Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1915-02-17

SWIM IN THE LAKES
BY WILLIAM C. SHEPHERD


Omitted Press Staff Correspondent
CALAIS Feb. 1.-The Canadians
are ready for the trenches. They are
camped, in part, near a little lake in
France and they are finding that the
weather Of that country is far more
comfortable than the rains and mud
of England. Salisbury was as wet as
the trenches. The passenger who tries
to alight from a train at the little rail-
road station of the town near which
the Canadians are tenting will be put
back on the same train by a Canadian
Tommy and sent on his way. The
Tommy's explanation will be, you've
got to beat it, because it's orders"
The English officers and soldiers
never cease in their wonderment over
the Canadian brothers. In London
1t was the Canadian chop suey craze
that puzzled the English. There's only
one chop suey restaurant in London
and It caters almost entirely to Chi
nese students; the English have never
discovered the beauties of chop suey.
But there is scarcely a town in Canada
that does not boast of its chop suey
restaurants and 1t was only natural
for the Canadians to seek out a chop
suey place in London. They found II
at Picadilly Circus and thereafter the
Chinese students were crowded out by
Canadnias, both soldiers and officers.
English officers who were inveigled
into trying chop suey dinners with
their Canadian brothers only said,
Most extraordinary" and declined to
eat. Soon the fame of the Canadians
as chop suey eaters spread throughout
the British army and the general
Tor NIg,sst
able fellows"
But, If the Engllshh were surprised
at the chop suey hunger in London,
they are now even more surprised at
the football game which the Canad-
ians play on the banks of their little
lake in France. It's the American
game of push and gouge and the Eng
lish officers look on in bewilderment
as two Canadian eleVens struggle
through the mud toward the goals.
The English game Of soccer" which
is only a kicking game and, or of
Rugby, which is made up entirely of
open play are so entirely different
from the American form of the game,
as played by Canadians, that the Eng
lish soldiers declare that the Canad-
ians have no right to call their game
football" Which doesn't seem to
bother the Canadians in the least for
two or three games Of "footbalP' are
going on almost every afternoon in
the camp.
Though the lake near the camp Is
small, the members of various rowing
clubs in Canada have found old row
boats in which they keep up their
daily practice.
Great stuff" said a member of the
Winnipeg eight. "If | were back In
Winnipeg, where the earth Is frozen
four feet down, I'd be practicing with
a rowing machine, but here | can row
every day. I'll have It on 'em all when
| get back home" The races in row.
beats are another source OF astonlsh-
II ent to the English. zone rows only
in skulls" explained an English Of
ficer to Canadian.
$50 do We in Canada" replied the
"Ppadlan, "but in our country we
learn TO make the best Of clrcun-
stances"
There is little doubt that the Ca
nadians especially from the Canadian
northwest, are better able to endure
the cold than the average English
troops Medicine Hat Winnipeg, Cal
gary. with their forty below zero tenn
perature, produce a man who'll laugh
at thirty above bleakness OF France.
Hundreds Of the Canadians duck out
of their tents IN the morning anu jump
into the lake with shouts Of Joy, while
Britishers, bath-lovers as they are,
crawl into their warm clothes, saying
meanwhile, Most extraordinary
chaps those Canadians.
1t Is an observation among British
officers that tho Canadians are more
like Americans than like Englishmen.'
An .rlcan will find this observa-
tion Quite true.
Among the. nineteen American ma
rines killed at Vera Cruz last April
five nationalities were represented, of
course. the majority of the Canadians
over here in France are OF Engllsn
extraction, but the death lists that VIII
be printed in Canada, as soon as these
men get to the front, will contain the
names Of men of almost every occi-
dental nationality, with the exception
of Germany, Austria and Hungary.
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