The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1918-02-19

THE WEST VIRGIl1IAN,
his brows. eI don't know where IN
get them. but they'u be there
OF such Is our pet passion. When
I tie If beautiful WaveletS DTanced on
the scene, led by world famous en-
! tSshoIogsst and six-foot EnSNshman
with a monocle, they wore bright
blue hlets around their heads, we're
decked with blue bows end stTeamers'
n1ttered bright blue pillows and were
draped in shining white-for this was
q camoudaged ocean, with the-f foam
|. beneath. Neptune wore proper
I crown cut out of linen collars. ana
proper trident made Of broomsuck'
and proper whiskers conf rom a
1axen ropes end. which. with the ad-
dition of a red bathrobe and a life
preserver, made MIN Intensely reaiIs-
lie. The two beautiful mermaids. I'M
persouated by the leanest and lankS
est men on the boat, wore flowing
fazen tresses OF the same material as
N@ptune's whiskers. and solomon IN
all his glory was not more magnih-
Gently arrayed than the other primer
pals. But the triumph of achieving
ire impossible was in the blue decor
atoms OF the wavelets. and for THIS
we especially shook Lieutenant VIII
liam So-and-So by the honest hand,
end. with moist-eyed gratitude, com
ulimented him and asked him now
he'd done #.
With grin. IL stole the sheets on
MY bunk. and stood over the snip
painter while he painted them blue
h cut them into strips myself.
You see it had never crossed Leu.
tenant BiIl's mind that we coutdn
have blue fIets and things: it had
onlv become a part OF his system that
he was to produce blue fllets and
things; and he made good. Hen 90
any place:
Now We 20 TO Leftenant Tom. Hes
an American. too, but he's in the ar'!i-
levy branch OF the British army. been
in service a year and half so strong
L liz imbued with the idea that the worlo
should be made saft for ciFliZa3on
that he couldn't wait for America 10
get into the war. Trying now LOT ms
transfer to the American army: now
over feels that that's where he be-
longs. Leftenant Tom has been WOU i1S.
ed three times in action Hes Just
DeSu ulSuOGu GAeSoLAAAi ~
FMS gets into print will have exchang-
!, ed his nice. soft featherbed at an ex-
Deusiye hotel in Paris for the Tougher
Recommendations of the front, where
he-u have to crack the ice to get his
I shaving water Leftenant Tom is an
extremely modest young man. and 1t
took eight or ten of US, sitting around
on the chairs and chaiselonge and bed
and floor of a COY little apartment TO
coax him into telling about the last
wound OF his This is how he de-
serted that thrilling moment Of his
life:
top. Somebody from the artillery hao
TO 20 along on observation. so they
said: Here's Tom. He's just been on
leave. He's fresh;' so got it. took
six men with me, and followed the tlrst
'.Whooping and yelling and dashing
madly forward. I suppose" interrupt
ed the latest American arrival, war
railroad man.
Strengthening his leg cautiously us
the slowest thing there is: no excite
ment about it. You see. we followed
= creeping barrage. The ground is all
laid out in imaginary squares, and
platoon of six guns has to drop Is
shells on that square. If two or three
of the guns are out of commission, the
rest of them have to divide it up, but
IS shells must drop on that square,
which makes it pretty certain that
there won't be living thing left on
TOD of the ground. Then the guns are
trained on the next square ahead, and
the infantry follows up to hunt the
Boches out of the pill boxes.
What time was this; dawn?" came
from one who craved picture
mo. about seven-thirty." considered
the leftenant. Wei. about nine-thfr-
ty after I'd sent back two observers
and a couple of pigeons, the enemy's
barraEe came forward to meet ours,
and a shell dropped behind me, and got
me. in the hip. Ny light went out for
a minute, but l came to right away.
l Law there seven hours in the mud.
but it didn't hurt very much. / was
pretty comfortable In that time, two
barrages passed right over me, our
own and the enenly's. At about five
O'Clock the stretcher-bearers found
me. Say, they're the brave fellows
That's the way he told it. No can
mons red glare. no ear-burstinS din, no
pandemonium tearing loose. no fierce.
struggling figures amid the rolling
smoke, like wierd demons let out Of
hell. no straininG forward until the
blood veins seemed bursting in the
temples, no mortal gasp as the fraS-
ment struck him. no frenzied effort to
preserve consciousness as he Slid into
the dim shadows of oblivion. no taking
US in on his probable vivid pictures OF
[o,,e s,d mother and the bows on
Main street, and the girl at the garden
gate. and no seven long hours of agon-
lied torture while the battle RACED
around him and death dealing shells
were dropping on every hand: No
fireworks. no dramatics. no lurid word
pictures of any sort. and no thrill:
Particularly no thrill: You wouldn't
think sentiment or poetry was in that
man, would you?
But what's the big idea about going
back into IT." incurred a gentleman