Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-03

cook. who does not as a rule use the
field kitchen. but prepares the food IN
the house taken as the officers mess.
AS far as possible. the company cooks
are men who were cooks in civil life;
but not always. We drew plumber
and a navy (road builder)-and the
our company worked the kitchen prob
lem was to have stew for two platoons
one day and roast dinner for the others.
and then reverse the order next day,
SO that we didn't have stew all the
time. There were not enough dixies
for us all to have stew the same day.
Every afternoon I would take my
mess orderlfes and go to the quarter
and carry it back to the billets in
waterproof sheets. Then the stuff that
was to be cooked in the kitchen went
there. and the bread and that sort OF
material was issued direct to the men.
That was where my trouble started.
THE powers that were had an uncanny
knack of issuing an odd number OF
articles to go among an even number OF
eleven loaves Of bread to go to
platoon of fifty men divided into four
sections. Some of the sections would
have ten men and some twelve or thir-
teen.
The British Tommy is a scrapper
when it comes to his rations. He re-
minds me of an English sparrow. He's
always right in there wrangling Tor
his own. He will bully and browbeat
If he can, and he will coax and cajole
il he can't It would be Hi sye, cor
poraI They's ten men in No. 2 sec
ton and fourteen in ourn. An blimme
If you hain't guv 'em four loaves. same
as ourn. Is it right. I arsks yer? Is
it Or,
"Lookee! Do yer call that a loaf O.
bread? Looks like the A. S. c. (Army
Service CORPSE been using, it fer
piller. Gimme another, will YER cor
poral?"
onions nine ways I defy any one to
keep peace in the family, and every
doggoned Tommy would hold out 1or
his onion whether he liked 'em or not.
Same way with a bottle of pickles to
go among eleven men or a hand1ul
Of raisfns or apricots. Or jam. or but
ter or anything, except bully beer or
Maconochie.. I never heard any one
Bully is high grade corned beef in
cans and is o. K. il you like it, but 1t
does get tiresome.
to the can and bears a label which as
sures the consumer that 1t is a scien-
tiflcally prepared. well balanced ration.
Maybe so. It is my personal opinion
an imperfect knowledge. of cookery
and a perverted Imagination. Open a
can of Maconochie and you find gooey
COB of grease, like rancid lard. 1nves-
tigate and find chunks of carrot and
other unidentifiable material. and now
and then bit of mysterious meat. The
first man who ate an oyster had cour-
age; but the last man who ate Macono-
chie's unheated had more. Tommy re-
CARDS it as a very inferior grade OF
garbage. The label notwithstanding,
he's right.
send our soldiers in the line of food
I'd say stick to sweets. Cookies of any
durable kind mean that will stand
chance moisture-the sweeter the bet
ter, and if possible those containing
raisins or dried fruit. Figs, dates. etc,
Personally, never did have enough
chocolate. Candy is acceptable. If it is
of the sort to stand more or less rough
usage which it may get before II
reaches the soldier. Chewing gum is
always received gladly. The army is
jam, which gets to taste all alike.
1t is pathetic to see some Of the
messes Tommy gets together to fill his
craving for dessert. The favorite is a
slum composed of biscuit. water, con-
densed milk, raisins and chocolate. II
some of you folks at home would get
one look at the concoction, let alone
tasting it, you would dash out and spend
your last dollar for a package to send
to some lad 'tover there"
After the excitement of lodging shells
and bullets in the front trenches life in
billets seems dull. Tommy has too
much time to get into mischief. 1t was