The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1918-02-28

ike n whipped puppy and calling upoI
the Lord to protect him.
Even his landlady despised him, nj
though she had to admit that he wai
good pay"
He very seldom read the papers, bu
one momentous morning the landlady
put the morning paper ut his place be
fore he came down so breakfast TAX
ing his seat he read the fiaring head
line, "Conscription Bill Passed" anc
nearly tainted. Excusing himself, he
stumbled upstairs to his bedroom
with the horror of it gnawing into his
vitals.
Having saved UP few pounds, he
decided not to leave the house, and to
sham sickness so he stayed in his room
and had the landlady serve his meals
there.
Every time there was knock at the
door ne tremblcd all over, imagining it
was policeman who had come TO take
him away to the army.
one morning his fears were realized.
sure enough, there stood policeman
with the fatal paper Taking it in his
trembling hand he read chat he Albert
Lloyd, was ordered to report himself
to the nearest recruiting station for
physical examination. He reported i'm,
mcdiatcly, because he was afraid to
di~obey
The doctor looked with approval
upon Lloyd's six feet of physical per-
fection, and thought what fine
mardsman he would make, but exam
iucd his heart twice before he passed
him os physically fit" it was 'eating
so fast
From the recruiting depot Lloyd was
taken, with many others, in charge of
n sergeant to the training depot at AL
dershot, where he was given an outfit
&c khaki, and drew his either equip
meut. He made a fne-lookiug soldier,
except for the slight shrinking in his
shoulders and the hunted look in his
eyes,
At the training depot il does not
take long to find out mau's character,
and Lloyd was promptly dubbed
"vindy."1n the English army 'Vindy"
mcans coWardly.
THE smallest recruit In the barracks
looked ON him with contempt and was
not slow 10 show it in many ways,
Lloyd was q good soldier, learned
quickly, obeyed every order promptly,
never grouscd at the hardest fuligueS.
lie was afraid to. He lived in deadly
fear of the officers and "noncoms" over
HIM They also despised him.
one morning about three months
after his enlistment Lloyd's company
was paradcd and the names picked out
for the next draft to France were read,
When his name was called he did not
step out SmartlE two PAGES to the
rront and answer chooHuly Here,
sir as the others did He Just faint
ed in the ranks and was carried to bar
racks amid the sncers Of the rcst
That night was an agony Of misery
to him. He could not sleep, Just cried
and Whimpercd in his bunk, hecausc
on the morrow the draft was to sail
for France, where he would see death
on all sides and perhaps be Killed him
self ON the steamer crossinL the
channel he would have jumped oycr
board to escape, but was afraid Of
Arriving in France. he and the rest
were huddled into cattle cars On the
side Of each appeared in white letters
'IIommes 40, Chcyaux s." After hours
of humping over the uneven French
roadbcds they arrived at the training
base of Rouen.
AT this place they were put through
a weeks rigid training in trench war
fare. On the morning Of the eighth
day they paraded at ten o'clock, and
were inspected and passed by General
III, then were marched to the quar-,
tormaSter's, to draw their gas helmets
and trench equipment
At four In the afternoon they were
again hustled into cattle cars. This
time the journey lasted two days.
They discmharlled at the town of Fro.
vent and could hear distant duh
booming With knees shaking. Lloyd
aSlied the sergeant what the noise was,
ana nearly dropped when the sergeant
replied in 4 somewhat bored tone:
"0h thcm's the guns up the line.
Wen be up there in a couple O days
or So. Don't worry, my laddie, youm
see more Of 'cm than YOU want before
You get 'ome to Blighty again, that is,
if You're lucky enough to get back.
Now lend II hand there unloadin' them
cars, and quit that eyerlastin' shakin.
| believe yer scared The last with
Sncer.
They marched ten kilos, full pack,
to little dilapidated village, and the
sound Of the guns grew louder, con-
stanty louder.
The village was full of soldiers who
turned out to inspect the new draft
the men who wore shortly to be their
mates in the trenches, for they were
going 'up the line" on the morrow, to
'take over lheir certain sector of
trenches.
The draft was paraded in front Of
battalion headquarters and the men
were assigned to companies.
Lloyd was the only man assigned to
D company. Perhaps the officer in
charge of the draft had something to
do with it, for he called Lloyd aside
and said: