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MACHINE GUNNER, jERVINC IN FRANCE
©1917 BY
WKURGt'Y EMPTY
. ..^r ‘t
synopsis.
■ VJIO.
^HAPTpp T r
znrrf th*
British army.ancl wh^ he eniisu",^ a$
CHAPTER II.
Blighty to Rest Billets.
The next morning the captain sent
for me and informed me: “Empey. as
a recruiting sergeant you are a wash
out,” and sent me to a training depot.
After arriving at this place, I was
hustled to the quartermaster stores
and received an awful shock. The
quartermaster sergeant spread a wa
terproof sheet on the ground and com
menced throwing a miscellaneous as
sortment of straps, buckles and other
paraphernalia into it. I thought l.e
would never stop, hut when the pile
reached to iny knees he paused long
enough to say, “Next. No. r.1! 1T. Arris.
IS company.” I gazed in bewilderment
at the pile of junk in front of me. and
then my eyes wandered around looking
for the wagon which was to carry it
to barracks. 1 was rudely brought to
earth by the “quarter” exclaiming,
“’Ere, you, ’op il ; tyke it aw’y; blind
my eyes, Vs looking for ’is batman to
’elp ’im carry it.”
Htrucgiing under the load, with fre
quent pauses for rest, I reached our
barracks (large car barns), and my
platoon leader came to the rescue. It
was a marvel to me how quickly he
assembled the equipment. After he
had completed the task, lie showed me
how to adjust it on my person. I’retty
soon 1 stood before him a proper Torn
my Atkins in heavy marching order,
feeling like an overloaded camel.
On my feet were heavy-soled hoots,
studded with hohnnlls, the toes and
heels of which were re-enforced by
steel half-moons. My legs were in
cased In woolen puttees, olive drab In
color, with tny trousers overlapping
them at the top. Tlyn a woolen khaki
tunic, under which was a bluish gray
woolen shirt, minus a collar; beneath
tliis shirt a woolen belly band 'about
six Inches wide, held In place by tie
strings of white tape. On my head
was a heavy woolen trench cap, with
huge earlaps buttoned over the top.
Then the equipment: A canvas belt,
with ammunition pockets, and two
wide canvas straps like suspenders,
called “D” straps, fastened to the belt
in ffont, passing over each shoulder,
crossing in the middle of my back, and
attached by buckles to the rear of the
belt. On the riefrt side of the belt
hung a water bottle, covered with felt;
on the left side was my bayonet and
scabbard, and Intrenching tool handle,
this handle strapped to the bayonet
scabbard. In the rear was my in
trenching tool, carried in a canvas case.
This tool was a combination pick and
spade. A canvas haversack was
strapped to the left side of the belt,
while on my hack was the pack, also
of canvas, held in place by tjvo canvas
straps over the shoulders; suspended
on the bottom of the pack was my
mess tin or canteen in a neat little
canvas case. My waterproof sheet,
looking like a jelly roll, was strapped
on top of the pack, with a wooden stick
for cleaning the breach of the rifle pro
jecting from each end. On a lanyard
around my waist hnng a huge jack
knife with a can-opener attachment.
The pack contained my overcoat, an
extra pair of socks, change of under
wear, hold all (containing knife, fork,
spoon, comb, toothbrush, lather brush,
shaving soap, and a razor made of tin.
with "Made in England" stamped on
the blade; when trying to shave with
this it made you wish that you were
at war with I’atngonin, so that you
eouid have a “holjow ground” stamped
"Made in Formally”) ; then your house
wife. button-cleaning outfit, consisting
of a brass button stick, two stiff
brushes, and a box of "Soldiers’
Friend” paste; then a shoe brush and
a box of dubbin, a writing pad, Indel
ible pencil, envelopes, and pay book,
and personal belongings, such as a
small mirror, a decent razor and n
sheaf of unanswered letters, and fags,
"in your haversack you carry your Iron
rations, meaning a tin of bully beef,
four biscuits and a an containing tea,
sugar and Oxo .dies; u couple of
pipes and a pa ' of shag, a tin of rifle
oil. and a pc , tough. Tommy gen
erally carries tv- oil with his rations;
it gives the ese a sort of sardine
taste.
Add to this a first-aid pouch and a
long. •fUgaia'y rifle patterned after the
Daniel |tonne period, and you have an
Idea of a British soldier In Blighty.
