The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1917-10-20

no matter what class o. what part u
the country he comes from Is more
afraid ~ those fIrs, few hours on the
train than he In of the battlefield.
The stories u these ~" men. the
only ones who have Travelled In this
way with H.. soldiers to the canton
begin where all the others
leave orr. "Ssys sammy to the Public"
IL an very we'll but says sammy To-
Himself il quite another matter.
sammy stripped Of heroics and oil
bombast. sammy homesick md hu-
man. II the one the trainmen see.
Above the rattle ~ wheels n the
shrek OF the engine. an Alabama train
laden with soldiers shock with q bell
low like hat OF a bun that has nosed
his way into a beehive without any
trouble AZ all the ~" secretary follow
ed the noise to its source. q two-hun-
drcd pound sammy possessed OF tho
contradictory attributes Of a double
chin an around. a surc-trigger hand. a
hard head. u soft heart and the self
control ~ . child Of ak. Ham-like
hands over his distorted face, he was
blubbcring ct the top Of his voice.
II want 20 go home ! want to GO
homc!'
Down by the mass OF shaken avoir-
dupois the ~ man sat. and soothcd
him gradually. till ~ learned that the
man came from q mountain settlement
where lac had left a wife and three
children. Sever In his lie had be
been out OF his own county before.
War? Dang II. he want afraid VI
that He'd be darn glad to bust the
Kaiser" IN fact. Ouly-he wanted o.
so hO--Omc.
Lots Of other men IN the car wanted
to go home, too Il appeared from the
murdcrous P%lanccs they cast at the
fat m%ountaineer, who dared to rub
Il IN" like this. So tho "Y'' man sent
them home for a few minutes by hand
Ing around postcards, even stamps 90
the ones who hadn't any money, and
ursing them to write home.
Go 20 II. fellow" he said. send
your first messages to the homc-folks.
| They'll be looking for a word from
YOU. YOU know"
You might have thought the sol
diers had been gone from home six
| months instead ~ a few hours. They
didn't exactly ask Have you still got
the Same old Sat7" like the boy in
Ril-y's store. but they did Indicate by
the general tenor 81 their messages
home that IL seemed to tehm n long,
long time since they had taken that
1 morning train. They said, too, that
they we're well. and hoped the folks a.
home were the same. that they were
having Some ride" and meant to- put
w some fight and sent lots Of love.
After that the secretary passed
around checker boards--a great game.
checkers, II you don't wart an your
kings jumped of the board, you must
put YOUR whole mind ON your play. to
the exclusion ~ feeling humesick.
What with the unexpected moves
forced upon them 10y the train, and
the comrHdeship ~ the game, the men
began to feet better
The ~ man won their hearts hy
passing around hot coffee for them o.
drink with the lunch the government
had provided They began telling him
how they felt about things.
War Hen n alu't war ] mind.
rs roin' away n leavin' the Kids
and nay woman 70 look ont Tor them
solves" said one
II We could play the game ON our
home field. with our own bunch
around To root Tor us, 10 wouldn't no
hall bad stunned up q young collorr
fellow.
ON another train one 81 the men
appeared tu have been fighting his
first battle a'rrld, he was huldiu,
one arm stlffly. = soilcl and blood
stained handkerchief around the
hard