The Belding banner-news. (Belding, Mich.) 1918-1973, 1918-09-04

handle and smash 1t, to give the i'm
preston that Alkali was good shot
Alkali Ike started In and aimed at
the right of the line of bottles instead
of the left, and the poor boob behind
the scenes started breaking the bottles
spent week trying to teach some
of the Tommies how TO play poker, but
because / won thirty-five francs they
declared that they didn't ''fawncy" the
game.
Tommy plays few card games; the
general run never heard OF poker, eu-
chre, seven up, or pinochle. They have
game similar to pinochle called
'Royal Bezique," but few know how to
play 1t.
Generally there are two decks of
cards In a section, and in a short time
they are so dog-eared and greasy, you
can hardly tell the ace of spades from
the ace of hearts. The owners of these
decks sometimes condescend to lend
them after much coaxlng.
So you see. Mr.. Atkins has his fun
mixed in with his hardships and, CON
trary to popular belief, the rank and
file OF the British army in the trenches
is one big happy family Now in Vir-
GINA, at school, was fed on old Nc
Guffy's primary reader, which gave me
an opinion OF an Englshman about
equal To '76 Minute Mans backed up
by Sim Feiner's. But found Tom
my 10 be the best of mates and IL gen.
tleman through and through. He never
thinks OF knocking his officers. If one
makes a costly mistake and Tommy
pays with his blood, there Is no gen
eral condemnation of the officer. He
is just pitied. 1t is exactly the same
as ii was with the Light Brigade at
Balaclava, to say nothing of Gallipoli,
Neuve Chapelle and Loos. Personally
l remember little incident where
twenty OF Us were sent on a trench
raid, only two of us returning, but
will tell this story later on.
said il was big happy family, and
so IL is, but as in all happy families.
there are servants, SO In the British
army there are also servants, officers
servants. or 80. S." as they are termed.
In the American army the common
name for them is dog robbers" From
controversy in the English papers,
Winston Churchill made the state
ment, as far as l can remember, that
the officers servants in the British
forces totaled nearly two hundred
thousand. He claimed that this re-
moved two hundred thousand excep-
tionally good and well-trained fighters
from the actual firing line, claiming
that the officers, when selecting man
for servants duty, generally picked the
man who had been out the longest and
knew the ropes.
But from my observation / find that
a large percentage of the servants do
go over the top. but behind the lines
they very seldom engage in digging
parties, fatigues, parades or drills.
This work is as necessary as actually
engaging in an attack, therefore | think
il would be safe 10 say that the all
round work of the two hundred thou
sand is about equal to fifty thousand
men who are on straight military du-
ties. In numerous instances, officers
servants hold the rank of lance-corpO-
rails and they assume the same duties
and authority of a butler, the one
stripe giving him precedence over the
other servants.
There are lots OF amusing stories
told of 20. s."
one day one of our majors went into
the servants billet and commenced
"blinding' at them, saying that his
horse had no straw and that he per-
sonally knew that straw had been is
sued for this purpose. He called the
lance-corporal to account. The cor
poral answered, "Blime me. sir, the
straw was issued, but there wasn't
enough left over from the servants
beds; in fact, we had to use some of
the 'ay to clip out, sir"
Ii is needless to say that the serv-
ants dispensed with their soft beds
that particular night.
Nevertheless IL is not the fault of
the individual officer, il is just the sur
vival of quaint old English custom.
You know an Engllshman cannot be
changed in a day.
But the average English officer Is
good sport. He will sit on fire step
and listen respectfully TO Private
Jones' theory of the way the war
should be conducted. This war Is
gradually crumbling the once insur-
mountable wall of caste.
You would be convinced Of this If
you could see King George go among
his men on an inspecting tour under
fire, or pause before little wooden
cross In some shell-tossed field with
tears in his eyes as he reads the in
scription. And little later perhaps
bend over wounded man on a stretch
er, patting him on the head.
More than once In a hospital have
seen a titled Red Cross nurse fetching
and carrying for wounded soldier.
perhaps the one who In civil life de-
livered the coal at her hack door To-