Elmore County Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1910-1915, 1915-02-13
Wounded Sergeant Changes His
Opinion Respecting Recruit
Called "His Lordship."
NOTED FOR HIS LAZINESS
Promise of Good Nights Rest Leads
Him to Distinguish Himself In
Charge on village-Defends Bed
Against Whole Regiment.

|
his most thrilling battle experience.
When we started for the front we
had in our company man whom |
simply could not stand. He was tall,
well built, rather good looking, with
light hair and mustache, and most aw-
fully lazy, There was no mistake
bout it-he had wealthy parents, a.
nan who had never travelled without
a valet.
On the moment of his arrival In
our midst we named him his lord
hip, and bets were made that he
would succumb after the first days
larch. Not bit of 1t. 1t Is true he
.ooked tired at the start, but he looked
no more SO at the finish. But when we
reached the place where we were to
rest for the night, he calmly unwound
mis- puttees, underneath which he wore
real silk socks. We felt a bit upset.
Silk socks for a soldier are clearly
against army regulations.
Manicures His Nails.
But this was nothing to what fol-
lowed He got out a nice leather
box, opened 1t, extracted some sort of
instrument and proceeded to manicure
his nails
All the boys gathered around him
to watch the performance; but put
an end to 1t by promising him four
days in the ordinary which he was
to undergo after the taking of Ber-
lin, for, you see we could not very
well spare the man Just then.
We were finally placed In the
trenches His lordship did everything
ungrudgingly, but he could not sleep
without pillow, so he paid four
packets of cigarettes a day to a fat
fellow and rested his head on the lat
ter's stomach, But we began to re-
spect him from the day when he laid
low 16 Germans with IS cartridges. It
was some shooting and he did 1t as
nonchalantly as If he were in a rife
gallery
Well, we left the trenches--that
is some of us did, and some did not
and even then one day we were or
dered to take by assault village oc-
cupied by Bavarian regiment.
First In Dash for Bed.
ITO give added courage to the men.
our captain said: You see these
houses? There are beds In them, and
these beds are for your use II we take
the village Take my word for 1t,
we did not lose any time, and IL | did
not hustle then, | never hustled In all
my life was among the first to
reach the nearest house-at least
thought was, but when | dashed In
found his lordship' calmly stretched
out on bed previously occupied by
German officer, whom he had thrown
out of the window.
We thought that we could have
good nights rest, but about three
o'clock in the morning we were told to
get up, as German regiment was
marching against u.s. awoke my
men, and all rose without a murmur,
all except his lordship.'
Get up!' | shouted
He opened one eye, looked at me
and said, Not on your life.'
What do you mean? | was chok-
ing with anger. We must retreat;
whole German regiment is about to-
attack us
If it is the whole German army,
| will not give up my bed to them, he
answered with some heat-the first
time saw him get hot about anything
at all
Holds Germans of.
- order you started to sav but
he shut his eye, turned on the other
side and slept. | added eight days to
his solitary and as | could not very
we'll carry him ON my shoulders, left
him to his fate.
I'VE retired upon an adjoining hill,
within half mile OF the village, to
await re-enforcements At dawn our
captain, who was watching the enemy
through field glasses, exclaimed with
SURPRISE This Is curious! They have
not entered the village yet. They
content themselves with shooting at
the houses.
Il looked in turn. 1t was true, the
Germans were held back by somebody
and every now and then one of them
fell And then / saw at one of the
windows white apparition. 1t was
his lordship, rife in hand, defending
his bed
Our requirements arrived, we
took back the village and-can you
imagine where | found his lordshipY
He was fast asleep in the bed.
shook him; he opened his eye and
muttered: Bring me my coffee
gave him four more days of solitary,
and the general added an order to
have him mentioned in dispatches.
Il suppose he is still fighting and
doing good work, while | have taken
the pledge never to Judge a man by
his looks"