Ripley County democrat., 1918-05-10
Eauefress Of the Americans to
Get to the Front Is
- Always Noted.
MAKE THEMSELVES Ar HOME
Oct ~on The Jobs Il once end nIs-
play Desire to Learn and a
N Do Where the shsiIs Ars
Whixinu.

~ hitsAu nhu thfNf NN4SA pRfAAS vA tAAS
American officers arriving at the 'front.'
These officers get con the job, at once
and display desire to learn and to be-
where the shells are whizzIng and the
Huns are to be seen. Saas
The first tendency Of the Britishers
Is to be somewhat envious Of the elab-
crate paraphernalia and equipment Of
the Americans. but the disposition Of
the latter to share everything he has
with his colleagues, be they French or
British, at once puts him on a most
friendly basis.
A British officer. writing In the
Daily News, tells Of the arrival Of
two Of these American officers at
the front. After describing an old
French chateau, full Of gusts Of wind,
Of ghosts and labyrinthine passages"
he says that these two Americans
lugged Into the place with trunks and
bags and quickly made themselves at
home.
Make Themselves at Home at Once.
He describes their entrance thus:
"And Just then the door cfeaked
open, and two pleasant faced young
men In khaki, and wearing wide-
awake hats with gold and black cord
twined around them, put their heads
In, looked round, bade me q pleasant
good evening, looked at the pile or
boxes, said they supposed this was
where they were coming In, and ex-
pected. ana were quite prepared to put
up with hardships, and rapidly took
possession.
"Thls, then, was the American army
come to stay. These young gentlemen
had Travelled from the other side OF
the Atlantic to help out the allies, and
with them had come their belongings
packed In trunks. Thinking. Of course.
Of the limited number Of beds. I said
How many are there Of your 4 guess
there are only two coming In here.
one replied. That seemed good enough.
and snid to myself: This army has
got some transportation. II couple
Of lieutenants carry 'thiss lot, what
must an army caryT ~
II don't regret their coming. They
were nice Americans. They asked q
lot OF questions. and in doing 30
skinned me Of my knowledge Of the
western front. And from those trunks
they produced pieces OF equipment
which made me envious-automatic
revolvers, marked with large q. 8.
A., and ammunition; glasses, boots.
leggings, coats. bats, mess tins. water
bottles, spare tunics, fash lamps
everything. In fnct. which makes our
own officers when ON the move look
like Christmas trees. These young of
flcers were even more the complete
officer than We profess to be; hut all
their decorative effects we're slowed
and locked away In trunks. And. look
ing at the proposition fairly and
sQuarely, I began to like those trunks.
Democratic Discipline.
I'VE settled down to work together.
These American officers are Of the
stamp Of the Canadian and Australian
officer--keen. alert, good shots, and en-
dowed with what they themselves call
democratic discipline One saw this
discipline at work. You fellows
haven't got much Of place to shake
down In one Of their servants told
me the morning after he had dumped
his masters kit in my room, and /
don't think I felt any resentment at
being called fellow.
.These officers had that inevitable
eagerness to hear the guns and see the
inside Of warfare which one finds In
newly arrived British officers. And
there Is the same kind Of speculating
and guessing as to what Is going to
happen, when II will happen. and the
chances Of on early Slightly But
there Is something more. These Amer
lean officers have definite views on the
war. One Of them told, me that he|
expected to md the British and
French armies somewhat ragged and
worn after their long struggle. What
he had found was Just tho reverse|
The British army made him blink; it
was 90 highly polished and extracr1
dinarIly smart, slick. alert and full Of
sawnnk.s He exDecfed to ind low