The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1918-03-05
I have taken a bath and put on

hrand'new underwear; in fact, COM
plete change Of uniform, and then
turned in for the night. The next morn
ing my shirt would be full of them. 1t
In 4 common sight to see eight or ten
soldiers sitting under tree with their
shirts over their knees engaging in a
"shirt hunt" ..:
At night about half an hour before
lights out" you can see the Tommies
grouped around candle, trying, in its
dim light. to rid their underwear Of
the vermin. T. A popular and very quick
method II to take your shirt and draw
ers, and run the seams back and for
ward In the flame from q candle and
burn them out. This practice is dam
gerous, because you are liable to burn
holes In the garments If you are not
careful.
Recruits generally sent to Bnghty
for brand Of insect powder adver-
tised as "Good for body liee." The ad-
vertisement is quite right; the powder
Is good for "cooties;" they simply
thrive on 1t.
The older men Of our battalion were
wiser and made. scratchers out Of
wood. These were rubbed smooth with
bit Of stone or sand to prevent spin.
ters. They were about eighteen inches
long, and Tommy guarantees that
scratcher Of this length will reach
any part Of the body which may be at
tackled. Some of the fellows were lazy
and only made their scfatchers twelve
inches, but many night when on
guard, looking over. the top from the
fire step Of the front-line trench, they
would have given thousand "quid"
for 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,
a general shirt hdnt took place. The
troopers ignored the call ''Dinner up,"
and kept on. with their search for big
game. They had curious method Of
procedure. They hung their shirts over
a hedge and beat them with their en-
trenching tool handles.
asked one Of them why they didn't
pick them off by hand, and he an
swered, "We haven't had bath for
nine weeks or a change Of clabber. If
I tried to pick the 'cooties' off my shirt,
I would be here for, duration Of war;"
After taking close look at his shirt, !
agrs>S with him; it was alive. >.E
The greatest shock recruit gets
when he arrives at his battalion In
France is to see the men engaging, in a
,"cootie" hunt. With an air Of con-
tempt and disgust he avoids the COM
pany Of the older men, until couple
of days later, in q torment Of itching,
he also has to resort to a shirt hunt.
or spend many d sleepless night Of
misery. During4these 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 a big one," or, '"Tve got
black one here that looks Like Kaiser
Bill" 30 .ss,: 49, 4
. = - = v - =
One sunny day IN the front-line
trench, saw three officers sitting out
side Of their dugott ("cooties'' are no
respecters of rank; / have even noticed
q suspicious uneasiness' about certain
well-known generaD, one Of them was
a major, two of them were exploring
their shirts, paying no attention to the
occasional shells which passed over
head. The major was writing a letter;
every now and then he would lay aside
his writing-pad, search his shirt for
few minutes, get an inspiration, and
then resume writing. At last he fin
ished his letter and gave it to his "rup-
ner." I was curious to see whether hp
was writing to an insect firm, so when
the runner passed me I engaged him
in conversation and got glimpse at
the address on the envelope. 1t was
addressed to Miss Alice Somebody, IN
London. The runner" Informed me
that Miss Somebody was the majors
sweetheart and that he wrote to her
every day. Just imagine it, writing e
love letter during "cootie" hunt: DE-
such is the creed of the trenches.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)