The Meeker herald., 1918-10-05

O004W0 844S89V A0DDD
IN spssia. the italian port onicials
guaranteed % for fourteen days On
account Of smallpox. During this period
our food was pretty bad: In fact, the
meat became rotten. This could hard
~ have happened on an American ship.
because they are pfovisioned With
canned stun and preserved meats. bot
the Preach ships, like the italian. d.
pend on live stock. fresh vegetables.
etc, which they carry on board. and
We had sxpected TO get Q large supply
Of such stuR at Spssia. Long before
the fourteen days were up We were
out Of these things, and had to live on
anything we could get hold of-mostly
bareback, coffee and cocoa.
We loaded . cargo Of airplanes for
the italian aviators at the French hy.
ing schools. and started back to Brsst.
On the way hack We had target psac.
tice. n faet. at most times on the
open ~, Il was . regular part of tho
routine.
1t was during one q these practices
that the Trsnch ol1eses wanted to
6nd out whaf the Yaikse gunner knew
about gunnsry. AZ . range Of eight
miles, while the ship was making eight
knots an hour. with . fourteea-inch
gun scored three d's-that u, three
direct hits out Of i've trials. After
that there was no question about It Az
Q result. I was awarded three bars.
These bars, which are strips a. red
braid. are worn On the left sleeve. and
signify extra mArksmanship. I also
received two hundred aud nifty franco,
or about nfty dollars in American
money, and fourteen days shore leave.
All this made me very angry, oh.
very much wrought mp indeed-not
I nav . merry life for myself On the
French rolling wave II thsy felt that
way about gunnefy.
I spsnt most Of my leave with my
Grandmother In st. Naxaire. except for
. short trip I made to star-shell fac
tory. This factory was Just about like
one ] NV later somewhere In Amer
lea, only In the French works, all the
hands were women. Only the guards
were men. and they were ''blesses"
(woundsdl.
When my leave was up and ! said
good-by TO my grandmother. she man.
aged . smile for me, though I could
see that It was pretty stir WORK. And
without getting soft, or anything lEEe
that, can tell you that smile stayed
with me and Il did me more good than
You would believe. because It gave me
something good to think about when I
was up against tho real thing.
hope q lot Of you people who read
this book arc women. because have
had It In mind for some time to tell all
the women I could q little thing they
can DO that win help q lot. I am not
trying to be fancy about It, and I hope
you will take It from me the way
mean II.
When you say sood-by to your son
or your husband or your sweetheart,
work up . smile for him. What you
want to do u to give him something he
can think about over there. and some
thing hs win like 10 think about. There
IL - much dirt. and blood. and hunger.
and cold, and al that around 700. that
you have Just got to quit thinking
about II q you VIM 20 crazy. And %.
WHEN yoo can think about something
nice, you can pretty nearly forget al
the rest foe awhile Ths incest things
you can thiak shout arc the things you
liked hack home.
Now: yoa can take It from me that
what your boy win Ike to remember
the best e an u your face with q
smile on II. He has got enough hell on
hds hands without q lot Of weeps to ~
member. II 700 will excuse the word.
But don't forget that the chances are
on his side that he gets back to you;
the figures prove 1t. That viii help
you some. At that. It will be hard
work: you win feel more like crying,
and - will he, maybe. But smile for
him. That smils b your bit.
Iwill back q smlie against the wesps
In race TO Berlin any time. So I am
telling you, and cannot make It strong
enough him away with q smite.