The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-12-04

pr. Ross { spler of Furmsn. captain
 in the medical corps. writes the follow
 ing letter to his family regarding a re cent visit of Elsie Janis, the actress, 1 tFrance.
 Dearest Home Folks; The word mo faie' has been used a greas deal Wfen one attempts to analyze it's meaning VIC vaguely seek out just exactly what is meant. The morale of the Austrians is breaking down, ''the morale of the Ger man is on the decline are pleasant con lrasts to fthe morale of the English Tommies was never better; the morale of the French poiius is, picking up''Aor l always the morale of the sturdy Amer can youth is great
 l As a French madame once remarked to me, .Amerlcain soldats teujours, 1 completing the sentence with a long laugh. She meant that American sol diers are always laughing. And it is l rue. | With young soldiery-as young as l l7 years and the minority over 24-free |of care and responsibilities daring and brave American mQraie is always good i rhe Y NJ C. A contributes a great deal coward this end by it's policy of sending Ien,ertainers across who so from camp to | amp throughout the A. E. F. at times 1 III perloas pIaees near the Front lines 1 .u lhelr own way they impart cheer anu 1 ,vaclty 10 any depressed spirits.
 Among the many that l nave heard | betieVe Mss lslsie Jams stands out as | ,he most chaIming of them aii As We ipeaN Of d polittelan Is 8 vote gelters i 3ol We could style her as a result setter tlvr after her songs, her minickiiig of the l irish and negro, dance or -two--she l sno4ts the qnestson, Are you down Inearted% and tae Volume of noise tlae 1 1nunc,ates the answer No!5 IS some ie ! suM
 l When heard her We were in lit tie village about five kilometres from the front Although it was styled q I duet sector, enemy planes had been I coming over every night. ESQ Elsie Janis had been scheduled for an early l start,
 1 Brigade headquarters happened to be iu this town, so a confrefe and l, | recalling the privlieses Of ranh, wei.s right up to the generals office, which faced the town square. In thls square,
 what seemed to be whole regimene of Americans had assembled, With a I few score rrenchmen. They weto perched in windows and every branea < \ burden of khaki clad boys.
 ] Eisies mother came out presently l with the general, wno was busy intro- I ducing 0lIiSefs io her and her dausn- ter However. Mother Janis seemed
 more concerned about &"Where's he ] table, and where's the piano?' why said the general Il have itiat the very table you want" and pack l went details for the table. Just then the soldiers ueaan to mako way for another bunch tha. had the piano, boi : rowedN from a French family. Elsie all the time was modestly standing in the
 back ground. leaving all arrangements to Mrs. Janis. Elsie was so retfrin2ly modest that I had actually thousht her mother the evening heroine, and l had fly figured thats"sh wasn't so pretty after all" To which my com panion assented. not being bit wiser than I.
 The table having been tested by Mrs. Janis, Elsie steps upon chairs then i first one dainty foot, then the other | on the table all the while carrying cn a steady flow of witty nonsense, which captured theNwhole bunch at the start.
 .When l first discovered that if I l wanted to keep up with you fellows, am l am lodging the risk of being ac- 1 cused of tagging after men, l would have to go around to Y. M. C. A. huts, | had my doubts as to whe 1 wou Id have to go big With you young Chris I tions However, I am here, you are here SC why worry?"
 | Then she told some storiest- She is pal ticularly good where 1rishmen and negroes are concerned. Even if there was no real poin, to the joke. her re- imarkab!e mimicry would convulse the lcrowd.
 l Here is one very good story that I recall now: A negro refused to enlist-- his wife demonstrated with him. Look CT here, Sam, you better jine lde army. l ain't gwine to cook, bread fer no trfling nigger slacker" "GF off me, oman, bout dat army ibiznnss. I aint CT gwine to jine >da: 1 army"
 well. the government will conscript lyou, if you don't list"
 l~~ De government might conscript me lbut it can't mek me fight"
 "It might not mek you fight, nig- I ger." said the wife. but it can put de uniform on yuh. it can haul yuh across tbe ocean and put yuh in front of de German guns, and dere it will Ileave yuh to use yuh own Judgment 7 There seemed to be big batchN of iartillery wagons passing Elsie could lnot be heard.
 She had to stop. My voice is hardly good enough without other noises in competitor" Mrs. Janis was, frantic Her nervousness made a young staff captain equally nervous. He dispatched half a dozen lieutenants to stop the traffic at once"
 :, Elsie- hnaae sne best of it. however. by