The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-04-28
DOUGHBOY'S THREE DAYS OFF
 IN NEUWIED A RIOT OF JOY

Rhein' here in Germany is to be en- vied by those who have hurried back through the French winter months to home and fireside. The homegoers are possibly well pleased with their lot, but the "stay abroads" are be- ginning to come into their own
 The American army and the Y. M. c. A, have combined into a harmon ious partnership here at Neuwied-on- the-Rhine, which gives full compen- sation for enforced foreign service. It is called the Third Corps, Recre- atiOn Centre and is today operating full blast for the benefit of morale of some 5000 of Uncle Sans boys
 composing the Sd American Army Corps, commanded by Major General Hines.
 Eleven hundred from the 1st. 2d and 32d divisions come from their prescribed villages and towns of the occupied area into Neuwied every three days to rest, recreate and see
 the sights of the Rhine.
 The warming rays of spring sun shine are beginning to bring forth green tints over the towering Rhine hills, combining with the work of American men and women to make
 the doughboys stay In Germany pleasant.
 '"The third Corps Recreation Cen tre. made possible by the folks at home through the '. M. c. A" is the slogan you may read in Neuwied to- day And the doughobys are begin ming to appreciate it and talk about it. The Y. M. c. A. is putting itself on the Rhine map, and no matter what those already home may say 1E
 stitution, those men who follow Ger many some day w&I have many kind words in store. And the answer is
 the women.
 American army engineers have
 built the largest Y. M. c. A club and recreation hall in Europe---the home
 of the recreating dough boy, in which 1 he neither worries about reveiIle nor saluting. It Is here that he first goes l when he arrives from the area, and he is told to make himself comfort able by one or all of six comeIy American girls who have come from ! home to cater to John Doughboy and he alone, natty young officers not withstanding. These young women are Miss Edith Roosevelt, SIS Madi- son avenue, and Miss Leonora Kissell IT West Forty-ninth Street, New York City; Miss F. P. Brown, New Rochelle, N. Y; Miss Elizabeth Cook, Norfolk, Va; Miss Hagerty, of Bal timore, and Miss Poole, of Nashville, Tenn.
 The boys are invited to make themselves right at home and they lose no time in doing so.
 Follow MT. John Doughboy through a three-day leave in the Neu- wied Recreation Centre. He packs up i his blankets, towel, toothbrush and safety razor and departs from the l scene of duty. He arrived in Neu- wied by various roUtes-1, 100 of him and is greeted by a brass band at i the railway station. A guide conducts i him to the big recreation hall and turns him loose among potted palms, Ceep easy upholstered easy chairs, divans and "Iazy-backs'' set tastily in a great room flanked on two sides by | red brick fire places. in which cheery 1 log fires are burning. He is as l signed a place in double-deck bunk 1 and he throws his blankets aboard l and returns to the big room to loaf | Perhaps he sits down at a table i and writes a line or two to the folks ] back home Then he meets a friend i and plays a game of billiards or pool | OAA LAAO OF FC4 41cLIlS3I DdlCOIly dI OllG | end of the room. Or he just loIls 1 around on those easy chairs and so- ! fas until lunch time.
 i Then some one suggests that he ] stroll down to Uncle Sam's HoteT' the place that used to be the "Ho- i henzol1ern House. Here the Uncle Sam Y. M. c. A combination serves
 a meal for him and his 1,009 com | panions that he has never seen equal | led in the A. E. r. German waitress
 es serve the chow at tab1es-tables | decorated with flowers-and "sIun. g | that inevitable concoction, as popular i with army cooks are prunes and hash at a boarding house, is forgotten.
 Aluminium mess kits have remained
 at home. Chow lines are forgotten ] mess call becomes a memory, while
 green vegetables, meat dishes, salads
 and finally, real American pie or Ice
 cream and cake, come forth on reg
 ular crockery."
 This "crockery." as the doughboys
 call 1t, is in reality an excellent grade
 of GernSan China, and as Sergeant J
 W. Seidenfelt, "commander in chief
 of Uncle Sam's Hotel, explained
 breakages at the hands of some
 scores of German waitresses run UT
 to 1 per cent. a meal, or nearly 1OC
 per cent. a, month. But it is Uncle
 Sam's party and the boys enjoy it.
 Sergeant Seidenfelt was headwaitel
 at the Statler Hotel in Cleveland
 when Uncle Sam drafted him. Hi.
 home, however, Is Hartford, Conn. and he never dreamed the armistict would bring him here to run "tht biggest army hotel in Germany where nearly 800 doughboys cal ''sit" simultaneously at a single mea and 1,600, if necessary drop in a two sittings for any meal of th' day.
 | From the hotel the recreating sol , dier wanders back to the recreation } hall, which now becomes his princi
 pal point of orientation. Here h, chats with American girls who mak } him feel at homo and point out tn afternoons entertainment. There i Uncle Sam's theatre" a pretentiou! German playhouse, with a good bil showing at o'clock and again at 2 There is the Mittelstrasse theatre ) continuous movies both afternoon an ) eWening-and when all this does no l appeal there are athletics of almos | ,I,s,- oS,+o Inv al