Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1919-05-29
HOSPITALITY OF
LOCAL RED CROSS
INSPIRES TROOPS
Texans Will Never Forget
Kindnesses of Pine Bluff
Women.

Another tribute to the work of the
Red Cross canteen service, and espe
cially to the work of the local can
teen service, as we'll as to the state of
Arkansas, was made in letter from
"a woman of Houston, Texas. who had
a adshouldered, red-headed. six
footer" of brother who as a mem
Der of Battery f, Gath regiment of
field artillery, passed through Pine
Bluff about two weeks ago on a troop
train ,-s.a1d was served, with his com
rades, by the members of the local
canteen service.
According to the letter, "Red" was
a former Arkansas boy, and spent his
barefoot days near Mulberry. He
was also the only man among the lot
who could boast that Arkansas was
his native state. Little Boosting did
he do however, at first, as he was
too busy defending the state of his
birth to take the initiative
The train, on it's way from an east
ern port of de and embarkation rock
ed along through the scraWny hills
and squalid lowlands of some of the
southeastern states. ~ But when they
crossed the mississippi, and the train
started through the fertile state of
Arkansas, those who would make ban
ter at the name of Arkansas, became
| thoughtful, and when the train
reached Pine Bluff, and the hospital
lily of the locals was showered upon
the tired boys, Arkansas took on a
new significance. And as the train
pulled out, several husky Texans
1n1 tspa11, nd ho 1;0h Of
battle in their eyes, went through the
coach looking for one SO rash as to
cast insult and continuity on the name
of the fair state The letter follows ::
"To the Good People of Pine Bluff:
"a few weeks ago, troop train
passed through your city bringing
home regiment Of overseas men
Gath coast artillery composed most
! ly of Texans These boys left for
service in France last summer when
the war clouds seemed densest, and
they, in all their eagerness to enter
the struggle, were very serious, for
they were leaving home and loved
ones, and they knew that not all, and
possibly very few of them would re-
turn.
But before the first lap of the
| journey was ended, they were thor
oughly impressed with the fact that
all their fathers, mothers, sisters,
wives, and sWeethearts were not only
behind them in ranks and rows, but
they were actually with them every
step of the way through that whole
some friend and tender mother, the
American Red Cross.
1O~ Ne eirr1,t i,,fr
men came to and end, and more than
two million faces were at once turned
toward home-and they are coming
saddened only by the missing gaps in
their ranks. And as they come, the
Red Cross everywhere is acting the
part of the indulgent mother in her
joy over the return of her sons. But
nowhere q speak for the Gath regi-
ment and particularly for Battery F,
and most particularly for my broth
err, Grover r. Wagner), were they
given such an enthusiastic welcome
as at Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
Native Was Proud.
"And it so happened that out of
that train load of rollicking American
boys, only one bighearted, broad
shouldered, red-headed, popular six
footer, could boast of Arkansas as
being his native state, and he was the
aforementioned Wagner CHS bare
foot days having been spent in and
about Mulberry, and whose mother
was reared at Cabot, not far from
Pine Bluff.
"Young Wagner had taken the usual
stale jokes about Arkansas with as
l. -
through the WORKOUT districts of the
southeastern states When they
crossed the Mississippi, however, and
came up through that fertile valley,
the fun makers began to see Arkansas