Meade County news., 1918-03-14

proud. He is more ashamed that he
is alive Of the regiment with which
went into the war only two are
now living. When / left America at
the beginning of the war to enter the
French army, l intended to serve as
chaplain but all the places were
filled so l enlisted in the Infantry.
With the Infantry in the trenches
there is always the most suffering
and dying so l enlisted as private to
be with the boys in their suffering.
"In February, 1915, the Imperial
Guards broke through our lines, one
day. My company was in the regi-
ment called out to meet and stop
them. In those first days of the war,
the officers uniforms were not like
these we now wear, they were black
and red and very CONSPICUOUS so the
Germans could easily pick them out.
That day all our officers were killed
and as one of them lay dying he gave
me his sword and told me to take
his place. led the company in bril-
liant charge and we repulsed and
brought back with us all that was
left of the Imperial Guard unit. The
General came the next day and asked
where all my officers were. told
him they wer all dead and he asked
me where | got my sword. When |
told him he requested me to keep it.
Your secretary of war says he has a
commission in store for any boy who
goes to France and does the same.
The Delousing Hospital
"Pm going to tell you bad story,
before l begin my message, for 1
know you all like them although you
won't admit it, and this is the worst
know. In the first years of the war,
the uncleanliness of the trenches was
the worst thing that we had to put
up with. Now when our boys go
over, they are placed in training
camps, then put into sector. They
have been given a sector in the pro-
vince of Lorraine, because whatever
France does she does with her heart,
and in Lorraine is the birth place
the home of Joan of Arc, the place
dearest to the heart of France. Then
ever so often the boys go back to
the rest villages, nice, clean, rest
villages. At first we were not so
favored. We were often three or four
weeks in the trenches. Once l was
in for twenty-one days without a
chance to wash. A small boy once
said to me, weren't you lucky?' When
one is without water for so long, he
is quite likely to come out with more
company than he had when he went
in so they started a delousing hos
pital back Of the lines, where the de-
lousing process was carried on and
where there was clean linen and the
boys could sleep in beds. 1t is a great
thing for a soldier to sleep in bed.
During the three years was in the
war, l slept in bed probably forty
nights.
"But in order to be sent to the de-
lousing hospital, one must qualify and
everyone wanted to go so it became
common thing for those without to
ask their friends, Have you got any?
and Won't you give me couple p 1t
soon got to the place where they
said, We're not giving away any
more we're selling them" So they had
to stop sending them.
Tough Boy Good Soldier
when l became an officer l was
to be provided an orderly so / thot
l would take the toughest boy in the
company and try to do him some
good. The boy who was so regarded
was an ex-anarchist and against all
orders and regulations always wore a
red sweater. When l asked him to be
my orderly he said he was too dirty,
that he couldn't keep himself clean.
so he didn't see how he could keep
anyone else clean, but perhaps he
could be my cook. 1t takes a brave
man to be cook in the infantry