The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1918-01-31


count OF the Christmas celebration
BY the soldiers of the National army
at Camp Funston, was written by
Lieutenant C. +. Lauterbach. form
er superintendent of the Canon City
public schools. Its perlsal will be
we'll worth while. Lieut.. Lauterbach
Gays:
The man who put the fun" in
Funston. made his appearance in
camp on Christmas day. Altho
there had been many pretenders to
this distinction, the Fuletide visitor
established his claim beyond a doubt.
He proved to be an old timer at the
fun game. a childhood friend of the
long-ago who knows how to cheer
hearts and drive away the gloom of
loneliness. His identity is so well
known that the press failed to men,
ton his name. Suffice it to say that
be Initials all of his official mail IS.
c." and ne makes his headquarters
at Reindeer Park, somewhere" in the
Arctic zone.
The Christmas program was hum
dinger, as every solder boy at Funs-
ton will tell you. 1t began at eight
o'clock on Christmas morning and last
ed almost till taps. Altho the day
was chilly, the hillside overlooking
the big corral where many of the
events took place. was covered with
thousands upon thousands of o. d.
figures. Sixteen bands enlivened the
occasion. and envy of the five per cent
who had gone home gradually gave
enjoyment of the celebration.
The first number of the program
was field meet; not tooth-and-
,oe-nail contest but a fun" stunt
which evoked peals of laughter from
the spectators and even tickled the
participants to such an extent that
many OF them we're incapacitated.
Have you seen rooster fight. Well.
Just imagine a hundred fifty armed
men with Iances whose points are COW
cred with pillows. mounted upon an
OLneT uuuuI tu lltty lhGh, OIL Vh
gagged in battle-royal in an endeav-
or to unmount each other. The clash
is OF brief duration but furious and
thrilling. Then imagine a sack race
on an equally large scale. and a crab
race. and a push-ball contest, and a
centipede race. and a tug of war-and
you will have some idea of the field
meet at Funston on Christmas day.
The field meet was followed by a
genuine western roundup" The
football field of the seth division lies
at the foot of a high hill forming a
sort OF natural ampitheatre. A large
corral two hundred feet wide and
four hundred feet long had been con-
structed here, and the native sons OF
Colorado. Arizona and New Mexiro
invited to display their cowboy skill.
A carload of wild bronchos-cay-
uses that had never been manhandled
and carload of rangey. long
horned steers had been imported.
What happened when the sons OF the
west were turned loose with those
steers and bronrhos rivaled any from
tier day ever held in Montana. Many
q wild horse met his master that day
and many a stubborn steer was bull
dogged into the dust. Attractive
medals were awarded the successful
contestants. The crowd on the hill
side cheered and shouted until the
bugles announced Christmas mess.
At one o'clock the camp sat down
to dinner. THE heavily ladened
board groaned'' as we are wont to
say, under its load of turkey, sweet
potatoes. corn. cranberry sauce. cell
cry. olives. cake. mince pie. candy
and nuts. Belts were loosened notch
by notch as the good things on the
man in camp had to sadly admit
I lat he couldn't eat another bite
Uncle Sam had supplied 26.S51 lbs.
of turkey and unmeasured quantities
of other "eats" and there was enough
left over 10 serve cold meat for sup
per and hash for breakfast"
After dinner the host of the day
made his final appearance. Thru the
agency OF the Red Cross Santa Claus
had collected twenty-five thousand
Christmas packages. His generous
scheme contemplated gift for every
soldier in camp. Early in the morn
ing. white the big show was in prog
ress at the football field. sixty-eight
escort wagons drew up at one of the