davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-24

IN 7HEN found my bait the bat
Nh\N tile of High Wood had pretty
WV well Quieted down. We had
taken the position we went
after and the fighting was going on to
the north and beyond the wood. The
big push progressed very rapidly as the
summer drew to a close. Our bait was
holding one of the captured positions
in the neighborhood of the wood.
1t must have been two days after We
went over the top with the tanks that
Capt. Green had me up and told me that
I was promoted At least that was
what he called it. I differed with him,
but didn't say SO.
The captain said he thought that as
] had had course in bombing, he
thought he would put me in the Bat
talon Bombers.
I protested that the honor was too
great and that l really didn't think
was good enough.
After that the captain said that he
didn't think 1 was going in the bomb
ers. He knew it I was elected
didn't take any joy whatever in the
appointment, but orders are orders.
and they have to be obeyed. The bomb
ers are called the suicide club and
are well named. The mortality in this
branch of the service is as great as if
not greater than in any other.
In spite of my feelings in the matter
i accepted the decision cheerfully-like
a man being sentenced to be electro
cuted-and managed to convey the inn
nreSsnn q Cant t.Teen that /
greatly eiated and that | looked for
mard to future performances with large
relish After that l went back to my
shelter and made will.
That very night / was called upon to
take charge of a bombing party. Mr..
May. one of the bravest men l ever
knew, was to be of the party and liz
direct command. l was to have the Sc
lection of the men,
Capt Green had me up along with Mr..
May early in the evening, and as nearly
rs 1 can remember these were his in
structionS:
"Just beyond High Wood and to the
left there is sap or small trench
leading to the sunken road that lies
between the towns of Albert and Rau-
paume- That position commands a
military point that we find necessary
to hold before we can make another
attack. The Germans are in the trench.
They have two machine guns and will
raise the devil with US unless we get
them out 1t Will cost a GOOD many
lives If We attempt to take the posi-
ton by attack, but we are under the
impression that bombing party in the
night on a surprise attack will be able
to take it with little loss of life. Take
your twelve men out there at 10
o'clock and take that trench. You
will take only bombs with you. You
and Mr.. May will have revolvers- After
taking the trench consolidate it. and
before morning there will be relief
sent out to you. The best of luck"
The whole thing sounded as simple
as A B c. All we had to do was go
over there and take the place. The cap
tain didn't say how many Germans
there would be nor what they would
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-24

fear that it would cave. We got some
sandbags up on the sides and three
of US crawled into the shelter. The
other man made similar place for
himself a little distance of
The day dawned clear and bright
and gave promise Of being hot Along
about we began to get hungry. A
Tommy is always hungry, whether he
is in danger or not. When we took
account of stock and found that none
of US had brought along iron rations
we discovered that we were all nearly
starved. Killing is hungry work.
We had only ourselves to blame.
We had been told repeatedly never to
go anywhere without iron rations."
but Tommy is a good deal of child,
and, unless you show him the imme-
diate reason for thing. he is likely
to disregard instructions. Il rather
blamed myself in this case for not
seeing that the men had their emer-
gency. food. In fact, it was my duty
to see that they had. But I had over
looked it. And I hadn't brought any
myself.
The iron ration" consists of pound
of "bully-beef." a small tin containing
tea and sugar enough for two doses.
some beef cubes and few biscuits
made of reinforced concrete. They
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-24
A Bitter Cynic.

Jesse LASkY. a movie manufactures.
~ was condemning a scenario writer.
His stuff is too cynical he said
The great American public doesn't
want cynical stf. It wants clean
sweet, sentimental stun.
What good is this scenario wrfter1
wit when it's cynical wit? I saw HIM
meet a Canadian soldier with a wooden
log the other day.
Here I am tho Canadian sa1d.
pounding his wooden leg proudly ON
the floor. I've braved the jaws of
death for twenty months, and hero I
am s-.--~s.
land rye braved the jaws Of my
wife for twenty years-so put 1t there!
Shaker said the cynical scenario
writer"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-24

