The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1918-07-23
nx CLARENCE 3. HOLLAND.

the gloom that exuded from them
They weren't bunkies or townmates o
intimates of any sort, but they haC
both gotten up with a gloom and haC
inevitably sought each other out. il
was just before mess call.
A little man with wrlnkled face
and n cane and uniform and eyes
that twinkled watched John and Bill
at their occupation of being hOmesick
and he sidled up to Them Pretty soon
he was sitting on an end Of their
bench-and they didn't notice him any
more than if he had been an extra
cOotie.
THE --th have got the best ball
team in France" he said positively,
Rpropos of nothing.
Huh" said Bill Jones.
"They can clean up anything In
France. I've been down there week,
and that outfit is class"
Huh" said Jack Stevens.
"Officers keep 'em busy. Say where
you from?"
"Iichigan" said Bill. @RT%
"New York" said Jack.
"Met some New York and Michigan
men with the -th," said the little man
casually
"Who?" said Bill and Jack at once.
The little man named half dozen,
with their towns. Bill knew some and
Jack knew some, and before they re-
allied it they were in the middle of
conversation about Detroit and Utica
and Lansing and Long Island, and
politics and the -th regiment.
"MesS call" said the little man.
"Ain't hungry" said BIZ.
'Don't want to eat" said Jack.
Dispeling the Gloom
"Reminds me of Tom Judkins of
Pontiac" said the little man. always
getting off his feed. Know Pontiac?"
he asked of the Michigan man.
"Played football there"
"Judkins used to play"
"What year?" tfs'gl "
"About fourteen"
''Bet l played against him"
And so on and so on, talking about
the home localities and the honferfol
and giving the boys chance to men
tion towns and streets that lay close
to their hearts. You could see them
stralghten up; you could see their
eyes brighten; you could feel differ
ence I'm the air that surrounded them.
Bill stood up.
"Guess I'll go feed" he said, and
bNnged Jack on the back.
''Pretty hungry myself" said Jack.
"Gimme n light before you 60" said
the little man, without enthusiasm.
One of the boys held a match over his
pipe and then both strolled off to the
mess tent with n bad case of home
sickness operated on skillfully and re-
moved without pain-removed by a
man they had never seen before, but
who would always find a welcome I'm
their locality thereafter-.iust why |
they would never be able to tell you
. And they didn't know, nor would .
II have mattered If they had, that the |
little man in uniform, wearing Red |
Triangle, was that imposing and awe J.
inspiring dignltary known as Bishop
Of the Church Of England back in
America.
That's his job in France, just talking
10 The fellows. He has put in months
at it. Sometimes OF Sunday, or In
the evening he breaches, but mostly he
Just wanders around looking for cases
of gloom and homesickness and talk
ing them back to the cheerfulness and
enthusiasm which IS the quality that
is almost the outstanding characteris-
tic OF the A. E. f. in France.
Important Job With Army.
Curing or heading Off hOmesickness
is nm important job in an army three
thousand miles from home. Officers,
from the new second lieutenant up,
will tell us that an army which sits
on benches and bottles up gloom is
not an army that viii fight. They say
any man is liable 10 an attack, but
they say, too, that the number and vio-
lence Of attacks is amazingly few
when one considers the circumstances. I
Judge Galloway of New York said
the other night, "The job of the Y NJ.
G. A. here is not so much with the
morals Of the army as with the mo-
raie"
The Judge claims to know. Fol
mouths he has been travelling around
France from camp to camp. night after
night, almost without rest or relief
talking to the boys about France. Hit
job has been to interest the fellow,
in the country where they are guesu
and welcome guests.
The army declares that the 'Y" hal
bitten of large contract. Officer AZ O
fer officer whom You meet on thi d,
streets Of Paris will tell you how i'm /,
portant he believes the 'Y'' is 10 tn o
of our nilitary-and thei /
he win point out where the "Y' is fall \
ing down in his estimation. Almos +
everybody you meet can tell you when r
the "Y" or the commissary or the Re- ;
Cross OF this, that and the other. n
falling down. In this country yo n
have to earn praise. and TO earn it 20 fl
have 10 work for it. n
For instance, a part Of the seryic