The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1919-03-03

was the only difficulty that the Off
GERS ever had with him during his
term of service in the army.
"Ah show is glad ter git back to
de states an All is moren glad to git
back ter ole Missippy," said Private
Owens to a curious crowd of his old
friends of the Recruit Brigade, VINO
had gathered around him to hear him
relate his experiences in overseas ser
vice in France.
eyer sees, boys, it's lax dis: All
was drafted from Yazoo. When All
lef' dere dat mawnin' fur Camp Shell
by All fought dat All wouldn't nebber
see Yazoo ner de good ole state OF
Missippy an Yazoo nebber no more.
Yer see. hit makes a Teller feel kinder
funny when he leaves his bes' gal and
| his kin folks and de man he's bin
workin' TO- not KNOWN dat he'll ever
see 'em ergin. Well, All jes' keep
feelin' funny twell All reached Camp
Shelby. All stayed in dish we're OF
camp three long, worredsome weeks,
den dey sont me ter camp in Ala.
bama', McClelland, All be'leevs dey
calls hit After dey KEEP me dere fur
two weeks dey sont me to New Yawk
| (Some town, New Yawk, Oh boy!)
Den All realizes dat All was on nah
way ter fight them cussed Germans
in France. Hit was den All axed de
Lawd ter forgive me all of nah sins,
when All went from New Yawk ter
France. All fought All had funny
feelin' wen All gifts ter Camp Shelby,
but wen All gifts erboard dat ship on
dat ocean All just tells yer dat NAH
very soul felt queer. T'ink erbout
home? Yer jest better bet All did,
but as dat ship waited me on ter
France, as de OF ship ion sails de
Christian folks ter de OF new Jerusa-
lem, All begins ter feel lax soldier
of de Cross.
"At las we landed at Brest in
France, den All begins to strut lax
re sure huff 'merican soldier, fur to
show dem Europeans dat All was on
de job and dat We wuz gwine ter
bring de bacon home. Fergit de
Lawd? Well, no sub, All guess All
didn't, All says ter de Lawd EFF you
don help me please don't help dem
Germans, an Ah'll show you de stuff
dat a 'merican niger solder is made
of; an we would show dem French
peoples dat we wuz dere wild dc
goods wiz bells on"
At this stage Of Omens' narrative
the interest of his auditors became
very accute, Perhaps slight feeling
of jealousy and envy prevailed among
them.
. de fust ting we done after W,
} landed We begun ter unload grub
peaches, t'maters and taters Will
we unloaded we filled our pockets Wi
dem good OF eats wen we wuz no
! fghtin' dem Germans. Den de
Z named our company de labor batta
I ion an sot us ter buldin' roads al
\ buryin' de parts of de soldiers ds
3 dem bombshells lef', All didn't la
4 dis much, Gaze All had losted all
4 yeller streak an All wanted ter igh
\ but dey needed road-fixin' and deal
: buryin as muchly as dey needle
, fighters.
II "Ah tells yer, boys, when All sec
| dem shells Dustin an men huntil
de moon All had feelin dat A
| wanted to git in de front line. A
was jest struck brim full of fightin
| but we had so much ter do to fix Il
de others ter do de fightin dat we je
natchelly couldn git ter de front lin
| You fellers dat wuz lef' here don
know nothin,' We wuz KEEP so bus
we had ter sleep ON de groun' IL
tree months. All takes sick an got
to de hospital All tells you, boy
/! dat dem Red Cross muses. are shu
= fine, Dey gives me anything A
wants ter eat an smoke. Dey wou
tell me about home. All tells yC
dat hit is a pow'ful fine thing We
you is in er hospital house in Franc
ter have Red Cross nus ter tell yC
bout de folks at home. De Y. NJ. c
an de Salvation Armys am nigh
| good foIkses too.
II Dem Germans am wil'-lookin' >
er folks. Dey is 'fraid er de coIor'
soldiers. Dey said dey done gass'
all de 'merican soldiers black an d,
still come. All seen some er de
| Carrnan Sold{ars aafan5 outar IA *