Bisbee daily review., 1918-06-30

Dear Sis: I want to be frank with you and say, cut out the sob stuff in your letters. And look here, honey, tell mother the same, when you get a chance. 1 know you mean 1t all right you love me, and all that. Believe me- 1 appreciate what home and love mean, more now than ever before. But hate to think of you and mother working yourselves up into state oy- CT me, what 1 have to go through, and so on, churning yourselves into hys- terics and telling me mother has the saddest face you ever saw"
 Cut it out, honey. Be woman, not a child
 Do this: If you haven't bought a service flag go and get one-you know the little red flag with the white cen ter and a blue star in it, showing that the house has sent one fellow to do his bit. And every time you see that flag, don't hang your head and look sorry, but throw up your chin and excuse me, sisi-stiffen your spine. It makes me feel like a bluefish to get those fearful letters; lots of the other boys get them, too, and they feel as I do when they read them. We haven't got any time for feeling glum; we're learning a new job, and we're hard at work.
 You don't know how it makes us feel mad clear through when we think of all the women folks at home writ ing those tear-stained letters to the fellows. Why don't you back us up, send us the kind of stuff that puts pep and strength into a man? When mother broke down and wept all over me that day l left home, 1 felt like jumping off the trestle. Good night. l know it isn't easy. It isn't always easy for me. But we have all just got to play the game.
 Let me tell you just what these blue-funk letters do: Six hundred of the boys in my regiment left here last night to go south for Intensive train ing. They were the bluest crowd you ever saw. Why? Because they were that much nearer the trenches? Don't you believe it, They're full of fight, and they're going after the job like wild cats. But they felt low because they had been getting that kind of letters from home-the sob stuff-and because they can't make the folks back home see that it's all right, that they're healthy. and happy and strong If they had only been getting the right kind of cheer-up stuff from home, how differently they would feell Every time a woman sits down and writes sad, weepy letter to a soldier, she l,s ,f
 And if you write that way now, what will you and mother spring on me when l really get lover there?"
 New, l want you and mother. and everyone else love, to know the truth Of course this soldering is not a pie mic. But honest, it's the finest life | ever dreamed of; it's clean and hard and full of spunk. Our officers arei dandy fellows-I tell you we're proud of them. One of thems millionaire, the son of old B.! you've read about in the papers; and you ought to see that fellow work He does the foot inspection in our company; not pleasant job. when the men come back from a lcng hike. The fellows who don't take care of their feet get blue blazes, too. All our officers are col lege men. You know 1 used to say that those fellows were soft; take it back
 Of course when I came down here with the second draft was bit blue at first, a little sorry for myself Now that I've been here a month I wouldn't ] quit if l could They've made me act ing corporal, and if l can stick it that i means a raise in pay About the time you folks are sitting down to coffee and fried eggs, we're going through our setting up. battalion at a time, crunching over the snow. 1 tell you that makes a fellow feel fine And getting up at o'clock is all 10 the good when you are used to if.
 You and mother are terribly exer- cised about the food Why. it's bully Last night, for instance, we had cocoa. Welsh rarebit, corn bread and cottage pudding, with some kind Of sweet sauce-all We could eat Our company chef used to be cook in a big hotel Nothing wrong with the grub, except in your imagination The same is true about mothers worry as to whether I am warm and all that Why, Of course l am. For the love Of Mike, where do you think we are? Our bar racks are well heated, we've got plen- ty of blankets, hot and cold shower baths, and a fine bunch of fellows in the company
 Another thing I don't think you know much about is the Y. M. C. A; that's where I'm writing now. All this note paper with the stars and stripes on it and the little red triangle :. is given away by the "Y' M." as we call it. They have these big buildings all over the camp-nine or ten of them-with a fine open fireplace, plenty of books and magazines. note paper and envel- Opes given away free, music, movies and boxing or some such stunt going on every night One wing of the build ing is used for an entertainment Or meeting every evening; the other wing is kept quiet for the fellows who want to read or write or play games. We have no end of good times here in fact, my evenings are fuller of fun than when l was on the job and at home.
 Then the fellows here? You ask are they "nice?" Of course we have all kinds Of human beings here-ditch dig
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