The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1919-10-02
transforming At THE FRONT
B.inr an Interesting First Hand Ae'
count of ho~ eur Bays Lived on the
Freat Lines In France.
n, FRANCES and Grace Hoyt

lI0nflnucd from base vf0~t
A, our hotel, the one with the aero
hattie bathroom, the elevator 10 run
either by young Frenchman, 20
xounds,d that ono arm is useless. who
xears on his breast the Medaille Mil"
tairr and the Croix de Gucrrc with
TWO citations: or by little lad OF
perhaps nine years, whose fayorite oc-
eupation is to get the elevator SO sue
cessfully out Of order that there are
hours in which il can not be used NJ
all Al another the head waiter has
been working for twenty-nine years.
but now ne nearly weeps when he tries
20 explsin how hard IL is to Keep
things in order with only little boys
20 help him. Here the Salvation Ar
my have their headquarters Ihey
have a tiny kitten which was born IN
n Bosche helmet. and bad little pup
py. brought from the German trenches
which delighted in stealing silk stock
,ngs from our bags and taking them
to the Colonel.
The ~" headquarters Is SO busy
that Il is hectic. There is only one ell
eyator. holding but five persons, ana
IL Is run BY a push button, when J.
runs. (which is but seldom) and every
person one must see 10 on the foufth
ar fifth floor. The winding stairway
Il always filled with crowds OF hur-
rying workers, and the post-oi''ce on
the first floor simply swarms with
olive drab figures. Many were the IN
teres,ine tales we heard from tne
workers who had just come from tne
front There was one incident, which
happcned at the time of the battie oi
Chateau Thierry, told US by the head
Of one Of the most important depart.
ments of the "Y", who used to De
.pitcher" on the University OF Penn
sylyania base ball team, that Is TOO
GOOD not to be repeated. Our boys
were having game, almost under the
firing of the big guns, and one Of the
most enthusiastic players was hnge
Norocean who. on his turn to come y
the hat raised his hand to Heaven say
inc "Allah be with me-" then with
mighty blow he made two-base nut
The American boy who came heA'
thought the speech was line idea, pu'
beiuv hazy in his remembrance OF lus'
wha, the black man said, bited pa'
and Nil on high and called out, wei
you know me, AL
There we're three young men, whe
being soldiers when they were not en-
tertainers, could go straight up 10 th'
trenches. where they sing, play an'
give sort of religious revival sermon
The one the men like best is on the lif'
of David. and which goes something
like this. Father Jesse says, 'Whef'
are YOU going, David?' oh, just up U
the trenches a ways to see the pit
guy named Goliath. Well, says Jes
So. You'd better take along some OF
your Mas cookies. And say, befor'
YOU start put some clean clothes II
your grip, cause | hear some OF th'
boys has cooties. AT the close o.
this most up-to-date lesson they glv'
a really fine serious talk. The thre'
Young men never fail to make grea
hit with the boys, who appreciate
s,raightway. the earnestness of tn
whole performance. Sometimes TN
shows" which they are putting OF
have TO stop until raid is over, thei
they go on, quite unconcernedly, thei
gas masks always near by.
One day at luncheon most impos
ing-looking British Captain leaned ov
er from the next table and asked J
we'd mind ordering something for hin
to eat. as he was starving and couldn'
sneak a word OF French. He said h
had nearly suifocated at his hotel II
Paris, for he was sure the room ha'
never been ventilated: he explained
that he had broken the window Wit
the heel OF his boot, however, for n
knew they couldn't get the glass re
placed until he was well on his wa.
to England, ton the first leave he ha'
in three ycarsh He would leave IN
money to pay for ii, OF course,
Our hrst performance was giVeI
al The Soldiers and Sailors Club. an'
many OF the boys in the audience VIII
were from New England, hcwled wit
rlee when we told them that all ou
family had come from there, and gath
erred around to hear all the New forl
and the Vermont news: the room WA
30 packed that the overflow filed tn
stage as well.
In every hotel was a placard beg
ging those who possibly could to go u
work in the hospitals, (hcw We di'
wish that We might be able TO help
but as soon as we could get our move