The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1918-06-14
CHAPTER xVI-continued.

81 came out with the. first expedi-
thought we would have the enemy
licked in Jig time. and be able to eat
Christmas dinner at home Well, so
far. have eaten two Christmas din
ners in the trenches, and am liable TO
eat two more, the way things are
pointing That is, if Fritz don't drop
% withholding on me, and send me to
Brightly. Sometimes | wish | would
get hit. because it's no great picnic
out here, and twenty-five months of il
makes you fed up.
cts fairly cushy now compared to
what it used to be, although admit
this trench is trifle rough Now.
we send over five shells to their one.
We are getting our own back, but in
the early days il was different Then
you had to take everything without
reply In fact. we would get twenty
shells in return for every one we sent
over Fritz seemed to enjoy IL, but
we British didn't: we were the suf-
ferers. Just one casualty after an
other Sometimes whole platoons
would disappear, especially when
JACK JOiflSou Iiullkcu IutO tueIT
middle. 1t got so bad that q fellow,
when writing home, wouldn't ask for
any cigarettes to be sent out because
he was afraid he wouldn't be there to
receive them.
after the drive to Paris was turned
back, trench warfare started. Our
general grabbed n map, drew pencil
across it. and said. Dig here Then
he went back TO his tea. and Tommy
armed himself with a pick and shovel
and started digging. He's been dig
ging ever since.
"Of course we dug those trenches at
night. but 1t was hot work, what with
the rifle and machine-gun fire. The
stretcher bearers worked harder than
the diggers.
"Those trenches, bloomin' bitches. L
cail them were nightmares. They were
only about five feet deep. and you used
tc get the backache from bending
down. 1t wasn't exactly safe to stand
upright. either. because as soon as
your napper showed over the top a
bullet would bounce off it, or else come
so close it would make your hair stand.
I'VE used to fill sandbags and stick
them on top of the parapet to make 1t
higher. but no use; they would be
there about an hour and then Fritz
would turn loose and blow them to
bits. My neck used TO be, sore from
duclzing shells and bullets.
where my battery was stationed a
hasty trench had been dug. which
the boys nicknamed Suicide ditch
and haltavo me- Y0nk this was the
original Suicide ditch All the others
gre limitations.
when fellow went into that
trench 1T was an even gamble that he
would come out on stretcher. At one
time Scotch battalion held 1t, and
when they heard the betting was even
money that they'd come out on
stretchers. they grabbed all the bets
i'm sight. Like lot Of bally idiots. sew
eral of the battery men fell for their |
game, and put up real money. The |
Jocks suffered lot of casualties, and |
the prospects looked bright for the |
battery men to collect some easy !
money. So when the battalion was re- |
Iieved the gamblers lined up. Several |
Jocks got their money for emerging |
safely. but the ones who clicked it |
weren't there to pay. The artillery |
men ifad never thought it out that |
way. Those Scotties were bound to |
be sure winners, no matter how the |
wind blew. SO take tip from me.
never bet with Scottie, cause you'll /
lose money.
AT one part of our trench where