The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1918-07-25

ray was dDOdAhs hhh Il a 0ARN<hCN
trouble In transferring to his ship in
case l was assigned elsewhere. We
had framed 1t up to stick together as
long as we could. We did, too.
Murray was as glad as l was when
/ came aboard, and he told me he had
heard Brown, our other pal, had been
made a sergeant In another regiment
of the legion.
We were both surprised at some of
the differences between the French
navy and ours, but after we got used
to it, we thought many of their Gus
toms improvements over ours. But we
could not get used to it, at first. For
instance, on an American ship, when
you are pounding your ear In a nice
warm hammock and 1t is time to re-
lieve the watch on deck, like as not
you will be awakened gently by a burly
garby armed with a fairy wand about
the size of a bed slat, whereas in
French ships, when they call the
watch, you would think you were In a
swell hotel and had left word at the
desk. 1t was hard to turn out at first,
without the aid of a club, and harder
still to break ourselves of the habit
of calling our relief in the gay and
festive American manner, but, as i
say, we got to like it after a while.
Then, too, they do not do any hazing
in the French navy, and this surprised
us. We had expected to go through
the mill just as we did when we Joined
the American service, but nobody slung
a hand at us. On the contrary, every
garby aboard was kind and decent and
extremely courteous, and the fact that
we were from the States counted a lot
with them. They used to brag about
1t to the crews of other ships that were
not so honored.
But this kindness we might have x
pected. 1t is just like Frenchmen in
any walk Of life. With hardly an ex-
eeption, l have never met one of this
nationality who was not anxious to
help you in every way he could X
tremely generous, though not reckless
with small change, and almost always
CHEEKY and there with a smile in any
weather. A fellow asked me once why
it was that almost the whole world
loves the French, and / told him ii was
because the French love almost the
whole world, and show 1t. And 1 think
that is the reason, too.
About the only way you a describe
the Poilus, on land or sea, is that they
are gentle. That is, you always think
that word when you see n and talk
to him-unless you happen to see him
within bayonet distance of Fritz.
The French sailors sleep between
decks In hunks, instead of ~hammocks,
and as l had not slept in a bunk since
my Southerndown days, it was pretty
hard on me. So l got hold Of sone
heaving line, which is one-quarter-inch
rope, and rugged up a hammock. In
my spare time l taught the others how
to make them, and pretty soon every
body was doing II.
When / taught the sailors to make
hammocks, / figured, of course, that
they would use them as we did-that
is, sleep in them. They were greatly
pleased at first, but after they had
tried the stunt of getting In and stay
ing in, it was another story. A ham,
mock is like some other things-it
works while o sleep-and if you are
not on to 1t, you spend most of your
sleeping time hitting the floor. Our
gun captain thought l had put owe a
trick hammock on him, but l did not
need to; every hammock is a trick
hammock.
Also, I taught them the way we
make mats out of rope, to use while
sleeping on the steel gratings near the
entrance to stoke holes. In cold wealth
er this part of the ship is more com
Portable than the ordinary sleeping
quarters, but without a mat it gets too
hot.
American soldiers and sailors get
the best food in the world, but while
the French navy chow was not fancy,
it was clean and hearty, as they say
down East. For breakfast we had
bread and coffee and sardines; at noon
a boiled dinner, mostly beans, which
were old friends of mine, and Of the
~well-named navy variety; at four in
the afternoon, a pint of vino, and at
six, a supper of soup, coffee. bread and
beans.
Although the French 'seventy-ive"
is the best gun in the world, their ma
val guns are not as good as ours, and
their gunners are mostly older men.
But they will give a %youngster a gun
rating if he shows the stuff.
Shortly after l went aboard the Cas-
sard, we received instructions 10 pro-
coed TO Spezia. Italy, the large Italian
naval base. The voyage was without
incident, but when we dropped anchor
IN Spezia, the Italian port officials
q~uarantined us for fourteen days on
account of smallpox. During this period
our food was pretty bad in fact, the
meat became rotten. This could hard
ly have happened on an American ship.