Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1918-03-08

The ariStOcracy OF the trenches very
seldom call them "cooties," they speak
of them as fleas.
To an American flea means q small
insect armed with a bayonet, who is
wont to jab It into you and then hop
skip and jump to the next place to be
attacked. There is an advantage in
having f1eas on you instead of "cooties"
! in that in one Of his extended jumps
said flea is liable to land on the fell
low rext to you; he has the TYPICAL
energy and push of the American,
while the "coOtie" has the bulldog
| tonacity Of the Engiishman; he holds
On ard consolidates or digs in until
his meal is finished.
| There is no way to get rid Of them
| permanently. No matter how often
you battle, and that is not very often,
or how many times you change your
underwear, your friends the "cooties"
are always in evidence. The billets are
infested with them, especially SO Il
there is straw on the floor.
I have taken a bath and put On
brand-new underwear; ir fact, a COM
Dlete change Of uniform, and then
turned in for the night. The next morn
| ing my shirt would be full of them. It
is a common sight to see eight or ten
soldiers sitting under tree with their
shirts over their knees engaging in a
''shirt hunt" -
At night about half an hour before
| flights out" you can see the Tommies
grouped around candle, trying, in its
dim light, to rid their underwear Of
the vermin. A popular and very quick
method is to take your shirt and draw
ers, and run the seams back and for
ward in the flame from a candle and
burn them out. This practice is dan,
gerous, because you are liable to burnt
holes in the garments If you are not
careful.
Recruits generally sent to Blighty
for brand Of insect powder adver-
tised as "Good for body lice" The ad-
vertisement Is quite right; the powder,
Is good for "cooties;" they simply
thrive on it.
The older men Of our battalion were
wiser and made scratchers out Of
wood. These were rubbed smooth with
bit Of stone or sand to prevent splin-
tiers. They were about eighteen inches
long, and Tommy guarantees that q
scratcher of this length will reach
any part Of the body which may be at
tackled. Some Of the fellows were lazy
and only made their scratchers twelve
inches, but many night when on
guard, looking over the top from the
fire step Of the front-linc trench, they,
would have given a thousand "quid'|
for the other six inches.
Once while we were in rest billets an
Irish Hussar regiment camped in an
open field opposite our billet. After
they had picketed and fed their horses,
a general shirt hunt took place. The
troopers ignored the call "Dinner up"
and kept on with their search for big!
game. They had curious method Of
procedure. They hung their shirts over
a hedge and beat them with their en-,
trenching tool handles.
asked one of them why they didn't.
pick them off by hand, and he an
swered, Eve haven't had a bath for
AAuC "SCAS Va u i'S-k' Dl Gil IL
tried to pick the 'uuis,,.z, TT,
would BE- ..ere lul s.uIat.,, -"
After taking !: civ. ., =; l.. IL
agreed with LIN, !, n>.s alive.
The great,a. .il,o 4 4 recruit gets
when he arrives at lis batt0. lon in,
France is to see the men engaging in a.
"cootie" hunt. With an air Of con-
tempt and disgust he avoids the COM;
pany of the older men, until a couple
of days later, in torment Of itching.
he also has to resort to shirt hunt
or spend many a sleepless night Of
misery. During these hunts there are,
lots Of pertinent remarks banded back
and forth among the explorers, such
as, "Say, Bill, I'll swap you two little
ones for big one," or, 1--WE got a
black one here that looks like Kaiser
BILL"
One sunny day in the front-line
trench, saw three officers sitting out
side Of their dugout ("cooties" are no
Of rank; have even noticed
a suspicious uneasiness about certain
genera), one Of them was
a major, two of them were exploring
their shirts, paying no attention to the
occasional shells which passed over
head. The major was writing a letter;
every now and then he would lay aside
his writing-pad, search his shirt for a
few minutes, get an inspiration, and
then resume writing. At last he fin
ished his letter and gave it to his rum
ner." was curious to see whether he
was writing to an insect firm, so when
the runner passed me I engaged him
in conversation and got glimpse at
the address on the envelope. 1t was
addressed to Miss Alice Somebody, in
London. The runner" Informed me
that Miss Somebody was the majors
and that he wrote to her
every day. Just imagine it, writing a
owe letter during a 'cootie" hunt; butt
sl1ch is tha creed Of tho trenches