The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1917-10-18
(By Laurence Ierroid.)

front, although they are burning TO
DO there. but they are not far from !
the front. I have just spent a few |
days with them watching them get ,
to business. They are getting to |
business with real American energy
and go-aheadness, and with the warm
help gratefully received, of French !
and British instructors who have !
had three years of war already and
know what 1t is. s3S
The American troops in their bill
let's. their camps, their training
grounds near the front, are already
absolutely at home.
They are settled ins villages where
they disturb the villagers by aggress-
i've sanitation. They have abolished
All dunghiIls. to the old farmers
anaazement and alarm. They have
purified the water. cleaned up streets.
cottages and farmyards. The viii
layers, at first terrified by these wild
measures are now reconctled, and
every little village grocery sells Amer
Jean matches, American tobacco,
American groceries, sterilized milk.
canned goods" American mustard.
and everything American, except
American whiskey. For at the messes.
where I was received with open arms
an an ally of today and for ever-no
American officer makes any doubt
about that-cold American purified
water and French coffee with Ameri-
can steriiized milk are the only
drinks.
villages of France have BECOME
American, and American cafe au, lait,
colored cars and motor-bikes with
side-cars tear all over the country,
driven by university boys turned
"chauffeurs."
saw French division in horizon
blue teach the new American army,
in khaki and wearing British trench
helmets. what a modern battle Is like.
It was moving sight. 1t was poig
nant really, when one heard that the,
French division had just come back
from verdun and was enacting over
a&ain In play what 1t had just done
in,ferrfble and glorious earnest. The
American staff stood ON q knoll
watching with the French stan ex-
planning. On the edge of the hill
to the left of the stan the new Amer
Jean army watched. Further to the
left the French troops came on. Every
~.poilu" among them had just come
from the real thing. He grinned as
hs played at war this time, and one
felt how he. must enjoy playing at it
now. But he played very well and
earnestly The whole thing was'done
as one has before watched it being
done under less reassuring circum-
stances for oneself The lines adj
.vanced In open formation. then stop
ped for the barrage fire to be pushed
forward Flares were sent up to sig
nal to the artillery There was an
other step forward under barrage fire,
another (shamA- barrage fire, more
fares and rockets, the horizpn-blue
line crep cautiously round to take the
first trenches, the machine-gun par
tf~a came nm. One more barrage
IRE and more signal then the Boone
trenches below us were taken.
IT was all exactly as 1t would have
been in real war. The French coroner
OF artillery, straight from action. ex-
plained 1t.
The American soldier tofficers told
M, understands the manoeuvre we'll
The officers find that their men are
quick at grasping individual field
work, l. O., make admirable non-com-
missioned officers with initiative, en-
terprise, and intelligence.
French officers, many of whom speak
English perfectly, while several Amer
lean bfficers / met speak very good
French. give enthusiastic and tntelli-
gent aasistance.
French and Americans are not much
alike IN method or by temperament
4 ,hAar9 q French officer describing a
hattie with perfect technical accuracy,
nut also with dramatic expressiveness
and with the literary sense. An Amer
fof al xtal1 Ted the
E'rench into American, and it was
American-short, sharp, almost crack
ding with crisp Americanisnfs. It was
the SAME battle described, but the
difference in the descriptions was de-
7ixhtful to note. Differences are moth
INK. The French are keen to teach.
fhe Americans, II possible. keener still
TO learn, and each understands the
other thoroughly to a common end.
Britiah instructors and American
pupils understand each other equally
wen.
never was more amused, pleased,
cheered and bucked up than by watch
ing British OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES train
ing American oficer-cadets. Imagine
q typical British sergeant with three
years Of war behind him and with
seven or more years of British mill
tary training before that, spending
every ounce of his energy every par
ficie Of his keenness. and every word
OF his vocabulary teaching young
Americans what they will have to do
in n few months time, and the young
Americans using every muscle Of their
body, ell their alertness, and all their
Meenness, too, to make themselves
ready for the fight that all are yearn-
T, ing to be in. Parties Of American Of
rAcer-cadets dug line upon line of
sham trenches, killed dummy Boches
on the way. washed through four lines
OF trenches, dug themselves in at the
last, and began instant rapid fire at
more Boche targets. 'Advance!" said
the sergeant. A second later Col"
and the young chap leapt out.
XIII 'em sweet and clean! Clean
killing 10 what we want!" shouted the
sergeant. The young Americans were
at the dummies and each dug his
dummy with wild ''Yah." or college
yell or scream.
Go ont" roared the sergeant:
there are more -Boches beyond. Clean
killing is what we want And the
Americans charged at several moe
lines Of dummies before they leapt
into the front trench. and began fir
ing. This sort OF exercise they do
something like twenty times a day,
from g. a. m. to 4 D. M. but 1t is not
U1rovr the same axarpfse