be doing while we were taking their
comfortable little position. Indeed. he
seemed to quite carelessly leave the
boche out of the reckoning. l didn't 1
knew that some of us and quite prob
ably most Of US would never come
back.
/ selected my men carefully, taking
only the coolest and steadiest and the
best bombers. Most of them were men
who had been at Dover with me. / felt
like a cheerful executioner when /
notified them of their selection.
At $3.50 we were ready. stripped to
the lghtest of necessary equipment.
Each of the men was armed with
bucket of bombs. Some carried an ex-
ira supply in satche1s. so we knew
there would be no shortage of Millses
Mr.. May took oct over the top on
schedule time and we started for the
position to be taken. We walked erect,
but in the strictest of silence. We went
forward in this way for about 1000
yards. At that time the distances were
great on the Somme, as the big push
was in full swing and the advance had
been fast. Trench systems had been
demolished and in many places there
were only shell holes and isolated
pieces of trench defended by machine
guns The whole movement had pro-
gressed so far that the lines were
far apart and broken. SO much so
that in many cases the fighting had
come back to,the open work of early in
the war.
Poking along out there l had the
feeling that we were an awfully long
way from the comparative safety of
our main body-too far away for COM
fort. We were. Any doubts on the mat
for disa pneared before morning
At the end of the thousand yards Mr..
May gave the signal to lie down. We
lay still half an hour or SO and then
crawIed forward. Fortunately there
was no barbed wire. as all entangle-
nfents had been destroyed by the ter
rife bombardment that has been going
on for weeks. The Germans made no
attempt to repair it nor did we.
We crawled along for about 10 min
nutes and Mr.. May passed the word in
nearly on them. Each of us got out
a bomb, pulled the pin with our teeth
and waited for the signal 1t was fairly
still. Away off to the rear guns were
Forward and AWAY on to the right be-
yond the wood there was lot Of rifle
and machine gunf1re, and we could see
the sharp little lavender stabs of flame
like electric flashes. 1t was light enough
so that we could see dimly.
Just ahead we could hear the muir.
muir of the Huns as they chatted in the
trench. They hadn't seen US. Evil
IDENTIFY they didn't suspect and were
more or less careless.
Mr. May waited until the sound of
voices was little louder than before
the boches evidently being in a fire
side argument of some kind. and ther
he jumped to his feet, shouting:
Now then, my lads All together.
We came up all standing and let EN-
60 1t was about fifteen yards to Fritz
and that is easy to a good bomber. as
my men all were. A yell of surprise
and fright went up from the trench and
they started to run. We spread out SO
as to get room, gave them another
round of Millses and rushed.
The trench wasn't really a trench at
all. 1t was the remains of a perfectly
good one, but had been dashed all to
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-24

