The Cordova daily times., 1918-04-02

noise, BillW He did not know, but his face was of a pea-green color. Jim, on my right, also did not know, but suggested that I "awsk" the sergeant.
 Coming towards US was an old griz- zled sergeant, properly fed up with the war, so I "awsked" him.
 "Think it's going to rain, sergeant?
 He looked at me in contempt, and grunted, "Ow's 1t a-goin' ter rain with the bloomin' sun a-shinin'2' I looked guilty.
 "Thems the guns up the line, me lad, and you'll get enough of 'em be fore you gets back to Blighty."
 My knees seemed to wilt, and I squeaked out weak "Oh"
 Then we started our march up to the line in ten-kilo treks. After the first days march we arrived at our rest billets. In France they call them rest billets, because while In them Tommy works seven days a week and on the eighth day of the week he Is given twenty-four hours lon his own"
 Our billet was a spacious affair a large barn on the left side of the road, which had one hundred entrances, ninety-nine for shells, rats, wind and rain, and the hundredth one for Tom my. I was tired out, and using my shrapnel-prOof helmet (shrapnel proof until a piece of shrapnel hits it), or tin hat, for a pillow, lay down In the straw, and was soon fast asleep. I must have slept about two hours, when I .awoke with prickling sensation all over me. As 1 thought, the straw had worked through my uniform. I woke up the fellow lying on my left, who had been up the line before, and asked 1 him:
 "Does the straw bother you, mate? It's worked through my uniform and I can't sleep"
 In a sleepy voice he answered, ''That ain't straw, them's cOoties." From that time on my friends the "cooties" were constantly with me.
 "COOties." or body lice, are the bane of Tommy's existence.
 The aristocracy of the trenches very
 
 of them as fieas.
 To an American flea means a small insect armed with bayonet. who is wont to jab 1t into you and then hop skip and jump to the next place to be attacked. There is an advantage in having fieas on you instead of "coOties" in that in one of his extended jumps said flea is liable to land on the fel- low next to you; he has the typical energy and push of the American, while the "cootie" has the bulldog tenacity of the Englishman; he holds on and cOnsolidates or digs in until his meal is finished.
 There is no way to get rid of them 1 permanently. No matter how often you bathe, and that Is not very often, or how many times you change yonr underwear, your friends the "cOoties" are always in evidence. The billets are infested with them, especially so if there is straw on the floor. I have taken bath and put on orand-new underwear; in fact, com. i'>'~ Ni'd'ASC OL ulllOIIH, anu lucU turned in for the night The next morn ing my shirt would be full of them. It IS common sight to see eight or ten soldiers sitting under tree with their shirts over their knees engaging in a "shirt hunt"
 At night about half an hour before lights out you can see the Tommies grouped around candle, trying, In it's dim light, to rid their underwear of the Verm1n. popular and very quick method Is to take your shirt and draw CTS, and run the seams back and for ward in the flame from a candle and burn them out. This practice is dan gerous, because you are liable to burn holes in the garments if you are not careful.
 Recruits generally sent to Blighty for brand of insect powder adver- tised as Good for body lice" The ad- vertisement is quite fight; the powder is good for "cOoties;" they simply thrive on it.
 The older men of our battalion were wiser and made scratchers out of wood. These were rubbed smooth with a bit of stone or sand to prevent splin- ters. They were about eighteen inches long, and Tommy guarantees that a scratcher of this length will reach any part of the body which may be at tackled. Some of the fellows were lazy and only made their scratchers twelve inches, but many night when on guard, looking over the top from the fire step of the front-line trench, they would have given a thousand "quid" for the other six inches.
 Once while we were in rest billets an Irish Hussar regiment camped in an open field opposite our billet. After they had picketed and fed their horses, general shirt hunt took place. The troopers ignored the call "Dinner up," and kept on with their search for big game. They had a curious method of