The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1918-10-29
SEND Us THE ADDRESS
OF YOUR SOLDIER BOY

IL you have a man in the service
of his country, please send us his full
address. The man who went ou-
from your home to fight for us
whether he is abroad or in some
training camp whether sick or we'll
homesick or feeling foxy, we want
his address, and we should like to
have it right away.
| We want to publish the addresses
of all our Bingham county boys just
as fast as we can get them, for the
folks of this country are going to
write letters to them now as they
never have before. There are men
in the service who line up at the call
of the mail, await the call of their
own names and get no letters from
home. They go away sad and lonely,
wondering why folks at home do not
write. From now on, the folks at
home are going to write, not only to
the members of their own family,
but the others.
We have SO many men in the SER
vice, and we are so short of man
power, transportation facilities are
so taxed for necessities, we cannot
send Christmas boxes excepting one
to each man, and that, under very
strict government regulations. Now,
II a fellow can't get a Christmas
box of more than little, it follows
that he has got to have some mighty
CHEEKY letters from Bill and George
and Mary and Sue or he will have
a streak of lean in his feelings. And
| he has got to have letters from
Brown and Smith and Mrs. Jones and
the daughter of that neighbor that
they didn't get along any too well
with before the war. II they were
not exactly on speaking terms, and
the daughter writes him friendly
letter and tells him that their whole
family feel grateful to him for the
part he is taking to save her and
them from the Huns, he is going to
swell up and feel good when he reads
that letter. He will figure that If
his least-friendly neighbors whom he
didn't speak to year ago, are put
ting up their money and their good
wishes and having the daughter
write to him and give him comfort
in far away camp, there is no tell
ing how much the rest of the folks
think Of him.
But it will be up to the rest of the
neighbors to make that known to
him themselves, and they are going
to do it, even tho they have to sit
up nights to write the letters. If
the fellows can stand out in the rain
and mud and snow all night watch
ing black space for a possible Hun,
we can all sit up for a while by
coy CRATE to write him some cheerful
stuff from home.
When you go to write to soldier,
don't give him discourse on patriot
ism or parental love or the weather.
Tell him the neighborhood news.
Tell him the gossip he would hear if
he were at a candy-pulling among the
fellows and girls he would like to
be with. If he is little older than
that, and would like to hear Of older
folks, tell him a string of events
about them, but soft-pedal all the
sad news and play up the CHEEKY side
of events as they are passing. II you
went to the carnival and took a
chance on pulling a string for
dime, tell them you won a niger
doll, work basket or a monkeys
head. Leave the impression that
life is running right along here at
home, and that they have something
to fight for and something good to
come back to. Tell them, if you like,
that the local paper is agitating for
a million dollars worth of good
roads to be built with one million
dollars worth of liberty bonds as
soon as the war is over, and that the
returning soldiers are to be the high
ginks that sit at the directors table |
to say how they shall be built, be- |
cause they have been abroad, where |
they saw things done right All, |
there is lots Of stuff you can write |
the soldier without resorting to the
deaths and sickness and the weather
at home. He doesn't want to hear
those things. He despises the
in letter. 1t hurts him to
hear that you are having a hard
time at home and that help is scarce.
Put up a brave front and don't let
him know if you are suffering. Make
your heart big and brave, and make
your letters brave and CHEEKY.
Now folks, give us those addresses.