Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1918-06-19
CHAPTER xIx-continued.


The game is honest and quite en-
4oyable. Sometimes you have fourteen
numbers on your card covered and
you are waiting for the fifteenth to be
called. In an imploring voice you call
out, Come on. Watkins. chum, I'm
sweating on 'Kelly's Eye"
Watkins generally replies. well,
keep out of draft, you'll catch cold"
Another game is "Pontoon," played
with cards; it is the same as our
"'Black Jack" or "Twenty-one."
A card game called "Brag" is also
popular. Using a casino deck, the
dealer deals each player three cards.
1t is similar TO our poker, except for
the fact that you only use three cards
and cannot draw. The deck is never
shufIled until man shows three of a
kind or 'prile" as ii is called. The
value of the hands are, high card, a
pair, a run, flush or three of kind
or 'prile." The limit is generally a
penny, so it is hard to win fortune.
The next in popularity is a card
game called "Nap." 1t is well named.
Every time played it l went to sleep.
Whist and solo whist are played by
the highbrows of the company.
When the gamblers tire of all other
games they try Banker and Broker"
| spent week trying to teach some
of the Tommies how to play poker, but
because | won thirty-five francs they
declared that they didn't "fawncy" the
game.
Tommy plays few card games; the
general run never heard of poker, eu-
chre, seven up, or pinochle. They have
a game similar to pinochle called
Royal Bezique," but few know how to
play it.
Generally there are two. decks OF
cards in a section, and in a short time
they are so dog-eared and greasy. you
can hardly tell the ace of spades from
the ace of hearts. The owners of these
decks sometimes condescend to lend
them after much coaxing
SO you see. Mr.. Atkins has his fun
mixed in with his hardships ana, con-
trary to popular belief, the rank and
file of the British army in the trenches
is one big happy family. Now in vir-
ginia, at school. was fed on old Nc
Guffy's primary reader, which gave me
an opinion of an Englishman about
equal TO a.,1s Minute Mans backed up
by Sim Feiner's. But ! found Tom
my to be the best of mates and a gen.
tlemun through and through. He never
thinks of knocking his officers If one
makes costly mistake and Tommy
pays with his blood, there is no gen.
eral condemnation of the officer. He
is just pitied. 1t is exactly the same
as it was with the Light Brigade at
Balaclava, to say nothing of Gallipoli,
Neuve Chapelle and Loos. Personally
l remember a little incident where
twenty Of us were sent ON a trench
raid, only two of US returning but /
will tell this story later on.
| said it was a big happy family. and
so it is, but as in all happy families,
there are servants, so in the British
army there are also servants, officers
servants, or 80. S." as they are termed.
In the American army the common
name for them is dog robbers" From
n controversy in the English papers,
Winston Churchill made the state
ment, as far as / can remember, that
the officers servants in the British
forces totaled nearly two hundred
thousand. He claimed that this re-
moved two hundred thousand excep-
tionally good and well-trained fighters