The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1917-10-18

All over the country Sammy IS en-
route for Somewhere. as he has been for
weeks. But just now Somewhere that
flexible wartime word. chiefly means the
sixteen national cantonments of the
United States. Toward these canton
ments our somewhat bewildered Sammy
of the new National Army. still without
uniform, without previous military train
ing. withiut even a very definite idea Of
war except that he is going to fight in
it. is speeding.
Big-boned mountaineer of the South,
who will wear his new uniform when he
gets it 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. Elx-mem-
Der of the Gashouse Gang. raw recruit
from Helfs Kitchen, or college junior
from the silk-stocling precincts-he is
pulling out of New York for Yaphank.
4 slim 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
Servian. not yet six months in America
he is learning his first English words
in the chorus of Kaiser Bill" on the
station platform of a New England fac
tory town.
East and west. north and south. the
trains ere footing Sammy away from
home. It isn't just one engine but hun
dreds Of them that are grumbling their
staccato warnings at him. as he fingers
for last joke with the bunch" 1t isn't
just woman, but thousands of them, and
Of all ages. whose tear-stained faces
twist bravely into smiles. as they wave
goodbye 1t 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.
There has been a lot of talk about how
the men in khaki pull out of the station.
TO the fiutter of handkerchiefs. and the
thrill of bands. Even without their uni
forms, the drafted men of the now Ma
tional Army have had their share Of at
tention. 1t is quite a different matter
when the train is few miles on its way
after the excitement of departure has
died, and they begin to realize that home
is behind them. and the war ahead No
body has described the sensations Of
Sammy en- route.
Nobody ever will. either. The fact is
that nobody knows exactly how Sammy
feels about going away TO night except
ana ne ISL AttAAAAe- AfhA A|A
the past few weeks Railroad Y. M. c. A.
secretaries have been travelling with the
men of the new National Army to can
comments all over the United States. On
more than $50 trains they have already
been following the soldiers on wheels.
as one Of them gratefully put it. to do
what they can to cheer his trip. As
nearly as one man can know the heart Of
another, they know this drafted Sam
my'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 re
port that the average Sammy, no mat
ter what class or what part Of the coun-
try ne comes from. is more afraid of
those first few hours on the train than
he is of the battlefield.
The stories OF these Y men, the only
ones who have travelled in this way with
the soldiers to the cantonments, begin
where all the others leave off Says
Sammy to the Public" is all very well,
but Says Sammy to Himself is quite
another matter. Sammy stripped Of
heroics and Of bombast, Sammy home
sick and human, is the one the trainmen
see.
Above the rattle Of wheels and the
shrek of the engine an Alabama train
laden with soldiers shook with a below
like that of bull that has nosed his
way into beehive. without any trou-