Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1918-05-09
CHAPTER XVIII.
staged Under Fire.


Three days after the incident just re-
lated 'Our company was relieved from
kIse front line and carried. We stayed
In reserve blllets for about two weeks
mhen we received the welcome news
that our division would go back of the
fine ito rest billets." We would re-
main in these billets for at least two
months, this In order to be restored to
our full strength by drafts OF recruits
from Bllghty.
Everyone was happy and contented
at these tidings; all you could hear
around the billets was whistllng and
singing. The day after the receipt OF
the order we liked for five days, maxi
ing an average of about twelve kllos
per day until we arrived ut the small
town Of o..
1t took us about three days to get
settled, and from then on our cushy
time started. We would parade from
s :45 In the morning until II noon.
Then except for an occasional billet
or brigade guard we were on our own.
For the first four or five afternoons l
spent my time In bringing up to date
my neglected correspondence.
Tommy loves to be amused, and be-
ing Yank, they turned to me for
sa6mething new in this line. l taught
them how to pitch horseshoes, and this
game made great hit for about ten
days. Then Tommy turned to Amer
sca for a new diversion. / was up In
the air until happy thought came to
me. Why not write sketch and break
Tommy in as an actor?
One evening after flights out" when
YOU are not supposed to talk, impart-
ed my scheme In whispers to the sec
ton. They eagerly accepted the IDEA
of forming a stock company ana
could hardly wait until the morning
for further details.
After parade, the next afternoon l
was almost mobbed. Everyone in the
section wanted part in the proposed
sketch. When / informed them that 1t
WRauld take at least ten days of hard
work to write the plot, they were bit
aarly disappointed. Immediately got
busy, made desk out of biscuit tins
I'm the corner of the billet, and put up
a sign "Empey & Wallace Theatrical
CO. About twenty of the section,
upon reading this sign, Immediately
supplied for the position of office boy
4 accepted the twenty applicants, and
sent them on scouting parties through
out the deserted French village. These
PARTIES were to search all the attics for
discarded civilian clothes, and any
thing that we could use In the props
of our proposed company.
About FIVE that night they returned
covered with CRIME and dust, but load
ed down with a miscellaneous assert
ment Of everything under the sun.
They must have thought that l was
going to start a department store,
Judging from the different things they
brought back from their pillage.
After eight days constant writing
completed a two-act farce comedy
which l called 1.-THE Diamond Palace
Saloon" Upon the suggestion of one
of the boys in the section | sent a proof
of the program to a printing house In
London. Then assigned the different
parts and started rehearsing. Davit
Belasco would have thrown up his
bHnds In despair at the material which
I md to use. Just imagine trying t
teSch Tommy, with strong cockne!
accent, to impersonate a Bowery tougl
or Southern negro.
Adjacent to our billet was an opel
field. We got busy at one end of 1t AM
constructed a stage. We secured tn
lumber for the stage by demolishin
an old wooden shack in the rear o
our billet.
The first scene was supposed to rel
rEsBszt a street on the Bowery in Ne'
TntE, while the scene Of the secon
tatt wns the interior of the damon
Pafnce saloon, also on the Bowery.
In the play / took the part Of Alb
switch. a farmer. who had come froI