The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-10-05
UP ABOVE CLOUDS NOT A CAY LIFE
"Bl" Beasley Writes Percy Powell Writes OF Cond
Artillery Action lions a Transport.
Every Shell a Song All Food Good,
Food Good, but Crowds Are
Hard on Corns.
Some Use Canteen Water for
Shaving Purposes.
Kansas Boys Long To Be Home
Once More.

A letter has been received from Percy
Powell. Company B. ss1 battalion.
tank corps, who is now in France. His
letter was written on shipboard in
mid-ocean. Powell. before joining the
army, was a reporter on the State
Journal. His letter is as follows:
at is 1880 in the evening on board
well known ocean liner which has
been transporting American boys
abroad for months. I am in the sec
hundred other boys, all wearing life
preservers and belts with canteens
filled with water. The port holes are
closed, and the room is sitting with
cigaret smoke. The atmosphere re-
minds me of the dining room of the
big initiation. There is a tuneless
piano in the room, and one of the boys
Is endeavoring to play I'm q Long,
Long Way From Home
Would Like To Be Home.
''That>is just the way I was feeling
few minutes ago as rubbed my.
eyes to relieve the smarting from this
abominable English cigaret smoke.
Just then someone at my side said:
God! I'd like to be back in Kansas
"'You haven't a thing on me. Bud
dy,' replied. Where are you from p
He Is Leon Harrington from Bon
ner Springs. We talked of Imri Zun-'
walt and the Lake of the Forest and
other peculiarities of Bonner Springs.
"pr. Merrill Lindsay, now a lieutef-
ant in an evacuation hospital. and
John Powell. formerly an emp1oye of
the Wolff Packing company. are To-
pekans on board the same boat with
me. I am going to sleep on the floor
under Powell's bunk tonight. He Is
in A company. and I'm in company.
A company went on board first and
drew second class state rooms. B
company was assigned to hammocks
in the steerage dining room. 1t was
too stuffy for me, and I have been
sleeping on deck wrapped in heavy
overcoat. They begin scrubbing at s
o'clock in the morning. and 1t is well
to wake up before that event, as cold
water and an Atlantic breeze don't
jibs.
Gets q State Room.
To-day we have been going thru a
squaIl with sleet and q chilly wind and
a heavy sea. I stood on the bow of
the boat this morning and threw my
whole weight against the wind. which
was strong enough to keep me from
falling. So 1 bargained for a bunk in
a stateroom tonight.
Life on a transport in daytime is
primarily hard on corns. 1t is even
worse in that respect than Kellam hall
on Saturday nights. For two hours
every morning every one of the thou
sands of men on board must be on
deck. The crowd then is as thick as
the front of Hootchy-Kootchy show
at a country fair, and with the boat
man must step either forward or
backward. which is danger for man
with corns.
I'VE have boat drills twice a day,
when every man must be ready to get
into a boat or onto a raft in case of
places at such times is fierce.
There are a hundred nurses on
board. They have been assigned to
an upper deck. In the evening hun
dreds of the boys gather under their
deck and sing for them. Some of the
nurses have good voices, and OCCASION
ally they sing for US.
A Band on Board.
There is band on board which
are some bloody boxing matches.
church services, poker games. crap
games, Y. NJ. c. A. secretaries and
much seasickness. So far have es-
capped, except for the eorns.
There are certain hours when one
can get water for washing. During
that time it is next to impossible to get
near a wash basin. So I fill my can
teen with drinking water and use 1t
for shaving and washing purposes.
"As the sun begins to set the guards
on deck shout: 'Cigarets out-wrist
watches Off Wrist watches throw a
light.
THE food we have isn't bad, and the
tea is excellent. The idea that three
or four hundred slept in the dining
room ruined my appetite at first. But
good forgotten is mighty handy in
this mans army.
''There are 200 student aviators of
the royal flying corps on board. They
enlisted in Canada, tho most of them
are American boys.
Tomorrow we will be in the subma-
rine zone proper. Extra war ships
will meet us and hydroplanes and
ships with observation balloons. We
were accorded the same escort for a
time out of the American port.
The soldiers police the boat and act
as walters, assisted by impudent, tho
interesting, English lads from Is to
Is years old. 1t won't be many days
until 1 get to England or France or
get a permanent coal-heaving job.
Tell my friends to write long and
| often. as I'll get tired of making signs
| if France is my destination. Anyhow.
1 only know one sign. and I'd rather
use it on the Huns than on the
| French"