The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1918-02-22
OVID TIT TOD
81
AN AlYTRI(AN S0I>lNE<D
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ARI>IiUl GUY EfIpI<<Y
MACHINE GJNNER SERVING N FRAhCE-
MACHINE GJNNER SERVING IN FRANCEE
| GlN7 BY |
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| ing to their work Crossing the
! street, l accosted a Bobbie with:
"Can you direct me to the place Of
! danlageW
! He asked me, "What damage:"
In surprise. l answered. "Why, the
damage caused by the Zeps.'
With a wink he replied:
"There was no damage: we missed
! them again"
After several fruitless inquiries of
! the passersby, I decided to go on my
own in search of ruined buildings and
! scenes Of destruction. boarded Il bus
which carried me through Tot1enllam
! Court road. Recruiting posters were
everywhere. The one that impressed
! me most was a life-siZe picture Of
| Lord Kitchener with his finger point
{ ing directly at me. under the caption
| of "Your King and Country Need YOU"
| No matter which way l turned, the
; accusing finger followed me. I was
! an American, in mufti, and had q little
{ American flag in the lapel of my coat.
/ I had no king, and my country had
! seen fit not to need me, but still that
pointing finger made me feel small and
ill at ease. I got off the bus to try
to dissipate this feeling by mixing
with the throng Of the sidewalks.
i Presently I came to recruiting Of
flee. Inside, sitting at desk was
lonely Tommy Atkins. decided to in
terview him in regard to joining the
British army. / opened the door. He
looked up and greeted me with Il s'y,
myte, want to tyke On?"
looked at him and answered, "Well,
whatever that is, I'll take chance
at it,
Without the aid of an Interpreter,
! found out that Tommy wanted to know
If cared to join the British army. He
asked me: did you ever hear of the
Royal Fusiliers?" Well, in London,
you know, Yanks are supposed to know
| everything, so I was not going to ap-
pear ignorant and answered, Sure"
After listening for one half-hour to
Tommy's tale of their exploits on the
firing line, I decided to join. Tommy
took me to the recruiting headquarters,
where l met a typical English captain.
He asked my nationality. l immedi-
! ately pulled out my American passport
and showed it to him. 1t was signed
by Lansing. After looking ut the
| passport, he Informed me that he was
sorry but could not enlist me. as it
, would be a breach Of neutrality. L
insisted that was not neutral, be-
| cause to me it seemed that real
! American could not be neutral when
bic things were in progress, but t4ic
; captain would not enlist me.
! With disgust in my heart I went out
in the street. r had gone about 81
block when recruiting sergeant VINO
| had followed me out Of the Office
! / Hned me on the shoulder with his
sy5arger stick and said: "S'y. l can
Get YOU in the army. We have lef-
| tenant down at the other office who
can DO anything. He has just come
out of the O. T. G. (Oficers' Training
| corps) and does not know what neu-
trality is I decided to take a chance,
and accepted his invitation for on in
PRODUCTION to the lieutenant. entered
the Office and went up to him, opened
up my passport and said:
Before going further I wish to state
that I am IN American. not too proud
to fight, and want to join your army"
| He looked at me in nonchalant
| manner, and answered. "That'S all
right; We take anything over here"
looked at him kind of hard and re-
piled, $50 I notice" but it went over
his head.
He got out an enlistment blank, and
| placing his finger On blank line said,
| "Sign here"
answered, "Not on your tintype."
"I beg your pardon?"
Then I explained to him that I would
| not sign it without first reading it.
| read it over and signed for duration Of
war. Some of the recruits were lucky.
They signed for seven years only!
! Then he asked me my birthplace. /
answered. "Ogden. Utah"
He said, "Oh, yes, just outside OF
New York;"
With a smile, I replied, "Well, it's up
the state little
Then I was taken before the doctor
and passed as physically fit. and was
iss-:ed uniform. When [ reported
back to the lieutenant, he suggested
that. being an American, I go on re-
cruting service and try 10 shame some
of the slackers into joining the army"
"All you have to do" he said, "is to
90 out on the street. and when you see
a young fellow in muftl who looks
physically fit, just stop him and give
him this kind of a talk: Aren't you
- Pr;%3chnr YhUc-