The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1915-02-05
SLEEPY bR|T0A
| DEFENDS WHOLE
| VILLAGE ALONE
Wounded Sergeant Changes His
I Opinion Respecting Recruit
Called "His Lordship."
NOTED FOR HIS LAzINESS
Promise of Good Nights Rest Leads
Him to Distinguish Himself in
Charge On ViIlase--Defends Bed
Against Whole Regiment.

n Against UHSiS hSSifncht.
y London.-"Neyer again will | judge
a man by his appearance said a
II wounded sergeant, when asked for
u his most thrilling battle experience.
M"When We started for the front we
Il had in our company a man whom |
81 simply could not stand. He was tall,
n well built, rather good looking, with
Hight hair and mus che, and most aw-
II fully lazy. I. - Wa no mistake
*about it-he had Mea.thy parents, a
man who had never Travelled without
ia valet.
III On the moment of his arrival in
ur midst We ndmed him his lord
4. jhip," and bets were made thaL he
&would succumb after the first days
march. Not a bit Of it. 1t is true he
looked tired at the start, but he looked
&no more so at the finish. But when we
Preached the place where we were to
#rest for the night, he calmly unwound
" his puttees, underneath which he wore
%Ereal silk socks. We felt a bit upset.
Silk socks for a soldier are clearly
against army regulations.
N M%anicures His Nails.
But this was nothing to what fol.
lowed. He got out a nice leather
box, opened it, extracted some sort Of
g%instrument and proceeded to manicure
his nails.
N All the boys gathered around him
to watch the performance; but | put
an end to it by promising him four
days in the Ordinary which he vas
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 a pillow, so he paid four
] packets Of cigarettes a day to a fat
yellow 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. 1t
was some shooting and he did it as
nonchalantly as If he were in a rifle
gallery
# Well, we left the trenches--that
lis some of us did, and some did not
and even then one day we were or.
dered to take by assault a village oc.
cupied by a Bavarian regiment.
Ri First In Dash for Bed.
NY 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 if we take
the village Take my word for it,
# we did not lose any time, and if l did
"a not hustle then, | never hustled in all
my life. | was among the first to
d reach the nearest house-at least l
u thought | was, but when l dashed in
@I found his lordship' calmly stretched
" put on a bed previously Occupied by
n a German officer, whom he had thrown
NJ out of the window.
Il We thought that we could have a
good nights rest, but about three
" o'clock in the morning we were told to
III get up, as a German regiment was
~ marching against us. l. awoke my
n! men, and all rose without a murmur.
all except his lordshlp.'
III Get up | shouted.
MI He opened one eye, looked at me
III and said, Not on your life.
III VIVA do you mean?' was chok.
II ing with anger. W e must retreat; a
N whole German regiment Is about to
attack US
III it is the whole German army,
n | will not give up my bed to them he
u answered with some heat-the first
y time | saw him get hot about anything
n at all. .
Holds Germans Oh.
II II order you | started to sa. but
he shut his eye, turned on the other
sid and slept. | added eight days tc
II his solitary md as | could not very
we'll carry him on my shoulders, left
4 hIra b. t'. fate
II we 6aA u. Gl al aoJothi'5 A
n n ..:,.a tuIe of the village, tc
y. dement's At dawn oul
nu IS watching the enemy
= "a sos exclaimed with
".. q. curious! They have
~. village yet. They
h. . rvs YES with shooting al
f.. a..r @,
l-a.v4 m 'arn. It was true, the
II Z, ..4:, Sore ga.a pack by somebody
.-a.. n.Gd then one of then
lItl. ara ,Upn | saw at one oil tint
windows a White apparition. 1t wal
his lordship, rife in hand, defending
his bed
Our requirements arrived, VI
took back the village. and--can yo'
imagine where I found his lordship'
He was fast asleep in the bed.
shook him; he opened his eye AM
muttered: Bring me my coffee.
gave him four more days OF solitary
and the general added an order 7
have him mentioned in dispatches.
Il suppose he is still fighting an
doing good work, while I have tahe'