Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-02-12
BRITISH WAR CYCLISTS
No Speed Limit for Motor Dispatch
Riders-Lead a Hard Life.

Riders-Lead a Hard Life.
Omnipresent dust and equally ubi-
quitius cheerfulness mark the young
men who are motorcycle dispatch
riders for the British forces, accord
ing to G. Valentine Williams, who de-
scribes the work of these daring
young fellows in the London Daily
Mail. Mr.. Williams had a talk with
a score or so Of the riders who were
fresh from the front, at a tiny French
town which maintains the usual CEN
sored anonymity. He says:
IT am not concerned here particu-
larly with the performances Of the
motorcyclists' corps. Every general
staff officer with whom I have spoken
is enthusiastic about the work it is
doing, and as a corps it certainly has
not it's equal in any armies in the
field. For the moment I am thinking
only of the spirit Of those youngsters
who gathered around me in the circle
Of light thrown by the powerful lamps
resting on their travel-stained ma
chimes, eager. impulsive, h%igh-spirit-
ed boys, laughing at the layer Of Pc
~trol-scented dust with which hair and
face are covered, making light Of the
miles behind them as Of the miles to
come, though a cold night and a
frosty dawn lay between them and
LII I4rkfn
Carry All Requisites.
Most of them had a rifle slung
across their backs; some had none,
but a revolver was strapped to the
leather belt encircling their dusty
overalls. On the carrier behind them
they mostly carried a begrimed sack
with their possessions-a brush and
comb, a toothbrush, sleeping things,
and shaving tackle, with perhaps a
few maps. Looking at them, so
dutiful, so dirty aid so cheerful, I
could not help thinking of them-as
many Of them were in London-the
immaculate m~otorcyclist Of the SUI
burbs with the lady Of his affections
instead Of a grimy pack on the car
rier behind.
"All classes are represented among
the army m~otorcyclists. Most of them
are undergraduates or public school
boys, many have come from the Of
flcers' training corps, many are clerks
or shop assistants. All the varied ac-
cents of class and country are heard
in their speech. from the studied cor
rectness of Oxford to the homely burr
Of the west. But the most complete
democracy exists among these knights
of the road. Cliques and classes seem
to have vanished when the blue and
white armband Of the signaling corps
Of the royal engineers-the emblem of
their branch-was fastened to their
sleeve.
Doubtless. after the manner of
Englishmen herding together, they
have also evolved their own code of
manners and customs from which 1t
is not permitted to depart an inch.
One thing l know: Anything like
%'grousing' or shrinking is barred. !
offered a clothes brush to one bronzed
young man who was so smothered in
dust that he looked as if he had been
dropped into a flour bin. He politely
declined it. If you look properly
dusty he said alphabetically, they'll
see you've not been Sinking. don't
you know?'
All the time we were talking more
dusty and enthusiastic young men
kept whirling in. A large convoy of
army motor-lorries were parking for
the night in the market place. and one
by one the lorries came numbering
up. Every now and then a high pill
lar of dust would come skirting In
and u of the clumsy vans. 1t would
eventually materialize into a perfectly
cool and extremely cheerful youth,
who was quite willing to talk about
the war and his experiences and who
seemed only to remember. as an
afterthought, that he had come go
miles by road. had had practically
nothing to eat OF drink all day, that