The patriot. [volume] (Indiana, Pa.) 1914-1955, 1917-12-08

Frenchman fights on wine. / ordered
water in a restaurant here one night,
and created great excitement.
"'American drink waterY the wait
ress asked in amazement.
Relaxation Is Violent.
"The American soldier arrives In
France ripe for time He has
travelled in seclusion as near abso-
lutte as possible for from three to FIVE
weeks, and his first relaxation is usu-
ally rather violent. The policy fol-
lowed, judging from my observa-
ton, Is to give incoming soldiers as
much liberty as reasonably possible
with few rules Of restraint. Then,
as privileges are abused, restrictions
are made There is one town near
here, for instance, in which members
of the regiment are forbidden to
drink The government Of troops
thereby evolves into q sort Of local
option proposition-witht the option in
the hands of the commanding Of
f1cer. Regiments are sometimes like
individuals. They have a character
Of their own-and reputation. And
the intimation is that rules and or
ders will be applied, locally, as needed
for special cases. The system, / be-
lieve, will work admirably. IL a
regiment should go too strong on the
liquor, / suppose its drinking privi-
leges could be taken away altogether.
"The policing, insofar as Americans
are concerned, is in the hands of
Americans. The United States sol
dier is answerable, at present, only
to his commander. This was illus
trated the other day, when an officer
went down to the police station to
see if he could get the police of
nearby French city to apprehend
member of his company who had
wined too well and forgot to return
for two or three days. He finally
got the plan through the head of the
Ell Captain de Police.
"'Whatr exclaimed that official
Through an interpreter), we arrest
no one that fights for Francep
"Hence Uncle Sam is doing his own
policing. The marines are doing it
here. There has been no trouble of
any consequence, though. Once in
while the genuine and wholesome
good will of the French gives way to
evaporation at the strange demands
of the Americans. The slight friction
there has been is all due to differ
ences of language and custom. This
gives rise to many embarrassing stu
ations. One I may cite.
Don't Like WhistTing.
"At a small town near where / was
stationed few days ago we were Ng4e
to gather in front of the en-
poriums for an evening for social
purposes. A French soldier train
bound for the front goes through
every evening. Invariably the Ameri-
cans greeted the Frenchmen with
hearty cheers and whistling. The
French at first appeared to be en-
thusiastic enough. That is, when the
cheering began. Then they seemed
to get riled and not infrequently they
were suspected of calling us names.
Come to find out to whistle at a
person is to insult him in this coun-
try, and the French thought we were
hooting them. Result - an order
against whistling. | remembered that
in evening strolls when I had been
absent-minded whistling, persons
had looked at me rather strangely,
with kind of Are you doing that to
me?' look on their faces.
''Then, too, we landed here with
splash. The Australian and the Can
adian makes as much money as we do,
but they don't know how to spend it.
The American is the best spender on
earth; I don't mean merely in the
amount that he spends, but in the
obviousness with which he distributes
1T. He seldom haggles, and it may
be his last f1ve-franc piece that he
gives to the cabman for a two-franc
ride, but he doesn't hOller. He stop
ped in the best hotels and ate at the
best restaurants.
ST dined at the 'swellest' restaurant
in the aforesaid nearby city one
QlSnC. HF6SenC were lWO Il rISuCn SSh-
erals, half a dozen lesser officers, a
couple of English captains and six
buck privates of the q. S. A. with
their coats off and hanging on a
hook. This is a common sight. The
advance reputation of the Americans
and the way in which they have lived
up to it caught the eye of French
femininity-the abundance of which
cannot be overestimated-and | sus-
pect, that naturally enough there was
just a tinge of jealousy on the part
of the Frenchman home from the
trenches. Moreover, the American
hasn't done anything yet-proven his
steel, as it were. But that doesn't
amount to much.
Hats Are in Demand.
'The world of skirt is certainly
ours, however. The Americans hadn't
been here two months until society
in Paris had adopted the American
campaign hat for this season and
tbe yoU11p has SDread all over the cOun-