Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-05-24
BOYS WILL Be BOYS
They are the Same In the Army
as Elsewhere.
two TYPICAL CASES At SEWER.

Get Out and Another Young Fellow
Who Had the Right Kind Of Stub
and Wanted to Stay In-eoth Were
! Difficult to Manage.
Qassed by the Censor.)
| Correspondents The Yorkviils Enquirer
Camp Sewer. May 20.-Included in
the American army now in France and
among the thousands of soldiers now
on the way across or who soon will be
on the way. are hundreds Of young
boys not more than fifteen or sixteen
or seventeen. Enlistment Of young
Stcrs of this age is always discouraged,
and really il Is impossible for them to
get into the service unless they are
able to convince the enlisting officer
that their age Is at least eighteen.
That is IN easy matter for n resource
ful youngster with army on the brain.
Most OF them who get in want to stay
in and many Of them, after few
months training develop into just as
good soldiers as men who have attain
I'd their majority. No matter how
good they are it is the policy of the
army to discharge them even after
several months service if the fact OF
their minority is established. Occa-
sionally these minors come TO the con-
clusion that all is not gold that gilt
tcrs and tire of military life after the
novelty OF the thing has worn of. Then
they become mere whining children
and give more trouble and annoyance
than any school boy ever gave his
teacher.
Frank Brown was one of these. He
joined a Tennessee National Guard
outfit last July at Nashville. and
came to Camp Sewer with 1t. His
father was the proprietor Of barber
shop or two in the Tennessee city, and
he used to let his young son practice
amputating the whiskers of customers
who didn't much care whether they
were shaved or not. The boy brought
along n BARRIERS outfit when he came
TO Sewer. and he used to pick up
quite a little change by grooming SOL
diers around camp. He seemed to be
in earnest about soldering though. and
II looked for several months as though
he were going to develop into n good
Hun hunter. despite the fact that he
was only Is.
Then all of n sudden like. he grew
,f ho MI IN la
trouble for himself and everybody
else and soon "Peck's Bad Boy" wasn't
in il with him. He used to run away
at drill time and be gone the whole
Of an afternoon and the more he was
punished the meaner he became. 1t
would have been a shame to put O
child like him in the division stock
ade. and that's why II wasn't done.
For long time nobody In the COM
pany could find out where he went
when hc ran away. and II was only by
accident that one of the scrgcants of
the company, being over in the town OF
Paris one afternoon on some company
business. ran on young Brown stand
ing at the head of n chair in one Of
the barbrrshoDs there. calmly cutting
whiskcrs. Asked what he was doing
and hy what authority his reply was:
I'm tired of soldering and I just
decided I would put on n little barber
work." He kept right on shaving his
man and didn't come back to camp un-
ill after retreat in the evening.
That kind of thing couldn't 70. The
idea of Uncle Sam paying n man to
soldier for him and then have that
soldier in the barber business for him.
self was too much of n good thing.
so the skipper made II the special duty
Of one of his non commissioned Off
GERS to sec to 1t that Brown was on
hand ut every formation and to fur
thcr see to It that he put out" He
was on the field ever after that, but
little could he gotten out of him be-
what n job 1t is to make a wayward
hoy do when nc won't a hickory
switch would have turned the trick,
tho skipper said: hut of course that
would have been quite contrary to
regulations.
Tho kid grew more mischievous.
more dissatisfied, harder to handle as
the days went by.
Come inspection morning and every
man in the company had sworn the
night before that the outfit was going
to pull off the blamedest. clcanest. best
inspection 1t ever had put across. In
stead of going to town and spreading
JOY on the night before. every man
would spend two or three hours rub
hing mp his rife. his Shoes his clothes.
his sliin-everything subject to inspec-
tion. On inspection morning the col
onel or the major or whoever might
he the inspecting officer. would start
down the line of soldiers standing at
attention.
\ smile of satisfaction fits over his
concrete face at the sight of such
good looking company of soldiers. so
neat. so clean. OF such military bear
ing and carriage. The captain Is in
high Glce also because it means a
feather in his cap every time the COM
nany shows up well on these occa-
sions.
Tine inspector has inspected fifty
men of the front rank and the further
down the line he goes the better
seems to he the mems condition. Every
face is clean. every ear is clean, the
rifles glisten in the morning sun and
the barrels are as slick and shiny rs
soapmaker's daughter.
He completed his examination of the
front rank and proceeds to give the
rear rank the once -over. They promise
to make an equally good showing. He
reaches the station Of Private Brown
and the expression on his face changes.
There's a reason.
The boys rife Is slung over his
shoulder in a careless manner. there Is