Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 19??-1918, 1918-04-12

the hIghbrows Of the company.
When the gamblers tire Of all othe,
games they try Banker and Broker
spent n week trying 10 teach some
of the Tommies how 10 play poker, but
because I won thirty.nye francs they
DECLARED that they didn't "fawncy" the
gnme.
Tommy plays few card games; the
general run never heard Of poker en'
chre. seven up. or pInochle. They have
a game similar IN pinochle called
''Itoynl Bezlque.' but few know how TO
play II.
Generally there are two decks Of
cards In a section. aud In short time
they nre No dog-enred and greasy. you
can hnrdly tell the nee ~ spades from
the nee Of hearts. The owners OF these
decks sometimes condescend To lend
them after much coaxIng.
No you see. Mr.. Atkins has his fun
mixed In with his hurdshIps and. con
trnry TO popular belief. the rank and
iile Of the British army In the trenches
IN one big happy family. Now IN vir.
gInin. at school. wns fed on old Me
Quify's primary reader, which gave me
nm opinion Of nm EngIishmnn about
equni 10 a 70 Minute MINIS backed up
by Sim Fclner's. But found Tom
my TO be the best OF mates aud gem
tlcmnn through and through. He never
thinks Of knocking his officers. II one
makes costly mistake and Tommy
pays with his blood. there II no gen.
ernl condemnation Of the officer. lie
is Just pitied. II In exactly the sumo
an II wns with the Light Brignde az
f,alaclavn. TO say nothing OF GnlIIpolI.
Neuye Chapelle apd Loos. Personally
| I remember little incident where
twenty Of us were sent on trench
raid. only two II us returning. but
will tell this story later on.
said II was a big happy fnmlly. and
NO II is. but IN IN all happy families.
there are servants. 40 In the British
nrny there arc also servants. officers
servants. or 20. g." ns they are termed.
In tho American army the common
name for them IL dog robbers" From
controversy In the English papers.
Winston Churchill made the state
ment. ~ fur as ] can remember. that
the officers servants In the British
forces fotnlcd nearly two hundred
thousand. He clnimed that this re-
moved two hundred thousand excep-
tionnlly good nnd well.trnIned fighters
from the actual firing line. claiming
that the officers. when selecting man
for servants duty. generally picked the
innn who had been out the longest and
knew the ropes.
but from my observation find that
large percentage Of the servants do
go over the top, but behind the lines
they very seldom engage In digging
parties fntisues. pnrudes or drills.
This work IN as necessary as actually
engaging In IN attack. therefore tmnk
II would be safe to sny TINT the all
round work Of the two hundred thou
snnd is about equal TO iifty thousand
men who are on straight military du.
ties. In numerous instances, officers
servants hold the rank Of lance-corpo-
rnls and they assume the same duties
aud authority Of u butler. the one
stripe giving him precedence over the
other servants.
There are lots of amusing stories
told OF 40. T."
one tlny one OF our majors went Into
the servants billet and commenced
"blindlng" at them. saying that his
horse had no straw and that he per-
sonnlly knew that straw had been Is
sued for this purpose. He called the
lnnce-corporal To- account. The cor
pornl answered. "Bllme me. sir. the
straw was issued. but there wasn't
enough left over from the servants
beds: In fact, we had to use some OF
the 'ay to 'elp out, SIR"
II is needless TO sny that the serv-
ants dispensed with their soft beds
that particular night.
NtNtTtneieSS u ~ uOt tnt tuuit VI
the individual officer. II is just the sur
vival OF Quaint old English custom.
You know an Englishman cannot be
; changed In day.
But the average English officer Is u
, good sport. He Will sit on flre step
and listen respectfully to Private
Jones theory Of the way the war
should be conducted. This war Is
gradually crumbllng the once lnsur.
mountable wall Of caste.
/ You would be convinced Of this II
, you could see King George 90 among
his men on an inspecting tour under
; fire, or pause before little wooden
!, cross IN, some shen.tossed field with
D tears In his eyes ns he reads the In
scrlption. And little later perhaps
!. bend over wounded man on u stretch
n er. patting him on the head.
A More thnn once In hospital hav'
. seen titled Red Cross nurse fetchini
l and carrying for u wounded soldier
n perhaps the one who In civil life de
llvered the coal ut her back door. To
day she, does not shrink from lighting
! his fag or even washing his grim!
!, body.
: Tommy admires Albert Of Belgium be
a ! a q.