are issued for just such an emergency
as we were in as we lay in our isolated
dugout. The soldier is apt to get into
that sort of situation almost any time,
and it is folly to ever be without the
ration.
There was a considerable lombard
ment going on all the forenoon, but Few
shells came anywhere near us. Some
shrapnel burst over US little way off
to the right, and some Of the frag-
ments fell in the trench. but on the
whole the morning was uncomfortable,
but not dangerous.
Around 1890 we saw an airplane night
that was almost worth the forenoon
discomfort. A lot of them had been
circling around ever since daybreak.
When the fight started two of our
planes were nearly over US. Suddenly
we saw three boche planes volplaning
down from away up above.
They grew bigger and bigger and
opened with their guns when they were
Then all five started circling for top
position. One of the boches started to
fall and came down spinning, but
righted himself not more than thou
sand feet up. Our anti-guns opened on
him and we could see the shells burst
ing with little cottony puffs all around
Some of the shrapne1 struck near US.
They missed him and up he went
again. Presently all five came circling
lower and lower. jockeying for position
and splitting away with their guns. As
they all got to the lower levels the
anti-guns stopped firing, fearing to get
our men.
Suddenly one Of the Huns burst into
flames and came topping down behind
his lines, his gas tank ablaze. Almost
Immediately one of ours dropped. also
burning, and behind the boche lines.
After that it was two to one. and the
fight lasted more than ten minutes
Then down went a Hun, not afire, but
tum bling end over end behind out lines
/ learned afterward that this fellow
was unhurt and was taken prisoner
see half a dozen planes rushing to the
assistance of the lone boche. He saw
them, too. For he turned tail and
skedaddled for home.
Bonsie began to philosophize on the
cold-bloodedness of air fighting. and
really worked himself up into an al
most optimistic frame of mind. He was
right in the midst of a fowery Grafton
on our comparative sfaety, nesting or
the bosom of mother EARTH" when
without any warning whatever. there
came a perfect avalanche of shells ali
around US.
knew perfectly well that we were
caught. The shells. as near as we could
see, were coming from our side Doubt
less our people thought that the trench
was still manned by Germans and they
were Smelling for the big noon attack
Such an attack was made. as 1 learned
afterward. but I never saw it.
At IL o'clock l looked at my watch
Somehow 1 didn't fear death, although
1 knew it was near. 1 turned to Bon
sic and said:
What about that safety stuff, old
top"
I'VE may pull through yet" said he
Don't think So I insisted. Its us
for pushing up the daisies. Good luck
If we don't meet again."
I put my hand in and patted BIinky
on the back and sent up another little
prayer for luck. Then there was a ter
rife shock and everything went black
When came out of it I had the SEN
sation Of struggling up out Of water
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-24
Corp Holmes Has Narrow Escape as the Result Of Daring Bombing

eide club stunt ] was the only one
left. Blinky was still inside my tunic
and 1 laid the luck all to him
Back in the hospital / was found -
be suffering from shell shock. Also my
heart was pushed out of place. There
were no bones broken. though I was
sore all over and several ribs were
pulled around so that it was like Q
knife thrust at every breath
Besides that my nerves were etf4x-
tered. ] jumped a foot at the slight
est noise and twitched a good deal
At the end of the week I asked the
said he didn't think so-not directiy:
He rather thought that they would
keep me in hospital for a month or
two and see how I came out The
officer was a Canadian and had a
sense of humor and was most a1able.
/ told him il this ljamming wasn't
going to get me Blighty / wanted to
go back to duty and get a real one. He
laughed and tagged me for a beach
resort at Ault-onival. on the northern
coast of France. 49,
I was there a week and had a bully
time The place had been a fashionable
watering place before the war, Gnd
when I was there the transient popu-
Iation was largely wealthy Belgiana
all they could for the pleasure of the
1000 boys who were at the camp.
The Y. M C. A had a huge tent and
spread themselves in taking care Of
the soldiers. There were entertain
ments almost every night-moving
pictures and music The food was aw-
fully good and the beds comfortables
and that pretty nearly spells heaven
to a man down from the front
Best of all. the bathing was fine and
ii was possible to keep the coolies
under control-more or less. l went in
bathing two and three times daily, as
the sloping shore made il just good
at low tide as at high.
/ think that glorious week at the
beach almost made the hardships of the
front just left behind almost worth
while. Ny chum. Sergt. Wells. who had
a quaint Cockney philosophy, used to
say that he liked to have the stomach
stopped. On the same theory I became
nearly convinced that a month in the
trenches was good fun because 1t folt
SO good to get out t..-s'-s
At the end of the week I was better.
but still shaky. I started Fostering the
M o. to tag me for Blighty.- He
wouldn't So I sprung the same propo-
sition on him that had on the doctor
at the base-to send me back to duty u
he couldn't send me to England. The
brute took me at my word and sent
me back to the bait. 49,
l rejoined on the Somme again just as
they were going back for the second time
in that most awful part of the line. Many
of the old faces were gone. Some had
got the wooden cross and some had gone
to Biighty.
/ sure was glad when old wellsie hop
ped out and grabbed me.
Darby" he said, Hi sye. an me
thinkin' as 'ow you was back in Blighty
An ere ye are. yer blinkin old self. Or
is it yer bloomin' ghost. arsks We. Strike
me pink, Yank, I'm glad"
And he was At that did feel more or
less ghostly. I seemed to have lost some
Of my confidence. 1 expected to go west
on the next time in. And that's A-bud
way to feet out there.
Copyright, 1915. By Ncclme ayadrats1
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-24
An Expert.

