The Arizona copper camp., 1918-08-17

| up IOr tHlS purpose, ana many times 1t
is in this way, that a couple of men get
to be trench partners and come to be
pals for life-which may not be long
time at that.
In the front-line trenches it is more
comfortable to fall asleep on the para
pet f1re-step than in the dugouts, be-
cause the cooties are thicker down
below, and they simply will not give
you a minutes rest. They certainly
are active little pests. We used to
make back scratchers out Of certain
weapons that had flexible handles, but
never had time to use them when we
needed them most.
We were given bottles Of a liquid
which smelled like lysol and were sup
posed to soak our clothes in it. 1t was
thought that the cooties would object
to the smell and quit work. Well,
a cOotie that could stand our clothes
without the dope on them would not
be bothered by little thing like this
stuff. Also, our clothes got so sour
and horrible smelling that they hurt
our noses worse than the cooties. They
certainly were game little devils, and
came right back at us.
| So most of the poilus threw the
dope at Fritz and fought the cooties
hand to hand.
There was plenty of food in the
trenches most of the time, though once
in while, during a heavy lombard
ment, the fatigue-usually corporaIs
guard-would get killed in the COM
munication trenches and we would not
have time to get out to the fatigue and
rescue the grub they were bringing
Sometimes you could not find either
the fatigue or the grub when you got
to the point where they had been hit
But, as say, we were well fed most
of the time, and got second and third
helpings until we had to open our
belts. But as the Limeys say: "Gaw
blimey, theNchuck was rough" They
served a thick soup of meat and vege-
tables in bowls the size of wash ba-
sins, black coffee with or without
sugar-mostly without land plenty
of bread.
Also, we had preserves in tins, just
like the Limeys. If you send any par
cells over, do not put any apple and
plum jam in them or the man who gets
it will let Fritz shoot him. Ask any
Limey soldier and he will tell you the
same. I never thought there was so
much jam in the world. No Mans
Land looked like a city dump. Most
of us took it, after a while, just to
get the bread. Early in the war they
used the tins to make bombs of, but
that was before Mills came along with
his hand grenade. Later on they fat
tened out the tins and lined the dug
outs with them.
Each man carried an emergency ra-
ton in his bag. This consisted of bully
beef, biscuits, etc. This ration was
never used except in real emergency,
because no one could tell when it
might mean the difference between
life and death to him. When daylight
catches man in shell@hole or at,
listening post out in No Mans Land
he does not dare to crawl back to his
trench before nightfa1l, and then is the
time that his emergency ration comes
in handy. Also, the stores failed to
reach us sometimes, as I have said,
and we had to use the emergency
rations.
Sometimes we received raw meat
and fried it in our dugouts. We built
regular clay ovens in the dugouts, with
iron tops for broiling. This, of course,
was in the front-line trenches only.
We worked two hours on the fire.
step and knocked off for four hours,
in which time we cooked and ate and
slept. This routine was kept up night
and day, seven days a week. Some.
times the program was changed; for
instance, when there was to be an at
tack or when Fritz tried to come over
and visit, but otherwise nothing as
turbed our routine unless it was gas
attack.
The ambition Of most privates Is to
become Sniper, as the official sharp
shooters are called. After a private
has been in the trenches for six
months or year and has shown his
craftsmanship, he becomes the great
mdu llc LftS UIcduucU dDOuL. we 1ldu
two snipers to each company and be-
cause they took more chances with
their lives than the ordinary privates
they were allowed more privileges.
When it was at all possible our snipers
were allowed dry quarters, the best Of
food, and they did not have to follow
the usual routine, but came and went
as they pleased.
Our snipers, as a rule, went over
the parapet about dusk, just before
Fritz got his star shells going. They
would crawl out to shell craters or
tree stumps or holes that they had
spotted during the day-in other
words. places where they could see
the enemy parapets but could not be
seen themselves. Once in position,
they would make themselves comfort
able, smear their tin hats with dirt,
get q good rest for their rifles and