Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-07-05
PHILADELPHIA BOYS
FIRST TASTE OF WAR
David R. Stief Writes Vivid Ac-
count of Startling Ex-
periences
WITH DR.. HARTE'S UNIT
Tribulations of Travel Followed by I'm
proved Conditions on Arrival
in England
WITH DIR. HARTE'S UNIT
By M'LISS

BY M'LISS
He picked rocks out Of his bed and
reaches out of his tea but 1t was all In
cidental to his getting cover there" to
serve his country, and now young David
Ralston Stef. the son of Mir. aud Mrs VIII.
liam F. Stef. Of 4517 North Thirteenth
street who sailed away with the PhiladeI-
phia Base Hospital, Unit No. TO- Of which
DR. Richard II, Harte is the chief. has
written back home a series OF vivid de.
scriptions Of the getaway and the arrival
Of the unit in Blackpool. England
The young man. who was a junior al
Haverford College when he left was the
president of his class and a member Of the
combined musical cluuS, He had previously
graduated from the William Penn Charter
School, where he grabbed more than a large
share of honors. He was or-in-chief Of
the magazine president Of the Literary So.
ciety, chairman Of the defamation contest
of the class and school debating teams. a
member of the committee on athletic i'm.
provement, a member of the Elee club and
lastly, commencement speaker In 1915, win
ming cup for this.
THE events prior to our departure" he
wrote on May 10 aboard the S. S. St.
Paul, you probably have read. We ar.
rived in Jersey City. lunched and were
ferried directly to our ship where We were
assigned to our quarters. Third class-the
| lowest they could put us-rotten sleepis <
| facilities and worse meals. We didn't sail
Tor day so that we could get supper Fri
day evening and breakfast Saturday else
where with at least clean implements
SHERMAN WAS EXACT
| Honest to goodness | found a whopper
| of cockroach in my tea (?) and one
OF my neighbors found one in his meat.
Sherman was most exact!
I'VE shipped about 1870 and went to
| hn6 a aNs
deck Found out they were going to swab
decks at next morning, so beat It for
| our bunks and woke up at that tint any
| way. My first job this morning was 10
| take two rocks out of the hay in my mat
tress. l expect beautiful nights rest to-
night.
| The accommodations are rotten, meals
are rotten and first tastes of superior Of
| hcers are rotten but we have q bunch of
| splendid fellows along and we could stand
much worse. Well get II. too. ."
| The next letter, written at sea, is dated
| May "a Many of those aboard the st
| Paul were miserably sea Sick Stief among
| the most miserable
| We've taken a most northern route
| and it's been as cold as the devil Nc
| ship sighted yet but our wireless has
| been going strong-we have not sent mes
| sage, yet we are constantly being directed
| as to course, etc. At present we know
| culated about-most of them ridiculous o.
| course the submarine scare has got mos
| of us-to the extent that some never TAX,
| off their clothes and others insist upor
sleeping on deck. Lifeboat drills are a dali,
| occurrence and We are getting our frs
| little taste of war-gun practice and NJ
| lights, etc. They won't even let you strlk
n match on deck at night. ."
The arrival at Blackpool England, wa
splendid, and the unit from Philadelphia
| found, according to Mr.. Stief the Harvar,
| and Cleveland crowd therein all abou
700 Americans. Blackpool was reminiscen
of Atlantic City.
BETTER CONDITIONS IN ENGLAND
I'VE are fixed up spendidly, much bet
ter than we expected, and are enjoyn
about a week or real rest, drilling abou
four hours a day and acquiring a coat O
tan the rest of the time. We are quartere
in little boarding houses-and the eats ar
exceptionally fine, although no potatoes.
Courtesy? 1t is almost a weak poln
with these English. Old boys will NEE
you on the street take you to all the amuse
ments, give you almost everything ant
anything you want in the way of informa
ton, etc. They even stop you on the stree
to inquire how you are getting on. The,
are a great bunch. Even in our little plac
there are pretty girls Cor rather just girls
for nothing can come up to America here)
Just a very brief little summary Of Eng
lish customs that struck us as rather odd