Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1918-09-13

famous throughout the world. Inc,
were not coming back because the.
wanted to, nor because they had hat
enough of 1t; they were being brough
on stretchers, wounded, gassed, shell
shocked, to an advanced dressing sta
ton. Some of them seemed just boys
One could see them grit their teeth
to hold back the moan Of pain.
"Hard luck. pal?" said a doctor In
terrogatively, as the bearers set down
stretcher in the courtyard.
The boy shrugged his shoulders, act
ually shrugged them as well as he
could. bundled up on that stretcher.
and grinned wanly.
Comm fine. II can get you fel-
lers to save that foot. She's smashed
plenty. II you can't-all the same"
"WeIl run you right In"
INK. DO, not me. I'm gettin' past
all right. nothin' but my foot. You
jest femme be here and git busy with
them guys that's hurt. I'm on the
waitin' list"
That was one boy. He belonged to
an outfit that bears a name far and
wide for being boiled hssd. Tough
birds, you hear them called. rough
talking boys with the crust outermost.
If you had seen them q month before
or two months before when they had
not had their purifying In blood and
fire, you would not have prophesied
that they would hold back In suffering
to walt for one In greater suffering to
be cared for first. 1t was an attribute
that was not apparent to the casual
eye. Hard-boiled, you would have
agreed, and you might have felt trifie |
sorry for the enemy that had to en-
counter them. But you would not have
stood by with tears In your eyes-not !
In your eyes, but rolling down your
cheeks-and have muttered again and
again: Here are men,
Dross Burned Away.
But now they have felt the scorch-
ing breath Of war. Suddenly they
had been dropped into the furnace and
had come out with dross burned away.
had happened. They were
still hard-boiled. Their language was
made up of the same words, but the
words had taken on new meaning,
heir very faces had taken on new as
pect. In spite Of blood and CRIME, and
the dlscoloration and burn of gas, you
Gould see that something was present
here which had been absent before
until you could not see at all for the
iooding Of your eyes.
T-got mine No use-sport
Can't do-nothin' for--me [
Git-busy with some Of them
'oys-you kin--help."
That was the spirit That was tho {
hing that had been burned into their
ouls by the hot breath of war. They |
ad forgotten themselves. Jim was '
ot thinking of Jim but OF Mike. Mike
'as not thinking of Mike but of Jack. Q
ZACH passed 1t on. a
The dressing station was small and
iany must lie outside until the men {
Tho were taken in first could be evac- n
ated. You heard groans, but amid
ne groans you heard CHEEKY, gritty L
ords. sow, that d leg
lows Charlie maxim it? Anybody
now7 seen him git 1t Dow y
"They just took Charlie in. He
asn't sayin' much" 81
"Say. them stretcher bearers ought a
light to. See 'em fetch me back with 1t
em shells Dustin like it was rainIn'f 1t
nd would they hurry? Not a d la
I. hollered to them to git move II
! or they'd git busted on the dome, la
1t that little shrimp says for me to m
ind my own business, he was csrryin'
at stretcher :. Afraid II he
Istled he'd shake me up and hurt to
E some. Can you beat that? co
,oww to
sout Of Luck Nothing" gu
"You're next. son." said lieutenant WI
ctor. "where'd you get it7" mi
Leg and a chunk somewhere in tho no
est" gu
AOut of luck" Vi
Out OF luck nothin'. Didn't I bay ~,
ct three Of them Germans before ~,
~ got met Eh7 Luckr' -,
The story goes that this division so,
IS called upon to stop the rush Of ne,
e times its number. The story goes tn,
'ther, and says they NOT only sta
pped the rush but caused q
vement In the other direction. 1t xyo
s not an affair of hours but Of days. va
rs of constant. bitter, hand-to-hand 5o,
hting, with horrors added by the av,
IN that no American soldier has :.
n been called upon to face Rut ~,
y had damned the flood; had even 80
ept it back for little, and they a,;s
re proud. ~
But their achievement on the field the
5 not the great thing that came into a
W in those days. 1t was the spirit
{ famed up in their hearts-not "
rely spirit of courage, of daring, Won
heroism against odds, but spirit tbe
altruism, of love for the other fell 7
: Somewhere in that holocaust rea
se hard-boiIed boys had gotten it, Of
H.. - -.