Before leaving for France, this riile
is taken from him and he is issued
with a Lee-Enfleld short trench rifle
and a ration bag.
In France he receives two gas hel
mets, a sheepskin coat, rubber mack
intosh, steel helmet, two blankets, tear
shell goggles, a balaclava helmet,
gloves and a tin of antifrostbite grease
which is excellent for greasily; UiA"
bools. A(1<1 to this the weight of Ills
rations, and can you blame Tommy for
growling at a twenty-kilo route march?
; Having served as sergeant major In
the United States cavalry, I tried to
tell the Eugiish drill sergeants their
business, but it did not work. They
immediately put me as batman in their
mess. Many a greasy disli of stew was
accidentally spilled over them,
i I would sooner fight than be a waiter,
so when the order came through from
headquarters calling for a draft of
250 re-enforcements for France, I vol
unteered.
Then we went before the M. O.
(medical officer) for another physical
examination. This was very brief. lie
asked our names and numbers and
said "Fit,” and we went out to fight.
We were put into troop trains and
sent to Southampton, where we de
trained, and had our trench rifles is
sued to us. Then in columns of twos
we went up the gangplank of a little
steamer lying alongside the dock.
At the head of the gangplank there
was an old sergeant, who directed that
we line ourselves along both rails of
the ship. Then he ordered us to take
life belts from the racks overhead and
put them on. I have crossed the ocean
several times and knew 1 was not sea
sick. tint when I buckled on that life
belt 1 had a sensation of sickness.
After we got out into the stream all
I could think of was that there were a
million German submarines with a tor
pedo on each, across the warhead of
which was Inscribed my name and ad
dress.
After five hours 'we came alongside
a pier end disembarked. 1 bad at
tained another one of my ambitions.
I was “somewhere In France.” We
slept in the open that night on the side
, of the road. About six the next morn
i ing we were ordered to entrain. I
looked around for the passenger
roaches, hut nil I could see on the sid
ing were cattle cars. We climbed into
these. On the side of each car was
a sign reading “Homines 40, Oheveuux
8." When we got inside of ihe cars,
we thought that perhaps the sign
painter had reversed the order of
things. After 48 hours in these trucks
we detrained tit Itouen. At tills place
we went through an intensive training
for ten days.
The trairting consisted of the rudi
ments of trench warfare. Trenches
had been dug, with barbed wire en
tanglements, bombing saps, dtigouts,
j observation posts and machine gun em
placements. We were given a smat
tering of trench cooking, sanitation,
bomb throwing, reconnoitering, listen
ing posts, constructing and repairing
barbed wire, “carrying in” parties.
The Author's Identification Disk.
methods used in ntlnck and defense,
wiring parties, mass formation, and
the procedure for poison-gas attacks.
On the tenth day we again met our
friends “Homines -40, Chevenux S.”
Thirty six hours more of misery, and
we arrived at the town of F-.
After unloading our rations and
equipment, we lined up on the road in
columns of fours waiting for the order
to march.
A dull rumbling could be heard. The
sun was shining. I turned to the man
on my left and asked, “What’s the
noise, Hill?” lie did not know, but ills
face was of a pea-green color. Jim,
on my right, also did not know, hut
suggested that I “uvvsk” the sergeant.
Coming towards us was an old griz
7.h i sergeant, properly fed up with
the war, so I “awsked" him.
“Think it's going to rain, sergeant?"
He looked at jne in contempt, and
grunted, “’Ow’s it a-goln’t*-r rain witli
the bloomin’ sun a-shinin’?" 1 looked
guilty.
“Them’s the guns up the line, me
Ind. and you’ll get enough of 'em be
fore you gets back to Blighty.”
My knees seemed to wilt, and I
squeaked out a weak "Oh 1”
Then we started our march up to the
line in ten-kilo treks. After the first
day’s march we arrived at our rest
billets. In France they call them rest
billets, because while in them Tommy
works seven days a week and on the
eighth day of the week he is given
twenty-four hours “on his own.”
Our billet was a spacious affair, a
large barn on the left side of the road
which had one hundred entrances,
ninety-nine for shells, rats, wind and
rain, find the hundredth one for Tom
my. I was tired out, and using my
shrapnel-proof helmet (shrapnel prow
until a piece of shrapnel hits it), or
tin hat. for a pillow, lay down in th«
straw, and was soon fast asleep. 1
must have slept about two hours, when
I awoke with a prickling sensation all
over me. As I thought, the straw had
worked through my uniform. I woki
up the fellow lying on my left, who had
been up the line before, and asked
him:
“Does the straw bother you, mate'
It’s worked through my uniform and 1
can’t sleep.”
