Trench and camp. [volume] (Augusta, Ga.) 1917-1919, 1917-11-07
Y. M. c. A. Secretaries Assist
Drafted Men ON Trains 10 Camp
Cheer Homesick Men-Furn ish Hot Coffee, Games and
Writing Paper Train. Ba dage Hand for Injured Sol
der Man Throws Whiskey Away. Cheered AS He
Train.

All over the country Sammy is still is
still en- route for Somewhere, as he has
been for weeks. But just now Some
where" that flexible wartime word,
chiefly means the sixteen national can
tonments of the United States. Toward
thse environments our somewhat bewild-
cred Sammy of the new National Army,
still without uniform, without previous
military training. without even a very
definite idea of war except that he is
going to fight it, is speeding.
Big boned mountaineer of the South,
who will wear his new uniform when he
gets il about as comfortably as if it were
a mustard plaster-he is leaving the home
he has never been ten miles away from
before in his life. Ex-member of the Gas
house Gang, raw recruit from Helrs
Kitchen, or college junior from the silk
stocking precincts-he is pulling out of
New York for Yaphank. A slim French
French youth in the northern states
the patriotism of two lands is blazing
UP in his eyes, as he gets on the train
near Fort Caribou A dazed young Serv-
tan hot yet six months in America, he
is learning his first English words in the
chorus OF Kaiser Bill on the station
| platform OF New England factory town
East and west north and south, the
trains are footing Sammy away from
home 1t isn't just one engine, but hun
dreds OF them, that are grumbling their
staccato warnings at him, as he fingers
Tor q last joke with 1.-THE bunch" 1t
isn't just one woman, but thousands of
them, and of all ages, whose tear-stained
faces twist braYely into smiles, as they
wave goodbye. It isn't one Sammy but
whole army of him, who is going away
with bravado, promising gaily to come
back and bring the Kaiser along.
Sammy's Sensations.
There has been lot OF talk about how
the men in khaki pull out of the station
to the futter of hankerchiefs and the
thrill OF bands. Even without their uni
forms, the drafted men of the new Ma
tional Army have had their share of at
tention; It is quite different matter
after the excitement of departure has
died, and they begin to realize that home
IS behind them and the war ahead. Mo-
body has described the sensations Of
Nobody ever will either The fact is
that nobody knows exactly how Sammy
feels about going away TO fight except
Sammy, and he isn't telling. But for the
secretaries have been travelling with the
men of the new National Army to cam
comments all over the United States. On
more than $50 trains they have already
beer following the soldiers on Wheels :"
as one of them gratefully put it, to do
what they can to cheer his trip. AS near
| other, they know this drafted Sammy s.
They have seen him in that first tragic
moment when he begins to realize that
his face is turned away from home toward
unknown danger. And they report that
the average Sammy no matter what class
or what part of the country he comes
FROM is more afraid of those first few
hours on the train than he is of the bat
tlehefd
The stories of these "Y'' men. the
only ones who have Travelled in this way
with the soldiers to the environments, be-
gin where al the others leave off. Says
Sammy to the Public" is all verv well,
but Says Sammy to Himself" is quite
another matter. Sammy stripped of hero
| les and OF bonabast, Sammy homesick and
human, is the one the trainmen see.
Big Man Crying.
! Above the rattle of wheels and the
shrek Of the engine, an Alabama train
| like that of q bull that has nosed his way
| into bee hive. Without any trouble at
all the ''Y'' secretary followed the noise
| to it's source hundred pound Sam
may possessed of the contradictory at
tributes of a double chin all around, a
sure trigger hand, hard head, soft
heart, and the self control of child of
six. Ham-like hands over his distorted
| face, he was blubbering at the top of his
voice:
81 want to go home! I want to go
homep"
Down by the mass of shaken avoirdu-
pois the fsY" man sat, and sootlled him
gradually, till he learned that the man
came from mountain settlement where
he had left a wife and three children
Never in his life had he been out of his
own county before. War? Dang it.
he want afraid of that! He'd be darn
glad to bust the Kaiser" in fact. Only
he wanted to go 1o-ome
Lots of other men in the car wanted
| to go home, too, it appeared from the
murderous glances they cast at the fat
mountaineer. who dared to rub it inn
like this. So the 'sY'' man sent them
| home for a few minutes by handing
around postcards, even stamps to the
ones who hadn't any money, and urging
them to write home.
Go to it. fellow" he said. "Send your
first messages to the home folks They'll
be looking for a word from you, you
know
You might have thought the soldiers
had been gone from home six months
instead of a few hours. They didn't ex-
actly ask, "Have you still got the same
old cat?" like the boy in Riley's story,
but they did indicate by the general tenor
of their messages home that it seemed
to them long. long time since they had
taken that morning train. They said too.
that they were well, and hoped the folks
at home were the same. that they were
having ''some ride" and meant to put
up 'some fight, and sent lots of love.