Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1918-10-24
American Youths Soon Fall Into
Free and Easy Life of
the Soldier.
Shave IN PUBLIC SQUARE
Sight Is So Commonplace That None
Of TownspeopIe Stop to Look on,
Even When They Take to
Reading" Shirts.

With the American Army.-It hasn't
taken long for American youths to be-
come acclimated to the free-and-easy
lives of soldiers. They are as frank
ana as open and as shameless as their
French brothers in arms, and good
deal more SO than their British COM
rades.
A convoy uf American troops halts
Tor q few hours rest in some French
town, not too far from the front but
tnat the distant rumble of the inces-
SAINT cannonade can be heard, with oc-
casionally the alternating buzz-buzz
OF Boche airplane and the dull boom
OF the arches hurled skyward at it.
AFTER "chowing" at the rolling kitch-
els that accompany them and washing
up their mess kits, the doughboys usu-
ally turn to their toilets. Even though
tney are parked in the shade under the
Tall trees around the public square of
the town, that doesn't feaze them a
DlI They unpack their safety razors,
their shaving soap and brushes and
proceed to shave then and there. But
II is such q commonplace sight that
none OF the townspeople stop to look
On Inc French children-''les gosses,"
as the Yanks have already learned to
cali them In true French argot-gather
round, but that is all.
"Read" Their Shirts.
Then one doughboy who thinks he is
barber enters the nearest house and
Dorrows chair. He places it on a
Dox and administers haircuts to such
subjects as will take a chance on his
handiwork with the scissors. These
amateur BARRIERS are not SO bad. Ell
ther, clipping Off the hair close so the
doughboys stand less chance of hay-
Ing gas stick in their hair.
Often the doughboys strip to the
waist and engage in the pleasing pas
time of reading their Shirts" as
American hoboes term it. For. no
matter where number of men are
c0ngregated without women to tidy
up after them, they are bound to have
vermin.
Coolies" the doughboys call fleas
and body lice and other forms of an
imal life that inhabit their garments.
whenever they catch particularly
large specimen they examine it close
~ and announce that 1t is Of German
origin, has escaped from the Boche
trenches and has the Iron Cross stamp
ed on its back.
II the Yanks bivouac near stream
everybody takes dip right away.
Their officers always insist that the
men wear some sort of breech clout
In swimming, SO the doughboys usu-
ally keep on the drawers Of their B.
V. DIS and then stand naked on the
bank of the stream waiting for them
to dry in the sun.
In the line the men shave every
DAY when 1t is possible, because they
have learned from the French that a
gas mask fits tighter If there is no
stubble Of beard on the chin to let
the deadly fumes seep in and burn
them. They have become used to their
respirators very quickly and wear
them "a hours at q stretch without
It bothering them.
Adopt British Custom.
They have also adopted the British
custom Of merely nipping the nose
clutch on their nostrils and placing
the breathing plug in their mouths
without strapping the headgear ovel
their craniums every time gas alert
Is sounded.
If gas really materializes they pro
coed to adjust the mask according tt
regulations, otherwise they unsnip the
nOsepiece and spit out the mouth plus
and go on about their affairs. Any
time dud shell handsome that fails