The twice-a-week Twin Falls times. (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1916-1918, 1917-11-29
THE GIRL WHO WAS A SOLDIER
CONTINUED from page .

small town in Ohio. She was about
twenty years old, dark, very pretty and
very sentimental on the subject Of
soldiers.
where do you come from?" she
called to me, as ! was sitting in the
car window.
Arizona" / replied.
"Where are you going?"
Somewhere in France!' / answered
proudly and hopefully too.
She looked so shocked that got out
and talked with her. We chatted for
quite awhile. She took my address
and said she would keep me posted on
things back home when l was in the
trenches. I carried the thing through
to the end. ! even kissed her at part
ing. She was awfully surprised, but
thrilled at the romance of the situation.
Being a Romeo is easier than being
soldier.
Just before we reached Chicago my
husband came to me and begged me
not to go on.
1T viii be better for you to go home
with the folks" he said. you can
study nursing and enter the Red Cross
as soon as you qualify"
"Yes," replied, Il can spend months
in preparation, and when l finish they
viii send me to the eastern front or
put me on some hospital ship or keep
me on duty here in the u. S. A. Not
for mel ! viii ne no nearer you than
/ was before. If l go along there viii
be a chance of my being sent for duty
back of your lines. At least ] win re-
quest that position"
Il command you to return he said
in his severest military manner.
"I'll think it over, Corporal Carter"
! promised and walked away. When
the train pulled out of Chicago I was
in the cook car peeling potatoes.
When we arrived in Hoboken the
men went straight from the train to
the transport. Here again my husband
demonstrated with me.
Husband Again Urges Her to Return
you've got away with it this far"
he said Don't you think it is time to
go backr'
I'll say goodby, and III go-n 1
can" was my answer.
When the time came / fell in line
again with the cooks and went aboard
the barge
The barge was tied alongside the
embarking. 1t was piled high with
supplies which were being loaded on to
the ship. These kept arriving all day
and far into the night Great truck
loads of them were emptied out on the
deck. This continued during the entire
three days we were anchored there /
worked like a Trojan. and my hands
were well blistered, but my heart was
happy.
There were no sleeping quarters on
the barge. but there were plenty OF
mattresses. The cooks were quarter
ed together We slept on mattresses
thrown on the floor inside the barge
cabin. 1t was not uncomfortable
used to wake up in the night. look out
at the dusky form of the transport
swaying gently on the tide and pray
would not be discovered until / was
aboard and well out on to the ocean
The boys around me snored peacefully
They had nothing to worry them bu
the work of unloading the supplies
Every evening there was a crap game
in the cabin. 1t was what you would
call a fading game-noisy. with call:
for Little Joe" and the rest. Th'
players got most of their fun out O.
joshing one anothe- One man usual.
took all the mOn' The next nigh
some fellow-a winner in another gam
would take it away from him, and s,
1t went. Finally, the lucky survive
had it all
There were few, if any, shore leave
after the men boarded the transport
The furthest they went was out on tn
pier. Across the river, they could Sc
the gay lights of New York beckonine
They had read often of the Great Whit
Way. Few Of them had ever seen il
Here they were, within few minute
of it, yet it might as well have been
thousand miles away.
"I'd like to take just one slant" sal
a rookie to me one evening, as we wer
standing on deck gazing across tn
river at the mass OF lights we knew
was New York. He was a big, raw
boned fellow, typical OF the west. 'T
like to give the old town the once owe
as long as I'm going over to fight 70
her. Gee, Look at them lights. Mus
be a billion Of them. And the build
ings. Kinda tall, Ell? If the German
ever started shooting at them. goo
night"
Over on the transport an accordion
was whining sweet Adeline."
swung into I've Been Working on tn
Railroad"-old trooper songs. The
came "'Way Down Eonder In the Corr
field" The boys were harmonizin
again. Always singing, singing, sins
ing Music is the safety valve of tn
soldier.
All the next morning there was a
unusual hurrying to get the supple
aboard. We knew the hour of sailin
was close at hand, although no order