The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1918-08-30
CHAPTER xvl-cOntinued.


81 came out with the first expedl-
tionary force, and, like all the rest,
thought we would have the enemy
licked in JIG time, and be able to eat
Christmas dinner Mt home. Well, so
far, have eaten two Christmas din
ners I'm the trenches, and am liable to
eat two more, the way things are
pointing. That is, II Fritz don't drop
n 'whizz-bang' on me, and send me to
Bllghty. Sometimes l wish l would
get hit, because it's no great picnic
out here, and twenty-five months of it
makes you fed up.
"It's fairly cushy now compared 30
what It used to be, although I acmlt
this trench is trifle rough. Now.
we send over five shells to their one.
We are getting our own back, but in
the early days it was different. Then
you had TO take everything without
reply. In fact, we would get twenty
shells in return for every one we sent
over. Fritz seemed TO enjoy It, but
we British didn't; we were the suf-
ferers. Just one casualty after an
other. Sometimes whole platoons
would disappear, especially when a
JACK Johnson plunked into their
middle. 1t got so bad that a fellow,
when writing lFome, wouldn't ask for
any cigarettes t6 be sent out because
he was afraid he wouldn't be there to
receive them.
after the drive to Paris was turned
back, trench warfare started. Our
general grabbed n map, drew a pencil
across it, and said, Dig here Chen
he went back TO his tea. and Tommy
armed himself with pick and shovel
and started digging. He's been dig
ging ever since.
"Of course we dug those trenches Mt
night but it was hot work, what with
the rifle and machine-gun fire. The
stretcher bearers worked harder than
the diggcrs.
"ThOse trenches, blOomin' bitches, l
call them. were nightmares. They were
only about five feet deep, and you used
to get the backache from bending
down. 1t wasn't exactly safe to stand
upright, either. because as soon as
your napper showed over the top a
bullet would bounce off it, or else come
so close it would make your hair stand.
ave used to fill sandbags and stick
them on top of the parapet TO make it
higher, but no use; they would be
there about an hour and then Fritz
would turn loose and blow them to
bits. My neck used to be sore. from
ducl1ing shells and bullets.
"Where my battery was stationed
hasty trench had been dug, which
the boys nicknamed Suicide ditch
and, believe me, Yank, this was the
original Suicide ditch All the others
are imitatin
"WhnU Fellow went into that |
trenc' II rs an even gamble that he
wo" ~ ,ne out on stretcher. At one
t., Scotch battalion held 1t, and |
~ they heard the betting was even
Oncy that they'd come out on |
stretchers, they grabbed all the bets
in sight. Like lot of bally idiots, sew
eral of the battery men fell for their
game, and put up real money. The
Jocks suffered lot Of casualties, and |
the prospects looked bright for the
battery men to collect some easy
So when the battalion was re-
lieved the gamblers lined up. Several
Jocks got their money for emerging
safely, but the ones who clicked it
weren't there to pay. The artillery
men had never thought it out that
way. Those ScottieS were bound to
be sure winners, no matter how the
wind blew. So take a tip from me,
never bet with ScOttle, cause you'll
lose money.
AT one part of our trench where