The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1917-10-20
Y. N. c. A. GIVING
SAMME ENROUTE
BEST ATTENTION
Cheer For The Boys After
They Leave Home In
wolves Diplomacy


out uniform, without previous mill
tary training, without even az very
definite idea OF war except that he is
going to fight it. is speeding.
Big-boned mountaineer OF the
south, who will wear his new uni
form when he gets 1t about as COM
fortably as If 1t were a mustard
a has never been ten miles away from
before in his life. Ex-member OF the
Gashouse Gang, raw recruit from
Hell's Kitchen, or college junior from
the ilk-stocking precfncts,-he is
pulling out Of New York for Yap-
hank. A slim French youth in the
northern states,-the patriotism of
two lands is blazing up in his eyes,
as he gets on the train near Fort
Caribou. A dazed young Servian, not
yet six months in America,-he is
learning his first English words in
the chorus Of Kaiser Bill" on the sta
tion platform Of d New England fac
tory town.
East and west, north and south,
the trains are footing Sammy away
from home. II isn't just one engine
but hundreds of them that are
grumbling their staccato warnings at
him, as he fingers for a last joke
with ''the bunch" 1t isn't just one
woman, but thousands of them, and
they wave goodbye. It isn't one Sam
my, but a whole army Of him, who Is
going away with bravado, promising
gaily to come back and bring the
kaiser along. aN
There has been a lot of talk about
how the men, in khaki pull out of
the station, to the flutter of hand
kerchiefs, and the thrill of bands.
Even without their uniforms, the
drafted men OF the new national
army have had their share of atten-
ton. It is quite a different matter
when the train is a few miles on its
way, after the excitement of depar-
ture has died, and they begin to
realize that home is behind them, and
A. the war ahead. Nobody has described
Y the sensations Of Sammy en- route.
Cheer En- Route.
Nobody ever win. either The fact
is that nobody knows exactly how
Sammy feels about going away to
fight except Sammy, and he isn't
telling. But for the past few weeks
railroad Y. M. G. A secretaries have
been travelling with the men Of the
new national army to cantonments
all over the United States. On more
than $50 trains they have already
been Following the soldiers on
wheels" as one OF them gratefully
put 1t, to do what they can to cheer
his trip. AS nearly as one man can
know the heart Of another, they know
this drafted Sammy's. They have
seen him in that first tragic moment
when he begins to realize that his
face Is turned away from home to-
ward unknown danger. And they re-
port that the average Sammy, no
matter what class or what part OF
the country he comes from, is more
afraid Of those first few hours on the
train than he is or the battlefield.
The stories of these "Y men, the
only ones who have Travelled in this
ments, begin, where ali the others
leave OF. Says Sammy to the Public"
is all very well, but Says Sammy TO
Himself" is quite another matter:
bombast, Sammy homesick and hu-
man, Is the one the trainmen see.
81 Want TO Go Home"
Above the rattle of wheels and the
shrek of the engine, an Alabama train
laden with soldiers shook with bell
low like that of bull that has nosed
his way into beehive. Without any
lowed the noise to its source, 900
pound Sammy possessed of the con-
Trajectory attributes of a double chin
all around. a sure-trfBger hand, hard
troll of child of g. Ham-like hands
over his distorted face, he was biub-
bering at the top of his voice:
Il want to go home! want to go
Down by the mass of shaken avoir-.
dupois the tYi man sat, and soothed
him gradually, till he learned that the
man came from a mountain settlement
where he had left q wife and three
children. Never in his life had be
been out of his own county before.
War? Dang ii, he want afraid or
that! He'd be darn glad to bust the
kaiser, in fact. only-he wanted to
Lots of other men in the car wanted
to go home, too, ii appeared from the
murderous glances they cast at the
in" like this. So the "Y" man sent
them home for a few minutes by
handing them post cards, even stamps
to the ones who hadn't any money,
and urging them to write home.
The First Message.
eco to il, fellow" he said. Send
your first messages to the home folks.
They'll be looking for word from
You might have thought the SOL
diers had been gone from home six
months instead Of few hours. They
the same old catT' like the boy in Ri
ley's story. but they did indicate by
the general tenor of their messages
home that Ii seemed to them long.
long time since they had taken that
morning train. They said, too, that
they were well, and hoped the folks
at home were the same, that they
put up "some fight. and sent lots of
After that the secretary passed,
around checker-boards = great
all your kings jumped off the board,
you must put your whole mind on
your play to the exclusion of feeling
hOmesick. What with the unexpected
moves forced upon them by the tram
and the comradeship of the game, the
men began to feel better.
The "Y" man won their hearts by
passing around hot coffee for them to
drink with the lunch the government
had provided. They began telling him
how they felt about things.
"War? HE'LL IL Amt war ! MIND,
Us goin' away and leavin' the Kids
and my woman to look out for them
selvesp' said one.
"If we could play the game on our
home field, with our own bunch
AROUND to root for % u.s. Il o0 W0SienI anIIss Ds
on another train one of the men ap-
peared to have been fighting his hrst
battle already. He was holding one
arm stiffiy. a soiIed and blood-stained
handkerchief around the hand
sDid it leaning out of the window
10 wave to my girl" he explained.
Another train came along and DIT
1t was really rather badly bruised.
and the "Y" man helped him wash It.,
and bind it up in clean covering
Word went through the car that
q lat Y. NJ C. A. chap is as good as
q Doctor" and two other men with
ailments sent for him.
"Got anything for the toothacheg
another Sammy wanted to know. ITS
that darn candy the girls threw after
us the last station back"
Has Many Symptoms.