A GOVERNMENT press censor was,
~ talking about the German press
censorship
I'VE found on some prisoners. re-
Gently he safd. ~the German censor-s
ships latest prohibition. Prominent
among these was an order to the press
not to mention under any Circumstance
the growing use in Germany of dog mesh
for food
That prohibition reminds me eff q,
story-a story that may contain . lot
of truth.
"A German prisoner, the story runs.
was rebuked by a sergeant for the
sloppy way he was feeding and look
ing after some Red Cross dogs.
"I guess you think you know lot
about dogs the sergeant sneered.
Ives. sir, that's right said the pris-
oner, for let me tell you. sir, I've been
cook in a Berlin restaurant for the last,
two
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-24

had to be plugged or the onions weeded
when I wanted to go fishing or swim
ming. But I remember enough about
1t to know that its soil was a very diff
ferent thing from that in our Wash
ington back yard
To be honest, however, sterility of
soil was not the thing that made the
notion of gardening most distasteful
l have been on Uncle Sans pay roll
Tor more than twenty years, and until
lately. when crowded street cars have
forced me to walk to and from the
office. the amount of exercise I have
taken has been negligible. In conse-
auenee my muscles are fabby and l
fact. not only do 1 carry more flesh
than man of my inches is entitled
to. but carry a very considerable part
of 1t amidship. Mary. who sometimes
disgustingly fat.
With this explanation, you will un-
derstand some genuine missionary en-
deavors were necessary before 1 be-
came convert to the war garden idea
But Mary is some little missionary
when she sets out to win converts
Her church missionary society used to
be her chief interest, before war activ-
tiles engaged her attention knew
I either had to become a convert or
lose my happy home. so became q
convert.
And. as is typical Of neophytes,
am more enthusiastic now than Mary
every dreamed of being. AS a first
step, sent to two or three seed houses
for their catalogues. What wonderful
vegetables they grow in those cata-
logues! What 1 can't understand is
why growers never put any of them
on the market. They must eat them
at home. and send the culls to city
dwellers
We spent busy and exciting evenings
for a week or more over those seed
catalogues. We took the vegetables up
in alpha betical order. the way they are
arranged in the catalogues. and held
heated discussions as to the merits of
different varieties. We had agreed
that, because of our limited garden
space, we would have to confne our
planting to very few kinds in order
to have enough of any one kind to
make a mess. But the more we studied
tho catalogues the more impossible it
became to hold ourselves down to this
resolve. Each vegetable we took up
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-24

