The Taney County republican. (Forsyth, Mo.) 1895-1992, 1918-04-11
Rations.

hCIIOlSs
Just doing off; Mr.. Lance Corporal
butted in.
IN Tommy's eyes lance corporal IS
one degree below n private. In the
cOrporarS eyes he Is one degree above
general.
He ordered mo to 90 with him and
help him draw the next days ratiOns,
also told me to take my waterproof.
Every evening, from each platoon or
machine-gun section, lance corporal
and private 90 to the quartermaster
sergeant at the company stores and
draw rations for the following day.
The quarter" as the quartermaster
sergeant is called, receives daily from
the orderly room Captains ofilce) n
slip showing the number Of men en-
titled TO rationS so there. is no chance
of putting anything over on him. Many
arguments take place between the
quarter" and the platoon nOncOm, but
the former always wins out. Tommy
says the quarter got his job because
he was a burglar in civil life.
Then I spread the waterproof sheet
on the ground, while the quartermas.
ter's batman dumped the ratiOns on It,
The corporal was smoking a fag. l
carried the rations back to the billet
The corporal was still smoking q fag
How l envied him. But when the issue
commenced my envy died. and l real
lied that the first requisite of nom
commissioned officer on active service
is diplomacy. There were 10 men in
our section, and they soon formed a
semicirCle around us after the corporal
had called out, "Rations up"
The quartermaster sergeant had
given n slip to the corporal on which
was written list Of the rations. Sit
ting on the floor, using q wooden box
as Il table, the issue commenced. On
the left of the corporal the rations
were piled. They consisted of the fol.
lowing:
Six loaves of fresh bread, each loaf
Of different size, perhaps one out Of
the six being us fiat as pancake, the
result of an army service corps man
placing box Of bully beef on 1t dur.
ing transportation.
Three tins Of Jam, one apple and the
othcr two plum.
Seventeen Bermuda onions, all diff
fNrent sizes.
4 piece of cheese in the shape Of q
wedge.
Two one-pound tins of butter.
A handful of ralsins,
A tin of biscuits. or as Tommy calls
them "jaw breakers"
A bottle of mustard pickles.
The "bully beef" spuds, condensed
milk, fresh meat, bacon and "MaconO-
chic ratiOns" "a can filled with meat,
vegetables and greasy water), had been
turned over TO the company cook to
make n stew for next days dinner. He
also received the tea, sugar, salt, pep
per and -four,
Scratching his head, the corporal
studied the slip issued to him by the
quarter. Then In a slow, mystitied
voice he read out, "No. 1 section, ~
men. Bread, loayes, SIX" He looked
puzzled and soliloqulzed in musins
voice:
"Six loaves, nineteen men. Let's see,
that's three in loaf for fifteen men--
well, to make 1t even, four Of you'll
have to muck in on one loaf"
The four that got stuck made howl.
hut to no avail. The bread was dished
out. Pretty soon from far corner Of
the billet, three indignant Tommlcs nc-
costed the corporal with:
"What do you call this, loaf of
bread? Looks more like a snipng
plate"
The corporal answered:
"Well. don't blame me, I didn't bake
It: somebody's got to get 1t, 50 shut
up until / dish out these bllniin' ra'
tious."
Then the corporal started on the
jam.
Jam. three tins--apple one, plum
two. Nineteen men, three tins. Six
in tin makes twelve men for two tins
seven In the remaining tin"
He passed around the Jam, and
there was another riot. Some didn't
like apple. while others who received
plum were Partial to apple. After 0
while differences were adjusted and
the issue went on.
bermuda onions. seventeen
The corporal avoided a row by say
ing that he did not want an onion. an(
/ said they make your breath smell. Sc
/ guessed 1 would do without one too
The corporal looked his gratitude.