Daily Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1918-191?, 1918-03-09

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brand-new Underwear; IN F0cI. \ CON-
plete change Of Uniform. and then
turned IN for the night. The next morn
Ing my shirt would be full Of them. n
Is common sight 10 see eight or ten
soldiers sitting under n tree with their
shirts over their knees engaging In a
"shirt hunt
AZ night about hair an hour before
flights ont" you can see the Tommies
grouped around a candle, trying. In It's
dim light. 20 rid their underwear Of
the vermin. A popular and very quick
method II 20 take your shirt and draw
ers, and run the seams back and for
ward In the fame from n candle and
burn them out. This practice In dan
gerous, because you are liable 20 burn
holes In the garments n you are not
careful. VIZ
Recruits generally sent 20 Blighty
for a brand Of insect powder adver>
tised as Good for body lice" The adj
vertisement Is quite right; the powder
is good for "cooties;" they simply
thrive on II.
The older men Of our battalion were
wiser and made scratchers out -
wood. These were rubbed smoQhches
a BIT OF stone or sand 20. uses that q
tiers. They were ahngth will reach
long. and Ig'body which may be at
scratchsome Of the fellows were lazy
sd only made their scratchers twelve
inches, but many a night when on
yuard, looking over the top from the
IRE step OF the front-line trench, they
would have given a thousand "quid"
Tor the other six inches.
Once while we were In rest billets an
irish Hussar regiment camped In an
open field opposite our billet After
they had picketed and fed their horses
q general shirt hunt took place. The
troopers ignored the call "Dinner up"
and kept on with their search for big
game. They had a curious method OF
procedure. They hung their shirts over
q hedge and beat them with their en-
trenchlng tool handles.
I asked one OF them why they didn't
pick them of by hand, and he an
swered, Eve haven't had a bath for
nine weeks or change Of clabber. II
/ tried 10 pick the coolies OF my shirt,
/ would be here for duration OF war;,
After taking q close look az his shirt, ]
agreed with him; II was alive.
The greatest shock a recruit gets
when he arrives at his battalion In
France Is TO see the men engaging In O
"cootie" hunt. With an air OF con-
tempt and disgust he avoids the com
pany Of the older men, until a couple
Of days later, in a torment Of itching,
he also has 10 resort 70 a shirt hunt
or spend many n sleepless night Of
misery. During these hunts there are
lots Of pertinent remarks banded back
and forth among the explorers, such
as, "Say, Bill. I'll swap you two little
ones for big one" or. i've got
blnck one here that looks like Kaiser
BILL"
one sunny day In Che front-llne
trench, I saw three officers sitting out
side of their dugout ("cootles" are no
respecters Of rank have even noticed
suspicious uneasiness about certain
well-known general), one Of them was
a major, two OF them were exploring
their shirts, paying no attention 70 the
occasional shells which passed over
head. The major was writing a letter.
every now and then he would lay aside
his writlngpad, search his shirt Tor d
few minutes, get an inspiration and
then resume writing. Al last he fin .
ished his letter and gave II 10 his run
ner." l was curious 20 see whether he
was writing to an insect firm. so when
the runner passed me l engaged him
in conversation and got n glimpse ut
the address on the envelope. II was
addressed 10 Miss Alice Somebody, In
London. The runner" Informed mo
that Miss Somebody was the majors
sweetheart and that he wrote TO her =
every day. Just imagine IL, writing n
love letter during "cootie" hunt but
such IS the creed Of the trenches.