated me right. Wish you would tell them to write me, as this may be the last opportunity. And if we should not meet again, to do nothing but will be to our glory in the great country beyond the grave.
My friend, Mr. S., is a Catholic and believes in the doctrine of purgatory-that if a man dies with some sin on his soul, but no great ones he will remain in the middle place for a time before ascending to heaven, or until the stains on his soul are prayed away, “as nothing defiled can enter heaven.” And, as none of us are perfect. it is ‘a whole and wholesome thought to pray for the dead.’ It is a beautiful thought to think we can be of assistance to Father now, by praying for him. I do.
Fred Lipps is transferred to the same company to which I have been sent, so will be with him.
NOTES: This partial letter is written from Camp Beauregard, Louisiana by Garland Monk to his sister Mary Monk. He was serving with the Motor Truck Company No. 10.
TRANSCRIBED BY PAYTON DHOOG