Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-09-28

a MEXICAN FIELD HEADQUARTERS-On
~ the way home last night the car ntpped
through one of the little villages in which
our troops are quartered. very little village
this one. The old stone houses shouldered up to
the very edge of the road, presenting either
side a wall unbroken by opening There was
bench of sorts in front Of almost every door.
1t just at dusk, when soldier and peasant
alike had finished the days work and eaten din
ner and was disposed to talk and cigarettes and
mediation.
So that every bench held its soldier in front
of the house in which he bleted. Some
times the bench was shared by the proprietor
peasant too old to fight too old to be
territorial and guard bridge. Before the war
the old had retired from active life, leaving
to his son the work of carrying on the farm:
Now he is back in the sabots. Sometimes one of
the women of the house sat with the soldier.
Often youngster there, staring at him with
wondering eyes, puckering his lips to initiate the
unfamiliar language
Little by little the smaller people of France
learning American. Not boy or girl one
passes the street who has not a word or two
They call good night after one-not in the objec-
tionaly sarcastic tone which the greeting would
carry in the states-or say America" or hello
or any other one of the words of the newly gained
vocabulary If the war lasts long enough the
smaller people of this part of France will be fluent
in United States talk.
Americans and French Agree
This scene of homely domesticity be dupli-
Gated in almost any village in which the Amer
leans bieted. They get along beautifully with
their hosts In their turn they are picking up
French, so that when the boys come home again
there will be a violent outburst Of foreign Ian
guages in every restaurant that has French dish
the menu. The folks at home are hereby
warned. They had best go to studying French
themselves, to be terms with their edu-
Gated brothers when the boys come back. The
soldiers are not studying French very hard, it is
after six hours the drill ground and fourteen
miles the road. But one by one the new words
sink in.
This bieting is game to the American
horya iryaI IL
different styles of quarters-grass huts in the Phil
ippines, adobe houses in Mexico, igloos in Alaska
and tents in the west-but they have never before
been "beted'' as is required by the conditions of
the war in Europe. The $50 men of a battalion,
for example may be beted in little town that
in peace time does not number more than 400
or 500 inhabitants. 1t is not big enough to have
a doctor.
They are scattered around among the houses.
The house owners are paid, so they have no com
plant to make. On the other hand the payment
is most welcome. is turned over to the
men, in which the billeted squad put up their
camp bedsteads-an unheard-of luxury to Euro
pean soldier-and roll out their blankets, and dis
pose of their various little knick-knacks and make
themselves at home. Sometimes a peasant man
or woman may be found sitting in a corner of
the billet, studying these strange folk. We
of wonder to the natives, just as they
to us.
Soldiers Clean Up
Often the billet is a stable a haymoY
wagon shed, but it must be borne in mind that
these terms indicate something quite different than
the stables haymOws have at home. The
fond mother who pictures the blowing
through the cracks between the clapboards upon
her Willie may be treasured. The stable or the
haymow is part Of the home over here Some
times it is almost the best part. All it needs is
through cleaning and it is fit for its new pur-
pose.
And it gets it-that cleaning. 1t isn't secured
it is polished. The stones of the floor are
scrubbed and re-scrubbed and the beams Of the
ceiling are swept. Then all that is done over
again. The billets are inspected at regular inter-