The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1918-03-04
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SiX-tire extra" The room was minus
the fire but the extra" seemed To
keep lGe warm. That night there was
Il Zeppelin raid. but I didn't see much
of it. because the slit in the curtains
was too small and had no desire 10
make il larger. Next morning the tel
ephoue bell rang, and someone asked,
Are you there?" l WAS. hardly. Any
N-av. | learned that the ZepS had re-
turned to their fatherland, 50 / went
out into the street expecting to see
scenes OF awful d.. :astation and COW
ering populace. but everything was
normal. People were calmly proceed
ing to their work. Crossing the
street. I accosted a Bobbie with:
Can you direct me to the place of
iamage?"
He asked me, "What damage?"
In surprise, ! answered, ''Why, the
damage caused by the Zeps.'
With Il wink he replied:
There was no damage; we missed
them again"
After several fruitless inquiries of
the passersby, l decided to 60 On my
own in search of ruined buildings and
scenes of destruction. l boarded 4 bus
which carried me through Tottenham
Court road. Recruiting posters were
everywhere. The one that impressed
me most was a life-siZe picture of
Lord Kitchener with his finger point
irg directly at me, under the caption
OF your King and Country Need You"
No matter which way l turned, the
accusing finger followed me. l was
IN American. in multi. and had 4 little
American flag in the lapel of my coat.
| had no king. and my country had
seen fit not to need me. but still that
pointing finger made me feel small and
i'll at ease. l got off the bus TO try
to dissipate this feeling by mixing
with the throng of the sidewalks.
Presently I came to a recruiting of
fee. Inside, sitting at a desk was a
lonely Tommy Atkins. decided to in
terview him in regard to joining the
British army. l opened the door. He
looked up and greeted me with 81 s'y.
myte, want to tyke on?"
looked at him and answered, "Well,
whatever that is, I'll take a chance
at it,
without the aid of an interpreter
found out that Tommy wanted to know
if l cared to join the British army. He
asked me: "Did you ever hear of the
Royal Fusiliers?" Well, in London
you know, Yanks are supposed to know
everything, so I was not going to ap-
pear ignorant and answered, Sure
After listening for one half-hour to
Tcmay's tale of their exploits On the
firing line, decided to join. Tommy
took me to the recruiting headquarters
where I met typical English captain
He asked my nationality. l immedi'
ately pulled out my American passport
and showed it to him. 1t was signed
by Lansing. After looking at the
passport, he informed me that he was
sorry but could not enlist me, as il
would be a breach of neutrality.
insisted that I was not neutral, be
cause to me it seemed that rea
American could not be neutral when
bic things were in progress. but the
captain would not enlist me.
With disgust in my heart l went out
IN the street. I had gone about q
block when a recruiting sergeant who
had followed me out of the office
tanned me on the shoulder with his
swagger stick and said: "S'y, l car
get you in the army. We have lief
tenant down at the other office who
can DO anything. He has just come
out of the o. T. G. (Officers' Training
corps) and does not know what neil
trality is" l decided to take chance
and accepted his invitation for an in
PRODUCTION to the lieutenant. I entered
the Office and went up to him. opened
up my passport and said:
'5Cfora going further I wish to state
that I IN an American. not too PROUD
to fight, and want to join your army
Ee looked at me in a nonchalan1
manner, and answered, "That's al
right; we take anything over here
I looked at him kind of he'd and re
piled. $50 1 notice" but it went over
his head.
He got out an enlistment blank. an(
placing his finger on blank line said
''Sign here"
answered, mot on your tintype."