The weekly tribune and the Cape County herald. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1914-1918, 1918-03-22
OFFICERS Spirit
ELATES british
Eaqerness of the Americans to
Get to the Front Is
Is Always Noted.
Make THEMSELVES At HOME
Get ION the Job" at Once and Dis
play Desire to Learn and to
Be Where the Shells Are
Whizzng.

IondCn.-Many interesting stories
come from France about the keenness
of mind and the eager spirit of the
American officers arriving at the front.
These officers get ION the joh" at once
and display desire TO learn and To be
where the shells are whiZZing and the
Huns are TO be seen.
The first tendency of the BritiSherS
IS TO be somewhat envi0uS of the elab
crate paraphernalia and equipment of
the Americans, but the disposition of
the latter 10 share everything he has
with his colleagues. he they French or
British. at once puts him on a most
friendly basis.
a British officer. writing in the
Daily News. tells of the arrival of
two of these American officers at
the front. After describing an old
French chateau, 'full of gusts of wind,
of ghosts and lahyrinthine passages,
he says that these two Americans
Iugged into the place with trunks and
bags and quickly made themselves at
home.
He describes their entrance thus:
"And just then the door creaked
open. and two pleasant faced young
men in khaki. and wearing wide
awake hats with gold and black cord
twined around them, put their heads
in looked round. babe me n pleasant
good evening. looked at he pile of
4 Il
where they We're coming in, and ex-
pected. and were quite prepared to Put
up with harlShips. and rapidly took
possession.
This. then. was the American army
come to stay. These Young gentlemen
had Travelled from the other side of
the Atlantic to help out the allies. and
with them had come their belongings
packed in trunks. Thinking. of course.
of the limited number of beds. ] said ::
How many are there of you| I guess
there are only TWO coming iii here.
one replied That seemed good enough.
and said 10 myself: This army has
got some transportation. If IL couple
az TeulenantS carry this lot, what
must an army carryT
AZ don't r. %rrt their coming. They
We're nice Americans. They asked a
lot of questions. and in doing 50
skinned me Of my knowlcdg" Of the
western front. And from those trunks
they produced pieces # equipment
which made me cnviouS-aut0matir
reviewers. marked with q large L. s.
A.. and ammunition: GlaSsrS* boots.
IcgCingS. coats bats mess tins. wafer
bottles spare tunicS. flash la'HpS-
everything" in fact which makes our
OWN officers when on the move look
like Christmas trees. These young Of
ffcprs were even more the complete
officer than we profess to he: hut all
their decorative effects were slowed
and locked away IN trunks. And, look
ing AT the proposition fairly and
squarely. began To Ike those trunks.
Democratic Discipline.
I'VE settled down to work together.
These American officers ara of the
stamp of the Canadian and Australian
"fiicpr-keen, alert. good shots, and en-
dowed with what they themselves call
democratic discipline One saw this
discipline at work. You fellows
haven't got much of n place TO shake
down in one Of their servants told
me tho morning after he had dumped
his masters kit in my room. and I
don't think / felt any resentment at
being called Il fellow.
"TheSe officers had that inevitable
eagerneSS Ia hear the guns and see the
inside of warfare which one finds in
newly arrived British officers. And
there IS the same kind of specializing
and guessing as to what is going to
happen. when it will happen. and the
chances of IN early 'blighty.' But
there is something more. These Amer
lean officers have definite views on the
war. One of them told me that he
expected to find the British and
French armies somewhat ragged and
worn after their long struggle. What
he had found was Just the reverse.
The British army made him blink: it
was 50 highly polished and eXtraor-
dinarily smart, slick. alert and full of
SNdlh. Ilt tAitiltt IT. Iliiu low
morale instead of which he finds it
high. Personally think these officers
had come TO criticize, but they remain
Ia admire in amaze.
"And all this discovery leads to a
certain Shs-neSS-Sompthirg which is
new to Yankee temperament. My two
friends of the heavy baggage seemed
10 regard mo as an expert in this war
game. and an expert who had TO ne
treated with respect. Consciously or
unconsciously. they gave me an as
tendance over them. I was the war;
rior. they the tyrOs coming on to the
field of experience. One day. in a
chatting remark, l compared their lord
ly trunks and my little bundle of be-
longingS. and thereafter the trunks
seemed to call for constant apologies.
Ic0uldn't help watching their progress
as one watches Il SchOOlbOy growing
up, and treating them as juniors,
whose only misfortune was they had
b,or, Int, In ,,1nirCs into tho fold -