Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1917-08-30
Life in lst Company
At Fort Stevens
BY Lynn Mowat.

There are IOur eagerly dWdlleu
events in the daily life of the 1st
company: three mess calls and the
arrival of the daily mail A special
significance has been attached to the
arrival of Thursdays mail during the
last two weeks and to the mess calls
which follow. And say, folks, If you
could only hear the shouts of glee
which greeted the arrival Of that big
shipment of fruit, chickens, corn and
beans the first week and those ten
crates of blackberries, those beans
and that cake this week, you would
appreciate better than | can tell you
the "hit' which those shipments from
home make with the boys here. On
the request of Captain Malone | was
instructed to extend to the people of
Ashland the thanks of the company
for the loads of good things which
have been sent from home, but can't
find words to really express the graft
tude of the gang" If we could have
secured a snapshot of the hundred or
more always hungry fellows tearing
into that chicken it would stand as
better testimony than anything under
the sun. "The way to a mans heart
is through his stomach" says an old
axiom. and IL it applies to the ordi-
nary man it has threefold meaning
when applied to the soldier, for this
life grows appetites which are amaz-
ing, to say the least. The home peo-
pie have surely hit upon the ideal
way of keeping home ties tied.
Pie and Cake Popular.
In addition to the community ship
ments which have come, hardly day
passes but that from one to a dozen
of the boys receive boxes from home
with candy, cake or other goodies
which needless to say, do not keep
very well-there being as many reas-
ons for this as there are men around
when the package arrives. Soldier
fare is good when pair of cooks like
Les Phillips and Cliff Yarbrough are
bossing the cooking job. but the pie
and cake we get at home has to be
left out Of most of Uncle Sans
menus. And while we are on the sub
ject Of food-"grub," we call it-let
us state that many a mother would
he surprised II she could see her son
scraping out his mess plate with
piece of bread to get the last particle
of some connection which she could
never get him to eat at homo. Every
body is always hungry, even after the
really satisfying meals which come
three times a day.
Finances Low.
Mr. and Mrs ]. X. Choate dropped
in on the camp Sunday and the sight
OF home folks sure was great. Incl
dentally they brought a whole suit
case full of candy of the homemade
variety, which some of the Ashland
girls had commissioned them to de-
liver The visitors sat down to the
evening mess with the company and
apparently enjoyed it.
"Bill' Sans Is the latest recruit to
arrive In camp, and is now as much
a soldier as any of the rest.
A whole book could be written
about the psychology of the "touch"
as exemplfied by the tobacco situa-
tion after two weeks in camp. The
first few days "Have you got a spare
cigar?" was usually productive of re-
suits. The results gradually became
less and are now minus. For the
cigarette lovers the tailor made" ci-
garette was next in line, but now is
rarely seen and the present course of
procedure is to make the rounds of
the entire company to find paper,
tobacco and a match. If the entire
company is not broken of the tobacco
habit by payday. which looms about
eighteen days distant, 1t will be be-
cause George Miner peddles John
Enders' automobile which John left
with him, and sends him the money.
Company Vaccinated.
Today Monday the whole COM
pany was vaccinated against small
pox and bore the ordeal nobly. Anti
typhoid vaccination comes in three
installments, the first, of last We'd
nesday, being history. A couple of
the fellows felt the effects of the first
shot little and anticipations are
keen on the part of those who have
never been vaccinated. Some of the