Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-02-26

Guy Empey.
rest. In France they call them rest
hillcts. because while in them Tommy
works seven days Il week and OF the
eighth day OF the week he is given
Ilwcnty-fOur hours "on his own
| Our billet was n spacious affair,
Large barn on the left side of the road
which had one hundred entrances,
ninety mine for shells, rats, wind and
rain, and the hundredth one for Tom
my. was tired out. and using my
shrapncl- proof helmet (Shrapnel
proof until II piece of Shrarncl hits
Ito, or tin hal for a pillow, lay down
in the straw, and WAS soon fast
asleep. must have slept about two
hours. when ! awuke with prick
| ling sensation all over me. AS |
thought. the straw had worked
through my uniform. | woke up the
fellow lying on my left, who had been
up the line before, and asked him:
Docs rr.e sst1r1u.t.. Z. 'butnet ton; s4fte
It's worked through my uniform and
cant sleep.
In sleepy voice he answered,
That amt straw. thcm's cooticS.'
From that time on my friends the
'routies" were constantly with me.
"Cootics." or body lice, are the
| The arist"cracy of the trenches
very seldom call them ''cuOtics. they
speak of them rs ilcas.
TO an American flea means Il small
insect armed with bayonct. who Is
wont to jab il into y"I and then hob
skip and jump IL the next place In be
attacked. There is an advantage in
having ilcas on YOU instead of "co"t-
| les" in that in one of his extended
jumps said flea is liable to land on
the fellow next YOU: he has the typ
| icaI energy and push Of the Ameri-
can, while the "cOotir' has the bull
dog tcnacity of the EncliShman: he
holds on and cunsnlidatcs ur digs in
until his meal is finished.
There is no way To get rid of them
permanently. No matter how often
you bathe, and that is not very often,
or how many times you change your
underwear, your friends the "cootics
are always in evidence. The hillets
are infested with them. especially ="
. q hn nnnr
| have taken bath and put on
hrand-new underwear: in fact. COM
plete change of uniform. and then
turned in for the night. The next
morning my shirt would he full of
them. II is common sight to see
eight or ten soldiers sitting under 4
tree with their shirts over their knees
engaged in shirt hunt"
AT night about half an hour before
lights out" you car see the Tommics
grouped around candle, trying, in
its dim light. to rid their underwear
of the vcrmin. y popular and very
quick method is To take your shirt
and drawers. and run the seams back
and forward in the iiamc from Il
candle and burn them ont. This prac-
tice is dangerous. because you are
liable TO burn holes in the garments
If YOU are not careful.
| Recruits generally sent TO Blighty
for n brand Of insect powder adrrr-
tiscd as Good for body lice" The ad-
vertiscmcnt is quite right: the powder
is good for "cootics": they simply
thrive on it.
| The older men of our battalion were
wiser and made scratchcrs out OF
wood. These were rubbed smooth
with a bit of stone or sand 10 prevent
splintcrs. They were about eighteen
inches long, and Tommy guarantees
that "A scratcher OF this length WI
reach any part of the body which
may be attacked. Some Of the fel-
lows were lazy and only made their
scratchers twelve inches. but many
a night when on guard, looking over
the top from the fire step Of the front
line trench. they would have given Il
/ tnOuSlnC Qulu loi tit oNhei ''>
inches.
Once while we were in rest billet
an Irish Husser regiment camped in
an open field opposite our billet. Aft
er they had picked and fed their
horses. general shirt hunt took
place. The troopers ignored the call
Dinner up" and kept on with their
search for big game. They had a
curious method OF procedure. They
hung their shirts over 4 hedge and
beat them with their entrenching
tool handles.
asked one of them why they
didn't pick them off by hand. and he
answered. We haven't had bath for
nine weeks or a change of clabber.
II tried to pick the 'cooties' off my
shirt 1 would be here for duration Of
the war" After taking a close look at