Connecticut western news., 1918-04-18

columns of tours waiting for the order
TO march.
A dull rumbling could be heard. The
sun was shining. turned to the man
ION my left and asked, "What's the
noise, Bill?" He did not know, but his
face was of a pea-green color. Jim
iOn my right, also did not know, but
guggested that I "awsk" the sergeant.
; Coming towards us was an old griz-
kled sergeant, properly fed up with
the war. so "awsked' him.
"Think it's going to rain, sergeant?"
He looked at me in contempt, and
grunted, "Ow's it a-goin' ter rain with
Rhe bloomin' sun a-shinin'?" I looked
guilty.
"Them's the guns up the line, me
Had, and you'll get enough of 'em be-
hore you gets back to Blighty."
My knees seemed to wilt, and I
SQueaked out a weak "OhH
:. Then we started our march up to the
line in ten-kilo tricks. After the first
days march we arrived at our rest
Ibillets. In France they call them rest
fbillets, because while in them Tommy
works seven days a week and on the
eighth day Of the week he is given
ttwenty-four hours ION his own"
Our billet was a spacious affair, a
large barn on the left side of the road,
which had one hundred entrances,
fninety-nine for shells, rats, wind and
rain, and the hundredth one for Tom
my. I was tired out, and using my
shrapnelproof helmet (shrapnel proof
until a piece of shrapnel hits it), or
tin hat, for a pillow, lay down in the
straw, and was soon fast asleep. /
must have slept about two hours, when
II awoke with a prickling sensation all
lover me. AS I thought the straw had
worked through my uniform. I woke
PUP the fellow lying on my left, who had
been up the line before, and asked
lhim:
docs the straw bother you, mate?
ITS worked through my Uniform and
'lsant Sleep"
In a sleepy voice he answered,
i''That amt straw, them's Coolies"
From that time on my friends the
fscooties' were constantly with me.
"COoties," or body lice, are the bane
of Tommy's existence.
The aristocracy of the trenches very
seldom call them "cooties," they speak
Fof them as f1eas.
To an American flea means q small
insect armed with a bayonet, who is
won't to jab it into you and then hop
sskip and jump to the next place to be
ATTACKED. There is an advantage in
Having fleas on you instead of "cooties"
lin that in one of his extended jumps
said flea is liable to land on the fell
low next to you; he has the typical
ienergy and push of the American,
while the "cootie" has the bulldog
Itenacity of the Englishman; he holds
lon and consolidates or digs in until
his meal is finished.
!, There is no way to get rid of them
permanently. No matter how often
you battle, and that is not very often,
or how many times you change your
underwear, your friends the "cooties''
are always in evidence. The billets are
infested with them, especially so If
there is straw ON the floor.
[ have taken a bath and put on
brand-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
is 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
OH no mi nS
grouped around a candle, trying, in it's
dim light, to rid their underwear of
the vermin. A popular and very quick
method is to take your shirt and draw
ters, and run the seams back and for
ward in the flame from q candle and
burn them out. This practice is dan.
igerous, because you are liable to burn
holes in the garments if you are not
careful.
Recruits generally sent to Blighty
for brand of insect powder adver
tised as "GOod for body lice" The ad
yertisement is quite right; the powder
is good for "cooties;" they simply
thrive on it.
The older men of our battalion were
wiser and made scratchers out Of
wood. These were rubbed smooth will
a bit of stone or sand to prevent spin
tiers. They were about eighteen inche:
long, and Tommy guarantees that {
lscratcher of this length will reacl
any part of the body which may be at
tackled. Some of the fellows were laz.
and only made their scratchers twelve
inches, but many a night when OF
guard, looking over the top from thu
fire step of the front-line trench, the!
would have given a thousand "quid'
Tor the other six inches.
Once while we were in rest billets al
irish Hussar regiment camped in al
open field opposite our billet Afte
khey had picketed and fed their horses