The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-10-27
Copyright, 1913. All rights ressrued.
V. Fog
By Private Charles Divine,

From horizon to rail, from deck to chin; .....r d,
Opaque, intangible enemy,
The worst that ship meet at sea-
The gray hills lowered on every side,
The sea was valley few feet wide,
The convoy was gone, shut off from vieW'
Adrift in o world of dripping dew.
The speed cones dropped from the forard spar.
Tho engines lessened their pulsing jar,
The shadows lay rigging and rod,
And crept ahead by guess and by God:
The faint, far patch in the gray,
A danny twilight measured the day;
And the night, ah the phantoms that sometimes dash
From the great gray fog with sudden crashl
DEAR BILL: I've been so busy since coming
II to this camp that I haven't had much time
for the writing-except couple poems. One OF
the first details got here was to take charge OF
some cooie labor.
1 directed gang of Chinese coolies in clearing
away brush at the edge of camp. These particular
coolies, who are mostly volunteers in the war and
have been lent to the United States Government
by France, have their home far away in AMMAN,
which have been led to believe is somewhere In
the Malay Peninsula.
AMMAN isn't so far away, however, as to pre-
vent the Annamites from bringing their native to-
it 'thuot lao and their corporal told it's like
opium" He by the way, works for the Standard
Oil in AMMAN.
Malaysia at the Front.
At O'Clock in the morning the detachment of
- Annamtes came marching along to our rendezvous
with the bushes. They came marching with picks
and shovels and dressed in the most fantastic mill
tary motley ever saw. Every one wore different
IL e
of uniforms-cast offs which France gave them and
which look TO have been worn in every branch Of
the service since Napoleon s time
Some were in blue, some in red some in yellow,
some in khaki. Some were privates according to
their pants; sergeants by the stripes their arms
Captains, by their puttees and Generals by their
caps. They are all little fellows with ugly black
stained teeth, and while they are too small to be
much good as heavy laborers, yet they manage most
dexterOusly in cutting away brush. At this and
similar work they toll until 80 at night for little
over franc day-and franc on such day as
to-day is worth about It's cents in good Park Row
money.
Watch Your Hat and Coat.
The Annamites are adopts at killing time All Of
a sudden you will discover that they have quit ply
ing their picks in order to lean their handles and
give way to an endless, noisy discussion on some
topic of overwhelming interest to them All l knew
of its import was that it was full Of bongs and
congs and cais and toys.
Another method of killing time On the job is the
Annamite's solicitude for his clothing. Whenever
one Of them starts to work he makes neat pile Of
his blouse and cape and hood directly back of the
spot where he is TO work. 1t is place he watch
while he digs. The moment he moves on to another
digging place, few feet away, he must 60 back,
pick up his clothes and set them in spot close
at hand, as if thieves were all around ready to
pouncc on his weird habiliments and carry them off.
Put This in Your Pipe and
A third diversion is the pipe. They are ex-
tremey fond of smoking "thuot lao 1t must be
strong stuff, for they only take pinch Of it at a
time They jam thumbful Of the black, stringy
tobac into the bowl of tiny pipe, set it ablaze and
take 4 long inhalation As soon as the inhalation
is ended they put the pipe away and go hopping
back to work. greatly e1harated and in a state so
beatfc that it must resemble trance.
IL. {bop, g. nra