Trench and camp. ([Admiral, Md.) 1917-1919, 1917-12-26
YOU CAN'T BEAT US
By MT.LIs PARKKR BUTLNR


the best country on earth. but had
to see It ct war to know what chunk
of "all right" this land Of ours II. ]
never believed, with some good pec-
pie, that war was . thing Of the past
and al dead 40 the two-toed Tittican-
Gus Of the silurian Age, which never
did exist. have always said war
would come-and 1 have written IL
again and again-but / was afraid
our nation and our people were get
ting little soft-like. ripe, old Cam
embert cheese. take 10 all back. We
are about az soft and mushy as
piece Of case-hardened steel. There
was quite bit Of peace mould on the
outside Of us, but IL wiped on right
easily.
There is young fellow from across
my street who was drafted and went
to q Selective Service cantonment,
and % he was an engineer by profess
sion they put him In charge OF o gang
to build rife ranges. He had lived
on velvet. but when I asked him how
he liked army life he said "Fino."
He said there were Q Lot OF mighty
rough fellows. but that they were
dandy when you got to know them.
get the same thing all through. II
wanted to pick ont o name for our
drafted boys, I'd call them THE Men
Behind the Grins." This same young
engineer, when he had completed the
rife ranges, was put to work on an
embankment around the Generals
Headquarters, and his gang was cut
down to three men. As nearly as
can remember, one was customs
coatmaker, one pants presser, and
one q buttonhole maker. To take @
buttonhole maker and turn him over
night into a soldier land an engineer
with a pick and shovel, at that) and
have anything left but sad. expir-
ing moan. is great stuff. When the
mould is wiped of us we are as soft
as a chilled-steel bayonet. / would
hate to be German and have about
a thousand Of those buttonhole max
ers come over the top at me with
bayonets fixed.
Wet Eyes Scarce
One day / saw few hundred draft
ed men leaving a railroad station In
a large city for the trip to camp. The
wet eyes were not among the boys
who were going. There were not
many wet eyes anywhere; the boys
were shouting and chatting each 9TH
er. The only really worried looking
person was negro who was carrying
a banner on a pole-"We are the
til District Boys-We are going
to bite the KAISER" or something like
that. He was worried because he
could not find the contingent to which
the banner belonged. He wandered
around the station and he was really
distressed. He finally sat down on
bench. Probably someone had given
him fifty cents for carrying the BAN
ner and he was not earning It. Or
perhaps he had not been paid the fifty
cents and was afraid he never would
get it. At any rate, he was the sad
dest person In the station. A negro
who feels in his bones he is losing
fifty cents can look mighty sad.
There was one other person there
who would have seemed sad If he had
not seemed such an admirable exam
pie Of complete sorrow. He was an
Italian, the father, no doubt, OF o
drafted boy, and he was weeping with
all his face, both hands and one foot.
never saw any one weep 80 thor
oughly and wholeheartedly. He wept
80 completely, and put his soul and
body so entirely into the job, that
there was nothing sad about It. Poor
old duffer! I suppose he may have
come to America 80 that his baby boy
might avoid italian military service
and now the military had that very
boy. But the boy-I saw hfm-was
not downhearted. Jaw, cheese! Il
cheerfully, and patted his dad on the
back, and the next moment he was
yelling across the station: "Hey,
Tony! did you get that kissf" Prob
ably Tony had Dragged about q fare
well kiss he was going 70 get. hope
he got IL. He looked 30 cheerful / am
sure he did get It, two OF them.
maybe.
Well, there were glum fellows, too,
I suppose, / have heard of-althOugh
have never seen-fell0ws who went
to camp and cantonment with long.
miserably-drawn faces. There were
bound TO be some Of them. but the
great thing II that their guinness was
not contagious and smiles and rough
cheerfulness were.
We are sending abroad, and will
continue 10 send, men with grin.
The army 0f the United States, at
home and abroad, In an army Of good
sports, taking things a. they ind
them and making q joke Of the an