The daily Alaskan., 1917-11-08
CHAPTER I.
I Decide to Go to France.

ITS a long way from Douglas, Artz., to some port In France" but ]
 made the trip rigged up as a dough boy, and l would go farther than that to be near my husband However, the 'old man." as every commanding oti- cer is called In the army sent me back on the same transport after l had spent | five days in port within sight Uf my husband, but out of reach, and five nights walking the hoor and without sleep.
 am going back again and pay my | own way and get behind the lines and take care of the h0ys know so well when they are hit The income from these stories Is going 10 help pay my fare. and then l won have to fool the officers, as did, with tue regulation salute and "hUCt5 on tue same line and as near to each other aS the Contorma- | tion of man permits, knees straight without stiffness body erect, from the hips mclining slightly forward; shoul- ders squared and falling equally, arms and hands hungiug naturally. back O hands outward. little finger opposite seam uf trJasprS. bead erect, chin | slightly drawn iu without cOnstraint. l eyes looking straight in front. catching about fifteen paccS forward. That Is the position of soldier" l fooled them all right
 1 think the authorities were mean not to permit me 10 land in France, As long as l was there, it seems to me, they might have stretched point and allowed me to have had look at the
 war. But they were firm. They said letting me by might set an example for
 other girls to follow aud the first thing they knew Uncle Sam would have n troop of lady soldiers on his hands. At that. l cannot see why shouldn't { be a soldier and Il good one too. My grandfather fought in the civil war. My father was a regular in the Seventh cavalry. am the wife of Il soldier, one Of tue bruveSt, best SammieS under the flag. He is over there now on the fob. doing his bit to make the world safe for democracy, as they say. And I am over here praying he won't stop German whiz.bang while Ut 1t.
 Exactly when the idea of posing as a
 rookie" came to me I do not remem- Der. My husband. John J. Carter was A corporal in the Eighteenth Infantry encamped at Douglas Ariz. He belongs to K company. There was a lot of talk
 among the boys for long time about heinz ordered out. None of them knew
 where the Eighteenth would be sent
 They used 10 come to our house In
 Pritleyille. right outside Of Douglas,
 when they were or duty and do a heap of surmising and guessing. Some or them thought they would Dc kept on the border to see that things remained quiet there and kid with the MeSicaus. | Others had huuch they would tol' low PerShing to FraEcc. The old tin
 CTS were pulling for the latter.
 Asi look back now must have had the germ of the idea in the back of my head even then. though never voiced if even to myself. You see, l was mar
 ried only last December, and the
 thought of my husband going away
 and leaving me behind stirred my i'm
 aginatiUn. We went together for A
 year and a half before we dug up tue parson. wish ] had that year and a
 half with him now
 l On. ,yor. rorDoroI Tartar OoTDn homo
 from the supply depot. where he had
 been on guard duty The minute l saw his face 1 knew he had his orders.
 He was not excited, because he is an
 old timer at soldering He told me he
 was leaving the next day under secret
 orders. There was not much warning.
 The troops Just packed up and left.
 I did not tell him l was going, too,
 because he knows always go through with anything l take a notion to do and 1t might have worried him. But
 had determined to make try at 1t any [ how. That evening and the next morn ling, while he was busy attending to the
 details of packing and getting of, was pretty busy myself. l knew where , Ethere was a discarded khaki uniform
 regulation army, that would it me. By !, the uniform l mean the trousers, coat shirt and campaign hat.
 }. Ready to March.
 Getting the rest of my wardrobe was
 easy. l bought shoes, boys size, whicf looked exactly like the army shoes Canvas leggings and boys underwear completed the outfit l was ready and eager to be on the march. was twen fi ty-two and full of health and boyish i1 appearance.
 My husband said his farewell about noon. He was pretty blue, because ht thought it would be goodby for a long time, perhaps for always. But he Is first, last and always Q soldier, and hE ? Q lI