Evening star., 1918-07-28
AMERICABEGINS

lAvlLl\1OH LA\AA w
BY AN AMERICAN SOLDIER IN
FRANCE.
Special Correspondence Of The Star.
FRANCE. July IT. 1918.
TN queer little room at the top of a
cottage there's a rickety table
and a chair. The ceiling is very low
and you. have to bend your head.
There's a view Of fields and woods
from the window. It's country un-
touched by war. although there Is
plenty to remind you of it.
There's British battalion back
here resting. They go up again to-
morrow and are busy cleaning up
equipment and making their prepa-
rations. One had expected. somehow.
to find certain amount of war weari-
ness among men who had been out a
long time, but they don't seem to
know the meaning of it. They're as
lively as crickets. and our chaps seem
to get on excellently with them.
They're beginning to pick up bits OF
cockney French and phrases from the
Indian army.
It's getting late. and the guns can
be heard quite plainly. Just a con-
tinuous rumbling In the distance, like
the voice of sth avenue coming
through the closed windows of my
office.
Slept like a top. We all turned out
to give the British battalion a send
off and to tell them we'd be with
co Nn Of
pace. singing one of'those songs they
pinch from us. 1 think our, boys
would have liked to follow after them
there and then. Something in the
alike, W made You see ' what great ad-
venture 1t all is. After they'd gone
we got kind of feeling that our
drill parades for the day were bit
fiat. But Of course. we know that
helped to turn out these Tommies, SO
we're sticking at 1t.
1 got sltft- in lorry today after
parade and went into the nearest
town. There were crowds Of troops
who'd been up to the line. They'd
been put among a French regiment,
just till they began to get wise to
their job. L went back to the village
in the evening with two others from
the battalion. We walked. and all the
time we could hear the guns going.
They never seem to stop at ALL When
we got back to the mess we found
just received = that we'd got our
marching orders. We move of in
three days time. It's queer to feel
one is actually going to be part OF
what all the papers have been full of
for so long--a real. integral part Of,
the war at last =
OF course. everything's In a fever>
heat of preparation, and we're won-
dering where we're bound for. Maybe
Wen strike some place where all the
good way from the line, SO we'll most
likely go into,billets again for night
on the way up. We're all mighty
anxious to get q peep at things.
back in this village.
Most OF the villagers seem to have
friends and relatives serving. They
give US scraps of news from their
ine folk. the women Of this village.
and pretty woil- as strong az men
through tho hard work they do In
the .nelds. On.-Sundays they chuck
e1 their % OLD muddy WORKING clothes
with their hair neatly arranged and
real shoes on their. feet. You can sec
them going on to mass at the funny
old church carrying their prayer
/. ent folk. There's a great stir when
one Of the men from the Village comes
back on leave. They make no end OF
d fuss OF him. and he just sits quiet,
. enjoying 1t all. now and then telling
them yarn or two. j-S.S--
I'll. try to hnd time to write Q line
orStwo before we push on. but 1t
will be d pretty busy time now. IT'S
only at night, when the works over,
) that you start wondering what 1t will
be like up there. where all the noise
10 going on.
:, +. I.