Grand Forks daily herald., 1914-11-19

There Is a certain amount of
grouching among the men. of course.
There always is. in every camp. It
is an article of faith with them tn"
Valcartier camp in Canada is tho
model upon which all other per-
manent camps should be built. The
English army diet does not correspond
to the grub pile" of the roundup
and the "chuck" of the mines, or the
refined table board" one can find in
the tree-shaded back streets of Ca
madam cities. There is no butter, and
there are too few vegetables. and tn.
ration is scientifically adapted to tbs
sometimes fails to fit the appetite of
one.
All Had the Hives.
we came here" said q lad from Win
nipeg 1--WE averaged about sixty
hives to the man. Lemme see. Ther
are 10000 Of US. That would make
1900, 900 hives.'
But the hives passed away when
the men became accustomed to tn
new dietary order. Anyhow. this Is
II different sort Of grumbling than one
hears here. An English soldier either
doesn't "grouse" at all. becaus
capacity for kicking has been disci-
plined out Of him. or he has childish
and rather appealing way OF putting
his troubles up to 'them." If he were
called on to personally titillate sixty
personal hives he would feel that &
some i'll defined way his company OFF,
GERS had failed in their care Of him.
I'VE can't expect the grub we got
at home," they say. Anyhow, the
war office has mighty big job to put
million new men in the field. Some
little thing is mighty apt to go wrong"
1t Is only fair to say that the Ca
nadians seem to be the fair-haired
boys with the war office. One hears
complaints from other camps of
lack Of BLANKETS The. Canadians have
a straw tick to each man. They sleep
eight to a tent, where as in some Of
the British camps the tents are made
to sleep twice that many. Attacks
have been made on the food contrac-
tors at other camps.
"Thev're all right here" the men
say. 1--WE get the grub we're entitled
to Now that we're used to it, it's oil
right"
coffee bar contractors have made un-
due profits out Of poor food at other
camps. Each Canadian is given four
pence day food commutation to per-
nit him to vary the military ration.
The men agree that the food at tint
coffee bars is plentiful and good. The
four pence will buy. as an example, "a
thick and meaty sandwich, a cup Of
strong, hot coffee. and hunk of
raisin dabbled bread. They couldn't
do that well at the price in town.
They have quite as much leave as is
good for them. On my way to Lon
don I occupied an unobtrusive corner
of compartment In it were two
Canadian officers and an obvious Off
GER Of British regulars. The Canadians
were complaining.
Britains Don't Know Canadian Joke.
1T takes too much Of our time tc
80 to town." said they. We've been
to London twice this week-and It's
a rotten waste"
! The regular didn't see the buried
humor nor the twinkle In the Cana
dian eye. He wanted to know if !.
could help. He suggested, diftidently,
that he knew some chaps in the war
office.
"Your conversations" said the Ca
madam. Listens like dove. Do you
King George?"
The English regular for the first
time became painfully aware that
civilian was in the carriage.
Because" continued the Canadian
II want to get him to send the Horse
Guards off to the war and let us swell
around Buckingham Palace. I'm the
best little guard mounter you ever
saw"
Really" said the regular ohicer,
after grieved pause. Really"
The train paused at a station.
"Well," said the regular, escaping,
"hope to see you chaps again some
time."
He climbed into another compart-
ment. and probably perspired pro-
fusely all the way to town. The Ca
nadians laughed-and laughed. The
difference. 1t discloses between the
regulars and the transatlantic volun-
teers. The one is bred to q tradition
Of aloofness and hauteur. I rode down
to Salisbury in a compartment with
three regular army officers. They
didn't address three words to each
other on that journey. I do not know
whether they were strangers to each
other or not. At Salisbury shared an
automobile to West Downs South
Camp with a Canadian colonel. At
the camp he thrust his head out Of
the window
"Hey, slim.'' said he. "Oh, Slim!
Whatteryuh doing over here?"
If Slim isn't private can only
say that he looked like one. He was
a well-fed, red-necked, jolly, business
like soldier in sprouting whiskers and
an open tunic. He explained that as
he can bookkeep like defaulting
cashier he had been put at that Job.
He thought 1t was hard luck. He
could. keep books in Montreal.
Looks like that's horse on you,
Slim," said the colonel. Rrinning.
Equal to tho Best British.
In London there are various volun-
teer organizations made up Of banp
clerks and young lawyers and artists
and sportsmen and the like. Their
material is magnificent. The men are
I clean cut, alert, wide shouldered, thir
nanked. with intelligence and ginger
and courage showing all over them
It 10 generally reputed that these me,
are destined for non-commissione
rank a. soon as they have learned
discharge the N. c. duties. Many
them will 10 higher. These are Il,
only English volunteer orea nizat!on
/ have seen-mark the uualificatio,
II -thDt can sustain comparison VIII.
the Canadians. 1 have no hesitation
|. IN Declaring my conviction that II
Canadians are Huitea equal. conp,..
by company. Of the best Of the Englie'
|f1N0luntEers q 10 not believe there 4
- body Of $4,000 English yoluntsel