I thought for an instant that I was
drowning. And in effect that was al
most what was happening to me.
was buried, all but one side Of my
face A tremendous weight pressed
down on me and 1 could breathe only
in little gasps.
I tried to move my legs and arms and
couldn't Then 1 wiggled my fingers
and toes to see if any bones were
broken They wiggled all right. My
right nostril and eye. were full of dirt.
Also my mouth. 1 spit out the dirt and
moved my head until my nose and eye
were clear. / ached all over.
1t was along toward shutdown. Up
aloft single airplane was winging
toward our lines. 1 remember that /
wondered vaguely if he was the same
fellow who had been fighting just be-
fore the world fell in on me.
/ tried to sing out to the rest of the
men. but the best 1 could do was a
kind of a loud gurgle. There was no
answer My head was humming and
the blood seemed to be bursting my
and tried to pull my strength together
for a big try at throwing the weight
off my chest. 1 was absolutely help
less Then again 1 slid out of con-
SciouSneSS
It was dark when I struggled up
through the imaginary water again I
was still breathing in gasps and could
feel my heart going in great thumps
that hurt and seemed to shake the
dry and fever was sipmly burning me
up.
My mind was clear. I found I could
raise my head a little and cooked it
up, squirting over my cheekbones-I
on nv IA frh a
far-off flicker of the silver-green flare
lights. There was a rattle of musketry
off in the direction where the boche
lines ought to be. From behind came
the constant boom of big guns. / lay
back and watched the stars. which
were bright and uncommonly low.
Then shell burst nearby-not near
enough to hurt. but buried as was the
whole earth seemed to shake. My heart
stopped beating and I went out again.
When I came to the next time it was
still dark and somebody was lifting
me onto a stretcher. Ny first impress
sion was of getting a long breath.
gAlped it down. and with every CRATE
full Inhalation / felt my ribs painfully
swapping back into place Didn't just
eat that air up!
And then. having got filed up with
the long.denied oxygen; I asked:
Agent no hothers," was the brief
reply.
And there weren't. Later I recon-
structed the occurrences of the night
from what I was told by the rescuing
party.
A big she'll had slammed down on US.
killed Bonsie. the man in the middle.
The shell was a ''dud'-that is. il didn' I
explode. If it had there wouldn't have
been anything whatever left of any of
US. AS it was, our overhang caved in,
letting sandbags and earth down on
the remaining man and myself. The
other man was buried clear under. He
had life in him still when he was dug
out. but went west in about ten minutes.
The fourth man was found dead
from shrapnel. found, too, that the
two unwounded men who had gone
back with Mr.. May had both been
killed on the way in. So out Of the
twelve men who started on the sui
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-24
The Adventures of War Gardener I'm Washington

say. make a pleasure of gardening, but
Mary SCOTS at the idea. She seems
to think that the more exercise 1 get
the better it will be for me.
Already can feel my 2o0-oda pounds
of flesh groaning in protest, But Mr.
Hoover says food will win the war.
And the die is cast,
THE WAR GARDENER
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-24


I soon began to wish had an acre
of highly uncertain agricultural pos
sibilities. We were tormented for sew
eral days by a wild desire to move into
the suburbs. or even to farm. But We
soon abandoned the impulse as imprac-
teal. We own our home-or will own
it If ever we get the installments paid
and whatever gardening we do will
have to be done on our own freehold.
1 took a tape line and went out and
measured the possibilities. The lot is
twenty feet wide and 120 feet deep.
The agent who sold US the house did
lot of talking about the depth Of the
lot, but ! never saw any special ad-
vantage in it until now. Allowing
three feet down one side for walk to
the alley gate. I have possible garden
rather sickly young maple trees which
! have been nursing along in the hope
that some day they might take =
nc GONE TO Of, groT Th reckon they'll have
either present or prospective, which
would justify allowing them to inter-
fere with winning the war for de-
mocracy.
With the limits of our garden cir
cumscribed by immovable board fences,
we returned to our vegetable lists, sad
der but wiser gardeners. There will
have to be some strenuous pruning
done. and the best ] can hope is that
Mary and 1 still will be on speaking
terms when it is accomplished.
l am going tomorrow to buy some
of the tools 1 shall need I can't have
the garden plowed. of course. and it
will be up to me to spade it. So
spade will have to be first on the list
Then I'll need -mattock to grub out
the roots of those maple trees and
possibly to help break up the ground
if it should prove too tough for
spading. There will have to be a hoe
and rake and possibly other things,
which I am willing to let time DEM
onstrate the necessity of. I would
like to get one Of those wheel-hoe con-
traptions. which, the advertisements
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-24

seemed more necessary and more desir-
able than the one we had just passed.
and the descriptions of the different
varieties were SO mountaineering that
we had difficulty even in combining our
selves to one variety of each kind At
the first going over of the list we sue
ceeded in eliminating only parsnips.
None of US likes parsnips.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-24

CONTINUED NEXT sunday
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-24

00 WHEN found my bait the bat
Nh\N tile of High Wood had pretty
Hy well Quieted down. We had
" " taken the position we went