In a’ sleepy voice he answered,
“That ain’t straw, them’s cooties.”
From tliftt time on my friends thi
“cooties” were constantly with me.
“footles,” or body lice, are the banc
of Tommy’s existence.
The aristocracy of the trenches very
seldom call them “cooties," they speak
of them as fleas.
To an American flen means a small
Insect armed with a bayonet, who Is
wont to jidf it into you and then hop
skip and jump to the next place to be
attacked. There is an advantage in
having (lens on you instead of “cooties’1
In that in one of his extended jumps
said flea is liable to land on the fel
low next to you; he has the typical
energy and push of the American,
while the “cootie” has the bulldog
tenacity of the Englishman; he holds
on and consolidates or digs in until
his meal is finished.
There is no way to get rid of them
permanently. No matter how often
yon bathe, find that is not very often
or how many times you change yout
underwear, your friends the “cooties’
are always in evidence. The billets arc
infest od with them, psnecinllv so il
there is straw on the floor.
1 have taken a hath and put on
brand-new underwear; in fact, a com
plete change of uniform, and then
turned in for the night. The nest morn
ing my shirt would he full of them. It
is a common sight to see eight or ten
soldiers silting tinder a tree with their
shirts over their knees engaging in a
“shirt hunt.”
At night about half an hour before
“lights out,” you can see the Tommies
grouped around a candle, trying, in its
dim light, to rid their underwear of
the vermin. A popular and very quick
method is to take your shirt and draw
ers, and run the seams back and for
ward in the flame from a candle and
burn them out. This practice is dan
gerous, because you are liable to burn
holes in the garments if you are not
careful.
Recruits generally sent to Blighty
for a brand of insect powder adver
tised ns “Good for body lice.” The ad
vertisement is quite right; the powder
is good for “cooties;” they simply
thrive on it.
The older men of our battalion were
wiser and made seratchers out of
wood. Those were rubbed smooth with
a bit of stone or sand to prevent splin
ters. They were about eighteen inches
long, and Tommy guarantees that a
soratcher of this length will reach
any part of the body which may be at
tacked. Some of the fellows were lazy
and only made their seratchers twelve
inches, but many a night when on
guard, looking over the top from the
lire step of the front-line trench, they
would have given a thousand “quid''
for the other six inches.
Once while we were in rest billets an
Irish Hussar regiment camped in an
open field opposite our billet. After
they *.ad picketed and fed their horses,
u general shirt hunt took place. The
troopers ignored the call “Itinner up."
and kept on with their search for big
game. They had a curious method of
procedure. They hung their shirts over
a hedge and beat them with their en
trenching tool handles.
I asked one of thorn why thoy dicml
pick thorn off by hand, and he an
swered, “Wo haven’t had a hath for
nine weeks or tt change of clabber. If
1 tried to pick the ‘cooties' off my shirt.
I would be here for duration of war.”
After taking a close look at his shirt, I
agreed with him; it was alive.
The greatest shock tt recruit gets
when he arrives tit Ills battalion in
Trance Is N see the men engaging In a
“cootie” hunt. With an air of con
tempt and disgust he avoids the com
pany of the older men, until a couple
of days later, In a torment of itching,
ho also has to resort to a shirt hunt,
or sp -nd many a sleepless night of
misery. 1 hiring these bunts there are
lots of pertinent remarks bandied back
and forth among the explorers, such
ns, “Say, Bill, I’ll swap you two little
ones for u big one," or, “I’ve got a
black one here that looks like Kaiser
B11.L”
(continued Next Week.)
Proper Lighting Important.
In recent years boards of health all
over the country have become so much
impressed with the importance of prop
er lighting, even natural sunlight, that
laws are enforced strictly as to the
placiujj of windows in yubiic schools.
MB
ANHEUSER-BUSCH—ST. LOUIS
RITCHIE GROCER CO.
Wholesale Dealers EL DORADO, ARK.
Bevo is a great favorite in the Amy Canteens, where none
but pure, soft drinks may be sold. After drill or march,
you are sure to see a long line of hot and dusty-throated
soldier boys making a bee-line for Bevo. They know that
there lies complete satisfaction, full refreshment and pure
wholesomeness.
