Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-08-28
AMERICANSK KEEP
in GOOD SPIRITS
Troops Cheerful Despite
Discomforts, but Long
for Newspapers
BRAVE AND OPTIMISTIC
By CHARLES H. CRASTY
SpeciaI Gable to Evening Public Ledger

COpUriDnt, ISIc, W NtW ofh 4 "t'o w.
Paris. Aug. IS.
| II would be hard to imagine a greater
contrast than that between Paris and
| the Vesle front. A few hours ride
! brings one back TO the capital. which is
| no longer under menace from guns and
where the current of life now runs
| smoothly.
Getting back to Paris on "hot-water
morning" and to the luxury of first-class
/ hotels makes the American front, with
! its dangers and inconvenences seem
like n faraway world. A friend whom
saw near the Vese and who was back
in a Paris hotel this morning said:
! mo man could go into that battle zone
and not feel that 1t was a great priv
ilege TO share for "A few hours n small
| part of the dangers and inconveniences
with our soldiers, who endure them day
| in and day out. And no man can come
| back to this luxury afterward without
a sense Of unworthiness SNo matter
what we or those at home are doing to
helm on the war, our sacrifices are small
compared to those of the officers and
men who are giving their lives so gall
lantly."
And yet among the soldiers one finds
ONLY cheerfulness and optimism. About
the only complaint they have is lack of
newspapers and information about what
is going on in the outside world Be-
yond the small sectors in which they live
and die they know but little of what Is
passing.
Two nights ago at battalion headquar-
ters we sat on the lee side of a small
stone house in the harvest moonlight,
with boche shells singing overhead and
bursting beyond US. Junior officers gath
cred around eagerly to talk of London,
Paris, New York and the progress OF
the war generally.
Cheerful Modest Americans
A more delightful experience than this
intimate personal contact with these
cheerful. brave modest young Americans
II .would be difficult to conceive. We dis
cussed the familiar topics of Broadway
and Times Square, the details of the
American effort. civilian conditions in
London and Paris. the state of German
morale, Foch's strategy, and so forth.
The battalion commander and one of his
captains had been moving in and out
and finally disappeared around the
house, At bedtime I asked where they
were. in order to say goodnight, and
learned that they had gone to party
which was booked for daylight the next
morning on the river Nesle.
After II O'Clock the following day I
went TO battalion headquarters and at
the door heard voice raised in song in
hack room. 1t sounded like familiar
nusic on the lower Mississippi River
and I was sure that darkey was some
where about. Upon investigation, how
ever. I found that it was the battalion
commander, who was just getting up
after two or three hours sleep and giving
vent to his feelings in song.
Al tTin gffiRaFG hapk
from the show. came in and had the
treat of listening to first-hand reports
of their successful little performance,
which had driven the Germans back
across the Vesle at one point.
In the wood where | slept was trans
mort section, where there was only one
ofFicer, n second lieutenant. who was
SORT Of gipsy king over his thirty men
and ffty horses. The men nearly all
silent on the ground. naked above the
waist, as It was night. There are no
mosquitoes, but millions of flies. Our ar
tilIerv was barking all night behind us,
but for one night the experience was
interesting and not uncomfortable.
In the morning we had a breakfast
n, fresh fried doughnuts with sorghum
syr,p poured over them and pint of
cotfee. fine breakfast 1t was, and
oooLed nv an nItalian-American, who owns
a wine store in Brooklyn
we never let our gas masks get more
than twelve inches away from US. When
walking or riding they must be worn
alert. which means up under the chin,
with the cases open, SO that they can
be put on, in Few seconds II shell
bursts near. rs
Rides In Ration Cart
NAV means OF loeomotion, other thap
,slLtnw which II always the safest Wa6
In . ration art Ny driver. who waa