Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1918-07-12
YankS Travel Many Miles to
Spend Evening in the
Club.
SOMEBODY ALWAYS ON JOB
AT Guy" Can Be Depended Upon to
Get Move On in Emerueney-Men
Made to Feel Perfectly Free
and Unrestrained.
BY CLARENCE suolNcToN KEEL.
LAND.

NNN
Paris.-Thlrty sailors of an Ameri-
can war vessel hired a motor truck and
drove nine miles to get to the Y. M. C..
A. club in a famous French city. l ask
ed them why.
"Becalje it's a regular hangout," one
of them said, and another added, BE
cause you get white bread with butter
on 1t, and eggs fried on both sides and
coffee with piano accompaniment"
As soon as | broke into the place 1
found why men would ride nine miles
on a truck to loaf there from eight un-
til eleven.
1t wasn't the sort of place folks in
the United States imagine a Y. M. C.
A. to be. 1t was a swelterlngly hot
night, and the broad front steps were
lined from end to end with men In
Khaki and men in navy blue. They
were casing and smoking until the
place looked as if the captain had
ordered a smoke screen to help him
through the submarine zone.
From the street you could hear a
piano doing business and a lot more
men In uniform bowling, Joan of
Arc" If the mothers of these boys
could have heard that racket their
hearts would have dropped off a pound
of weight and increased their beat by
ten to the second. They sang as II
they were glad to be alive.
Right on the Job.
And then somebody busted up the
game. A Sailorman came in and made
the announcement that the driver of
their truck refused to take them back
to quarters again. and it was a walk
Of nine miles on a hot night, or a
stretch In the brig for them. Gloom
descended. Then somebody turned
around and beloved, "Where's one of
them Y guys?'"
A ~" guy happened to be on the
spot and in a second he was surround |
ed, not by a crowd of men who were
angry or in a mood to demand some
Thing. but by fellows who were mighty
courteous in an unpleasant situation
That was something worth remarking,
and it made you sort Of glad to be
around.
They put the thing up to the "Y"
guy and n fellow said sort Of bash
ful-like, "We don't want to act like we
was putin this up to you. 'Tain't
your fault, but"
It was apparent they had gotten the
idea somehow that you could depend
on a ~" guy to get a 10Y on him, and
the "Y' guy allowed as much.
"Sure, it's up to us" he said, that's
why we're here"
Inside of twenty minutes he was
back with a big truck with a red tri-
angle on the side of it. He tucked the
thirty sailormen into 1t and off they
went to keep their appointment with
their boss.
That, quite likely, is n reason why
they rode nine miles to spend an eve
ming in the Y. NJ. c. A., because they
knew somebody was on the job.
Like You Owned the Place.
Another reason Is that you don't have
to knock, show a ticket, wiggle your
first finger or roll over and play dead
to get In. You just walk in like you
were there to foreclose a first mort
gage on the place.
When you walk through the front
door you don't run into a lecture hall,
though there is one upstairs, and the
odcr that comes to your nose isn't the
Odor Of sanctity. It's the smell of
fried eggs. The cafeteria is the first
thing you meet, and If you are wise
you get acquainted with it and stay
acquainted while you are In this To-
cality, for 1t Is the best and cheapest
place to eat in town. l know because
1 tried several.
The most impressive thing about it
is the complete absence, of an osten-
tati0us welcome. You just help your
self and nobody says a word. You
wander In and eat and wipe your