The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-02-24

Sams unofficial army" as one of them described it to be, poured in from mili- tary hospitals all over London, and by ? p. ni., all was ready for the feast that had been prepared. Up to almost the eleventh hour, so I was told by Mrs Robert P. Skinner wife of the Ameri- can consul general, who is chairman I of the committee, it had been doubtful, owing to unforeseen food restrictions, if the dinner could be held at all, but eventually special dispensation was granted by the ministry that controls comestibles and the crisis ended in victory. Even so it had to be war time feast, but there were pumpkin pies, popcorn balls, coffee as made in the United States of America and a lot of the other toothsome things for which every exiled American yearns, so nobody grumbled at inevitable omis- sions.
 Before they sat down, those 300 and odd American boys who threw in their lot with the allies to fight for right as they saw it, long before their coun- try officially joined up, rose and sang The Star-Spangled Banner" and as they roared it out. there were misty eyes among the American women who were their hostesses, and the rest of us from God s country who looked on. Then the unofficial Sammies' fell to. ssOne of the chief features of Yule- | tide party in this land is the Christ
 mas crackers" that pull asunder with a bang and have colored paper caps concealed in their interiors, and every one of the care committees soldier guests was wearing one of these as they trooped upstairs to the ballroom of the Savoy where big Christmas tree, with present for each of them, and concert was awaiting them. There was an American band, too, which belongs to one of the all-Aner- ican contingents of the Canadian ex- peditionary force, and when it played ancient favorites like, There's Hot time in the Old Town Tonight" the men joined in and made the rafters ring.
 What book could be made out of
 those fellows experiences. They were all too busy enjoying themselves to talk much, but such few chats as one man
 aged to have revealed how many diverse
 regions of America and strangely as-
 sorted peace time callings they repre-
 sented, and how many departments of
 the British army. They ranged from all
 air mechanic who at +, was flying for
 the Wright brothers and claimed Ohio for his state to sapper from Spokane and a guardsman who used to be Texas
 cowboy. A few hobbled on sticks and swung along on crutcheS, put It was good to discover that most of them ap- peared to have got off comparatively light, though few had spent many weary months in hospitals and convales- cent homes. All testified to the kindest of treatment.
 One of the men gave me the thrilling rews that he and his family are en- titled to an English fortune and estate worth $50,Q000 900 into possession of which. they expect to enter soon, He showed me American newspaper clippings dealing with this matter. He is w. A. Dickson of
 Howell. Mich. and a cousin of Gilbert A.
 Dickson, secretary of the industrial ac-
 cicent board of the state of Michigan
 He is i'll the Canadian intelligence de-
 partment, but is about to take his dis
 charge as the result of having been
 gassed Another of those present." a
 Canadian named Radford. with lot of
 experience in the states. told me proudly tlat he is the owner of terrier dog
 which holds the rat killing championship |of the western front in France. having accounted for, according to him, over
 100000 trench rodents. There will be
 a complete story of Norah's achieve
 ments, with chapter and verse. coming
 along shortly--as soon as can get up
 to the military hospital for lengthy
 confab.