Oxford eagle., 1918-06-20
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pair, rum "a flush or three Of kind
or ''prile% The limit is generally =
penny. SO II Is hard to win fortune.
The next in popularity is card
game called Nap It is wei named
Every time played 1t / went to sleep.
Whist and solo whist are played by
the highbrows Of the company.
When the gamblers fir, of aL atter
games they try Banker and Broken.
spent a week trying to teach some
OF the Tommies how 10 play poker but
because | won thirty-five francs they
declared that they didn't "fawncy" the
game.
Tommy plays few card games; the
general run never heard Of poker eu-
chre, seven up, or plnochle They have
game similar to pnochle called
"Royal Bezique," but few know how to
play IL.
Generally there are two decks of
cards In section, and in short time
thev are so dOg-eared and greasy. YOU
can hardly ell the ace Of spades from
the ace of hearts. The owners Of these
decks sometimes condesccLd to lend
them after much coaxing.
SO you see Mr. Atkins has his fun
mixed in with his hardShlps and. con
trary TO popular belief, the rank and
file of the British army in the trenches
is one big happy family. Now in Viz
giala, at school. | was fed on old Nc
Guffy's primary reader. which gave me
| an opinion of an Enelishman about
equal to 10 Minute Mans backed up
| by a Sim Feiner's. But ] found Tom
my TO be the best of mates and gem
tleman through and through. He never
thinks of knocking his officers. II one
makes a costly mistake and Tommy
pays with his blood. there IS no gen
eral condemnation Of the officer. lie
is just pitied. Ii Is exactly the same
as IL was with the Light Brigade 81
Balaclava, TO say nothing Of GalllpOll
Neuye Chapelle aud LOos. Personally
remember little Incident whers
twenty OF Us We're sent on 81 trgnet
raid, only two OF Us returning. bat
will tell this story later on.
said II was a big happy family. and
so II is. but rs In all happy fnmines
there are servants. so In the British
army there are also servants. officers
servants, or -. s." as they are termed
In the American army The common
name for them is dog robbers" From
! q controversy IN the English papers
Winston Churchill made the state
lent. as far as can remember. tha
officers servants IA the Brltisl
.rces totaled nearly two hundre,
nousand He claimed that this re
moved two hundred thousand excep
ionally good and well-trained fighter
from the actual firing line. claimln
that the officers. when selecting ii maj
for servants duty. generally picked ID
man who had been out the longest an
knew the ropes.
But from my observation / find tha
q large percentage OF the servants d
20 over the top. but behind the line
they very seldom engage In diggin
parties. fatigues, parades or drills
This work is as necessary as actual
engaging In an attack, therefore / thin
IL would be safe 10 say that the al
round work of the two hundred thoI
sand is about equal 10 fifty thousan
men who are on straight military dV
ties. In numerous instances, Ofiiceri
servants hold the rank Of lance-corpC
rails ana they assume the same dutie
and authority OF a butler. the on
stripe giving him precedence over tn
other servants.
There are lots OF amusing stOrit
told OF 20. 5"
One day one of our majors went int
the servants billet and commence
"blinding" at them. saying that IA
horse had no straw and that he pc
sonally knew that straw had been
! sued for this purpose. He called Il
ianee-corporal TO account. The co
poral answered. "Bllme me. sir, Il
sSraM was issued. but there WASH
enough left over from the servant
beds; IN fact, We had TO use some
the 'ay TO 'slp out, sir"
lt is needless to say that the ser
ants dispensed with their soft be-
. eAat particular night.
Nevertheless II is not the fault
, the individual officer, IL Is just the su
vival OF a quaint old English custol
You know an Englishman cannot
, changed in day.
1 But the average English officer is
! good sport. He will sit on a fire ST
\ and listen respectfully 10 Priva
n Jones theory of the way the W
should be conducted. This war
gradually crumbllng the once inst
y mountable wall of caste.
You would be convinced OF this
you could see King George 20 amo
his men @" inspecting tour und
fire, or iure a little wood
80 field WI
he