The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1919-01-21

/ ally reaches a base port. Let us say
| he comes to the embarkation camp at
Bordeaux. Right here he begins to
get action and he gets it so fast and
$50 much of it that the memory of the
long days of unavoidable neglect are
erased from his mind in a few hours.
In the parlance of the service he is
put through the mill"
1.-The mill is I long low hut with
Teral departments. Entering at
Une end the casual breasts q wooden
counter, where from the information
supplied to him by the casual sol
dier clerk makes out a supplement
tary service record in quadruplicate.
The casuaPs name, number organi
cation etc, is then, for the first time
since his pilgrimage began, given to
an expectant world; having introduce
ed himself, so to speak, the young
man passes into another ,Com, quite
bare of furnishings, with the eXcep-
ton of a dozen G. |. cans standing
along the wall. Here the casual
strips, until in the expressive 1angu-
age of Terence Mulvaney, he is las
naked as Venus" His frightful raj
ments he casts into one of the G. l.
cans, and with raucaus cries of pro-
found contentment, he skips blithely
,into another room.
Now ono mi obt rpa soma b1u aypact
that here for once in his life-for he
is now in the shower-bath depart
ment-there will be no N. c. O.. to
tell the poor lost devil to make it
snappy." But there is. The instant
the casual steps inside that door
husky sergeant reaches into barrel
of soft soap, crowns the casual with
a handful of it and says: Thirty
seconds under the hot water, my
son. Make it snappy. In 80 sec
onds I'll turn the water off,"
Then he is fit for human society,
SO he passes into another room and a
medical officer looks him over for
signs of contagious disease. If he has
such a disease, it's a suit of paja-
mas and the hospital for him. If he
shows symptoms he is allowed to
dress, but iskept segregated.
Let us assume tha tour particular
casual shows nothing worse than a
mustard gas scar and a cough that
bespeaks a Whit of phosgene. Leav-
ing the medical officer he passes into
the clothing room. Along the wall
are built bins, each bin built to con-
tain one thousand articles of each
size of clothing required. From bin
to bin our hero stalks unbushingly,
receiving in the order in which a
man dresses, undershirt, drawers,
socks, trousers, belt, o. D. shirt shoes,
blouse, cap, overcoat and slicker.
Toting this load of raiment, due re-
cord of which has been made by the |
soldier clerks, the cas-
ual enters another room where he
dresses. From this room he passes
~ : t f. - g -. "a!
.ss;slfanly and efficient soldier bar
bers give him haircut and shave. |
From the barber shop he passes into |
another room where another soldier !
clerk confronts him with one of the |
carbon copies Of his supplementary |
service record. Jones, Richard !
w." he mumbles Home town, Pc
taluma, California. All! Demobii-
zation District No. 8. You're assign !
ed to Casual Company No. 30. step |
into the room on your right"
In the room on his right, Jones
manicures his nails with his jack |
knife, strikes up conversation with |
a casual from San Francisco, and IN |
five minutes has a new buddy. when |
there are $50 casuals in that room, |
some casual officers come and the |
captain picks a top sergeant ont OF
the lot.
"Outside, you guys" bawls the top. |
Fall in-and make it snappy.'
Following a period of from three |
Gays TO lnree WeehS III lie S'''''i
camp waiting for a transport, travel |
orders arrive, and everybody within |
a mile of the casual camp knows IT |
There is no nist3Elng |
the whoops that resOund throughout |
the camp. In the morning Casual
Company No. 80, in full pack, swings |
down the muddy, slippery main street |
of Lormont to the American docks at |
Bassens. Past the old familiar es-
taminets and omelette joints they
from the doorways Marie |
Yvonne, Yoette and Lawrette wave a !
last goodby and blow farewell kiss |
after the departing ally.