The Washington times., 1917-04-21
LONDON BEWIEDERS
SOLDIERS ON LEAVE
They're All Kids at Heart"
Says Indiana Wife Of
Englishman.
By ,. w .PEGLER.

LONDON, March 22-(By MailE
With a, bituminous grunt the blunt.
nosed engine Of the leave train" Jerks
to fun stop in Kings Gross station
Compartment doors hy open all down
the length of the coaches. Tin hats
clatter against rife butts. tin drinking
cups jangie- on Ayonets. and steel
studded boots make a thunderous sound
on the pavement But. frankly, Tommy
Is lost
The ferocious fighting man from the
Ancre. Saloniki. the Mesopotamia u
bewildered boy during his stopover In
London on his way home on leave
And that is why Mrs Ruby s. Gaunt
Is standing a. the head Of the platform.
with the smilt that came from Frank
fort. Ind Bundled In q fur coat. with
a perfect knoWledge of train tines &C
the tip Of her tongue and q railroad
guide on her arm to convince the doubt
full. she Is there in good weather and
bad to tell these Kids from the trenches
where to go and how to get there
Answered ~lIiss Captaln-r
The brown swarm OF men come
pounding up the platform. looking for
signs. A dozen or 20 are clustered
around q sergeant asking advice. but he
is an ex-farmer and does not know any
more about London than the Welsh
miner beside him. Mrs Gaunt pushes
through the crowd to get at the SER
geant. Ike football playeS going for
the ball
Now. sergeant" this Is in q buss-
ness-like voice. tempered by that smile
where are these boys going?~ Ser
geant salutes and replies: -Oh, every
where. Miss Captain"
well. get them in groups going the
same way. to. simplify matters" The
sergeant complies. A dozen want to 90
to Leeds, others to unpronounceabis
Welsh towns. ten to Lincoln. and otherB
are scattered in their preferences
Take the Leeds men. for instance.
Mrs. Gaunt says: ~Your train goes at
4:0. It's 2 o'clock now. Here's what
you'd better do Go over to the Lord
Roberts canteen and stow your rifles
and kits. Have lunch there Then you
may stay in the reading room, play the
phonograph or sing. or you may 50 out
to a picture show-one round the cor
ner. But be back at hve minutes 10
train time at track four"
Every man or them salutes exactly
as he would his commanding officer
and they Eo-off saying: Thank you,
Nav" or Mother, you're kind"
just Wandering Around
A Canadian boy, with his face bad
1y shotSaway, seemed mixed up In
his directions
'where are you bound for, Ma
chine-Gun7" asked the infallible guide
hold ~ hNm
lapels.
Nowhere" said the boy through
the bandages OF his shattered jaw.
"Just wandering around" His eyes
narrowed as he, grinning, asked:
Aren't you from Canada? / haven't
seen anyone with a smile like yours
since left home"
Mrs. Gaunt IL the wife of an Eng
lishman and, therefore, strictly speak
ing, is an Englishwoman- But Amer
lea hasn't lost her entirely, because
she never will lose what she calls
her "Indianish accent" She regards
all soldiers and sailors as boys
Tommy oriJack, eighteen to fifty,
they're all kids at heart" she said
today. They'll have to grow up
again when the war is over. don't
mind being called Nav 1t sounds q
little familiar, but II is the highest
mark OF respect coming from them.
Some soldiers call me General which
means the same thing-respect.
Some days as many at 5000 men
have passed through this station Only
one ever became offensive. He was
a sailor, too, OF all men, But he had
O sleep at the canteen and came back
to apologize before leaving to catch
his ship.
aone day asked a young Canadian
where he was from in Canada He
said Indiana Harbor. rPshaw, I said,
what's the matter with Indianar
From all the fighters who have
had their travelling problems solved
by Mrs. Gaunt there would be only
one answer. There's nothing the mat
ter with the State that sent the Lady
with the Smile to Kings Cross sta
ton