The state herald., 1919-02-21

In Spezia, the italian port ofIicials
Quarantined M for fourteen days on
account Of smallpox. During this period
our food was pretty bad; in fact. One
meat became rotten. This could hard
" have happened on an American ship,
because they are provisioned with
canned stuff and preserved meats, but
the French ships, like the italian, de-
pend on live stock, fresh vegetables.
etc, which they carry on board. and
we had expected to get large supply
Of such stun at Spezla. Long before
the fourteen days were up We were
out Of these things, and had to live on
anything we could get hold of-mostly
hardtack. coffee and cocoa.
We loaded q cargo of airplanes for
the italian aviators at the French fly.
ing schools. and started back to Brest.
On the way back We had target prac-
tice. In fact, at most times ON the
open sea, It was q regular part Of the
routine.
It was during one Of these practices
that the French oficefs wanted. to
nnd out what the Yankee gunner knew
about gunnery. At q range Of eight
miles. while the ship was making eight
knots an hour. with q fourteen-inch
gun I scored three d's-that u, three
direct hits. out Of i've trials. After
that there was no question about II AZ
result, I was awarded three bars.
These bars. which are strips oe red
braid. are worn on the left sleeve, and
sisnify extra Workmanship. also
received two hundred and fifty francs,
or about nfty dollars in American
money, and fourteen days shore leave.
All this made me very angry. oh,
very much wrought up indssd-noti
! saw q merry Life for myself on the
French rolling wave II they felt that
way about gunnefy.
I spent most Of my leave with my
grandmother In St Nazaire. except for
. short trip I made to starshell fac
tory. This factory was Just about like
one I saw later somewhere In Amer
lea, only in the French works. all the
hands were women. Only the guards
were men. and they were 'blesses"
(wounded).
When my leave was up and ! said
good-by to my grandmother. she man
aged Q smile for me. though I could
see that It was pretty stih work. And
without getting soft, or anything like
that, I can tell You that smile stayed
with me and It did mo more good than
you would believe. because It eqfa NJ
something good to think about vAaa ]
was up against ths real thing.
I hope lot Of you people who read
this book are women, because have
had Il In mind for some time to tell all
the women could Q little thing they
can Do that WIN help . lot. I am not
trying to be fancy about Il. and hops
you will take Il from me the way I
mean Il.
When you say sood-by to your son
or your husband or your sweetheart.
work up . smile for him. What you
want to do u to give him something hs
can think about over there. and some
thing he viii like to think about. There
II % much dirt. and blood. and hunger.
and cold, and al that around you. that
you have Just got to quit thinking
about II OF you WI 20 crazy. And %.
whso you can think about something
nice, you can pretty nearly forget all
the rest for q while. The incest things
you can think about are the things you
nked back home.
Now. you can take II from me that
what your boy viii like to remember
the best of all u your face with q
smile on Il He has got enough hell oo
~ hands without lot Of weeps to r.
member. II you will excuse the word.
But don't forget that the chances are
% bis side that hs gets back to yea;
~ figures prove II That vii help
you some. At that. II will be hard
work; you will feel more like crying.
and % will be. maybe. But smile for
him. That smile IL your bit.
Twin back . smile against the wssps
u race to Berlin any time. So am
telling you. I'D cannot mako II strong
soough-send him away with smila.
CHAPTER ".
On The Firino Line.
when ! reported on the Cassard
aftor my fourteen dayu' leave. I vas