Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1918-11-18
lady, come back and talk to us

suffering from shell shock. That j
one of the hardest things to deal with
for as soon as we put them to bed we
had to hold their hands to keep them
from covering their heads and smoth.
ering themselves. Their only desire
seems to be to get away from the hor.
rors Of the bombardments.
Like Pancakes.
] But to go back to the things that
delight our boys, there is one othei
treat which must be included with
pudding and French toast, and that is
pancakes. 1t was only on rare occa-
sions that we had time to make them
for. we had from sixty to one hundred
boys every night
II remember SO well one morning a
boy sat up till five o'clock waiting for
a cot. He was so tired he told me to
awaken him. But at nine out he came
"'Why, what are you out here for?
asked. L thought you were going
to sleep and sleep.
- heard somebody say pancakes,
he said, and I wouldn't have missed
them for all the sleep in the world
But there is one phase of the situa.
ton amid all these joys of feeding
boys that is very hard to bear. 1t must
always be remembered that the can
teen is for only one kind of men, the
troops i'm transit. So when boys who
were stationed in the camps nearby
came to us to buy food. we had to turn
them away. l have seen them come in
and say 4 have saved for weeks and
look around with longing to, see what
they could choose. And when had
to tell them that they couldn't eat
there, that it was against the rules, I
have seen tears in the big fellows
eyes. Men in camp have to eat with
their own mess. This is one Of the
strictest of rules because the conserva-
ton of food in France is a serious
thing. But as far as boys in transit
are concerned, we never turn them
away, whether they have money or
whether they haven't money, and we
never take their last cent. Sometimes
it's hard to get those who haven't any
money to take the food. They feel SO
diffident about it, and it is only by say
ing, why, boys, what nonsense! Your
people have paid for it on the other
side that we can make them take it.
Then they brighten Immediately and
say, oh, yes, of course. my sister
works for the Red Cross, or my mother
and my father and my people give to
1.-THE Red Cross That makes 1t al
right,
The French :
"At Epernay, one of our American
canteens for the French. wesalso found
the way to the Frenchmen's hearts.
Their breakfast was always cafe au
lait and bread and their dinner meat.
vegetables, bread and black coffee. But
Oh rare occasions we served French
fried potatoes and it was delight to
see them then. ITEMS! Frites !!
Frites!" they would say.
I'VE gave them their beloved dish
whenever we could.
1--WE were very careful in our cam
teen for the French to try ITO make
things as homelike as possible to giving
them the things to which they had been
accustomed. They always drink cafe
au lait for breakfast. but it is black Mt
any other time of the day. And no
matter how many things we gave them.
they always ate it in course. Their
breakfast cost two sous and their din
ner about fifteen cents in our money.
"They liked the canteen SO well that
they would sit at the tables at night
and after they had eaten their dinner,
would drop their heads on their arms
and sleep there. And if we would
ask. Don't you want to go to your
dortoiry they would shake their heads
sleepily and drop them onto their arms
again.
Canteen Bombed.
THE canteen at Epernay was lOcat-
ed in a public square with the trees
growing up through the roof. 1t was
bombed and no longer exists.
THE one at Nevers is in the most
interesting part of the country, near
several of the large hospital camps.
Nevers is only short distance away
aud there they have fifteen thousand
cOnvalescents.
ut seems as If / have told you Il
good deal and yet SO little of what
there is to tell. Perhaps the. biggest
things after all that we learn from
canteen life in France is the remark
able spirit of our boys, For though
they may he disappointed through lack
of funds, or be ill or wounded, have
never heard one complain. But they