The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1918-06-01

Judging by results here at the front,
q man is better off with. plain army
cooking than with the elaborate menus
of Delmonico's and the Ritz to choose
from.
The officers messes are slightly more
varied than those of the enlisted men,
but both are very good, and there is
no complaint anywhere along the line.
The men have meat, sugar and butter
and all the condiments usually found
on a chop house table, writes Don Mar
tin in the New York Herald.
Here is what / had the other day at
an officers mess very close to the
front: Beef stew, mashed potatoes,
lettuce salad, coffee, cake, canned
peaches. The next day, beans of very
good quality, generously soaked in a
tomato sauce, took the place of the
beef stew, and rice pudding was SUBJ
stituted for canned peaches.
No one will get thin on fare like
that, and it may be authoritatively
stated that the men are by no means
growing emaciated. They are the
healthiest looking lot of men to be
seen anywhere. Thin ones are filling
out and fat ones are thinning out.
Cheeks which once were inclined to be
chalky now are tanned. Hollows I'M
der cheek bones have puffed out.
Men Like the Life.
The men with whom I have talked
ike the life although it is by no means
an easy one. SO long as food condi-
lions remain good there will be no
grumbling from the men. The army
has been here long enough now to fur
nish added proof of the truth of Napo-
Icons statement that an army fights
con it's stomach"
At luncheon at an officers casual
mess recently l saw men well known
at the leading hotels in New York,
Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston. One
of them is considerable of an epicure
and his messmates say he IA inclin-
ed at first to balk at the rough army
food. 1t is all changed now. He eats
beef stew with the same relish he once
ate terrapin, and beans he enjoys as
thoroughly as he once enjoyed a de-
licious curry. I asked him if he would
like to sit down with a Fifth avenue
menu to order from and, pausing in
the midst of a course of turnips and
mashed potatoes, he said:
'"This will do for me, thank you"
"a -. AL .1-L~. - ---kL
has a great deal to do with it. No one
of all the enlisted men and officers
lacks an appetite. When dinner time
comes at moor the men are there on the
spot, and they are right on the job
again at six o'clock in the evening. 1t
might also be said that they are always
hungry. One officer, a major, who is a
very notable figure in the life of a
middle Western city, leaned back from
his dinner the other day, lighted a
cigar and said:
'This life here is doing more for me
than any vacation I ever had"
And he looked it. He said he suf-
fered from insomnia and loss of ap-
petite at times, but that he has had
neither since he got out in the open
with the army. There are a good many
men of great wealth in the various
American divisions and they are shar.
ing equally with all, of course. In ar.
officers barracks, about five miles from
the front, l saw a mar from Philadel-
phia who was accustomed to every
kind of luxury. Here he was sharing
a tiny room with another nan who,
the Philadelphia man said, shores ire
mendously.
"But l don't mind it. I don't mind
anything now when l lie down for q
nights Sleep"
Can Sleep Anywhere.
The boys in the ranks have already
had far more soldering than they ever
got in the training camps at home.
NH. ---z $1,000 - L. C.. $500