At home or abroad — at work or play — between meals
or with meals, you will appreciate what we have done for
you in making this triumph in soft drinks.
You will find Bevo at inns, restaurants, groceries, depart
ment and drug stores, picnic grounds, baseball parks, soda
fountains, dining cars, in the navy, at canteens, at mobili
zation camps and other places where refreshing beverages
are sold.
Bevo—the all-year-’round soft drink
Guard against substitutes. Have the bottle opened in front of
you, first seeing that the seal is unbroken and that the crown top
bears the Fox. Sold in bottles only, and bcttled exclusively by
Protects Desk Tops.
A pressed cardboard cover to protect
the tops of desks is the invention of a
California school janitor.
No. iooso.
REPORT OF THE CONDITION
of the
f IRST NATIONAL BANK OT HSJTTIO
At Huttig, in the State of Arkansas, at
the Close of Business March
4th, 1918.
RESOURCES.
Loans and Discounts . ... $ 66.760.81 !
U. S. Bonds deposited to secure circu
lation (par value) ... 6,250.00
U, S. bon is ond certificates of indeht
ness owned and unpledged $3,000.00
Securities other than U S. bonds, not
eluding stocks owned unpledged ...
Stock oi Federal Reserve Bank (50 per
cent of subscription}.
Value of Banking House .
Furniture and Fixtures .
Real estate owned other than banking
house ....
Lawful reserve with Federal Reserve
Bank. ..
Cash in vault and net amounts due
from national banks
Total of Items 14. 15.
16, 17 and 18 . S57.591 37
Checks on banks located outside of city
or town reporting bank and other
cash items. .
Redemption fund with U. S. Treasurer
and due from U S. Treasurer .
War Saving Stamps..
9.250.00
5,882.17
850.00
2.300.00
1.700.00
261.50
10,977.16
57.591.37
93.88
312.50
136.76
Total ...
$156,1 16.15
LIABILITIES
Capital Stock. Paid in $ 25.000.00
Surplus Fund .. 3.800.00
Undivided Profits.$2,828.00
Less current expenses,
interest and taxej paid. 1,984 49 843.55
Circulating notes outstanding 6,250.00
Demand Deposits:
Individual Deposits subject to check 118.263 49
Cashiei ‘s Checks outstanding . 603.05
Total Demand DepositsSl 18,866.54
Certificates of Deposit ... 1,356.06
Total time deposi.s.$1,336.06
Total
S’56.1 lb.15
State of Arkansas, County of Union, ss:
I, H. J. Scptu Cashier of the above-named bank,
do solemnly swear that the above statement Is ti ue
to the best of my knowledge and belief.
H. J. SCOTT, Cashier.
Correct Attest:
F. W SCOTT,
C. A. BER°Y.
A. G. STEPHENSON.
Oh actors.
Subscribed and sworn to before me this 13th day
of March. 1918.
E. R. FORD, Notary Public,
RECAPITULATION.
RESOURCES.
Loans and Discounts
Overdrafts
U. S. Bonus to secure calculation ..
Bonds, Securities, etc
Stock ,n Federal Reserve Bunk
Barking House and Fixtures
Other real estate owned.
Cash and Exchange
Redemption Fund
Wa. Savi , s Stamps
Total
LIABILITIES
Capital Slock paid in
Surplus fund and undivided profits
Circulation
Deposits
Total.....
S 66,760.8!
NONE
6.260.00
5.682.17
850.00
4.000.00
26 1.50
68.662.41
312.50
136.76
$156,1 16.15
* S5.000.00
4.643.55
6,250.00
120.222.60
$ 156,116. IS
To Save the Eyes.
To avoid straining the eyes n per
son of normal vision should hold the
hook to be read 15 or IS inches from
the face und on a direct line with
the eyes. Never hold a book low
while reading. The strain on the eyes
Is much greater when the book is
held in the lap. If you make a prac
tice of reading while lying down you
should be careful to hold your book
at the proper angle.
Loss of Arabian Literature.
Arabian literature, had it uot eut
fered imitititioa, would ltave remained
i treasure house for the selMdara of
all lands. The dlsasflnous fire at the
Hseurial, in 1071, probufcly inspired by
bigotry, by which 3,000 volumes, uiost
‘ ly Arabian chronicles, were destroyed,
| was probably a greater leas thau the
burning of tlK Alexandrian library,
j caused by tlae Mohammedans.
Vour Patriotic Call to Duty!
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