The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1919-10-30
transforming AT THE FRONT
Being an Interesting First Hand Ae'
eoun, OF ho~ our Itoys Lived on the
From, Lines In France.
Nv Frances and Grace Hoyt

(CoB,inued from last Week
The soldiers. the hospitals. and th'
bands want music more than one car
imagine. When they do get il from
home, /, is usually something "patri
otto" Why does IL never strike ui
here that that Is not the sort Of stuf
they need Send them something
really good or really frivolous, the,
are giving their lives for their eoun
try, 40 why rub il in7"
Round most Of the town there is 1
moat, and many strange creatures
float upon its stagnant surface, dcat
cats, dogs and geese, and one seei
children cissping chickens which. with
much effort they have just fished out
to their damp bosoms.
The boys who are waiting to gel
into the thick of things are deserving
OF much more sympathy than the un'
initiated can ever imagine. They al
ways have TO Cleanup" the towns
directly they get into them, but even
then the odors from the barnyards one
can smell long before one arrives al
the village, One boy, doing M. p
work outside OF the barrack-like build.
ings, said that he had lost twenty
three pounds, but not to tell his people
at home; another told US that he was
tired Of hanging round" and that he
didn't see what the Germans wanted
Of the country anyway. These Texas
and Oklahoma boys, many Of whom
have never before been away from
their home towns are an interesting
study, for with all their bravery,
which is almost savage in its intens-
ity, they are sometimes like children.
Once "A boy at the front found a box
of rockets which the allies used for
signals, red for one Vancouver, blue
for another, etc. The soldier thought
they looked like good fun, so he
touched them all off at once: it made
gay fare, but it caused good bit
of CONSERVATION while 1t lasted, for
no one knew what was ordered and
what was not. Another told US of the
trip he had taken on the transport,
when they slept in shifts" When he
landed he was sent TO his destination
IN box car where he slept with the
rest of the men. He awoke with
hob-nailed shoe making patterns on
his head Each car was TO carry six,
but there were eight men in each
Can you imagine all this being told
US with never complaint? Ii was
war news, something which was a
means TO the end.
The Chaplain, with the help Of the
men, had arranged most wonderful
footlights at Champigny. The sput-
tering of the candles almost strangled
us, but we wouldn't have complained
Of them for the world. The officers
pulled us up the steep bank from the
road, the band played two Sousa
marches lthey had heard that we had
made tour with him) just to make
us feel at home, and things started.
The band was a joy TO hear, it was a
scrub" one, instruments and all, but
the enthusiasm was there, and how
they did play, to show the only
American women who had heard them,
that they were giving them real
Southern welcome.
Once or twice we slept until six.
I'VE don't count the week Of nights
when the "chien de chasse" howled
every moment.) At six France
awakes; she awakes with all the
cheerfulness of a holiday. but she GER
tainly does awake, and so do all the |
unsuspecting Americans in her do
main. The bogs bark, the children
scream, old people roar out the merits
of the vegetables they wish 10 sell,
and various animals, silent until now
make strange, uncouth and loud
noises.
There were never less than thirty
officers in the dining room, those who
had been in six wars were no more
formal than the very newest Each
one bowed and spoke 10 us as they
entered as though We were their
hostesses. After dinner We would all
gather round the cat on the middle Of
the center table in the bureau" and
talk Of home.
They sent for us often TO sing at
The hospital here, for everyone needed
AL the cheering" they could get One
hot day we wen, in the
first we sang for the pneu- !
nonia patients, after that the "oper /
,tionx." and then they put our piano
IN a truck between two one storied !
the boys did not come out
rom them, but they hung SO far out ;
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