The Bismarck tribune., 1919-04-01
HOW THE BOYS BEGUILED THE
LINGERING HOURS AWAY.

HOW THE BOYS BEGUILED THE
LINGERING HOURS AWAY.
(By James Lloyd Cline, Company B.,
18th Regiment, a. E. F.
Were goin' to be here for a ten
day rest" one of the boys of Company
"B'' remarked cheerfully. ..,.,,.
1t was on the 18th day of July 1918;
we had Just returned from the front
and were billeted in large, three
story building in the village Of Juilly,
a short distance northeast of Paris.
We. considered ourselves fortunate,
We were going to live in such large
building and have ten day rest, too
We had every reason to expect a
rest, as our division had been hold
ing the line at Catigny since the 25th
of April, and we were more or less
worn out and run down with the hard
ships of trench life: We had been re-
lieved few days before coming to
Juilly by French troops and had been
transported there by trucks. Our
platoon occupied the top floor of our
giant chateau and we had our shelter
halves spread on the floor for beds;
not as comfortable as springs and
mattress, but not "too bad" after all
We were satisfied, and contented
We were going to rest, and rest.
Some of the boys were lying on the
beds sleeping, some were playing
cards; not gambling, for we had not
been paid for several months. Others
were in small groups talking about
the debatable subjects Of a soldiers
life, such as, (Which is the best state
in the Union, y "Is niger as good as
a white man. show much longer will
the war last" "are French girls as
pretty as the girls back home," when
shall we get paid" and other equally
difficult subjects.
: The sergeant's whistle blew, the de-
baters stopped their arguments; the
"Roll your packs right away ana
fall in" ylled the sergeant!
We could hardly believe our own
ears. but we must obey. There was
scramble to roll the packs, but as
this was not the first time that we
had rolled them, it took but few
seconds, then we filed out OF the
building to "fall i'm in company
front" before the door Of, our new
home. The supply sergeant came
along, issuing us two extra bandoiiefs
Of rifle ammunition; it could mean but
one thing we were going back to the
front, and going in hurry, too.
Shattered Dreams
Our dreams of rest were badly shat
tered. The company cooks were pre-
pairing the "chow" wagon for trans
portation on a truck; that meant NO
"stew" for supper. The COOK nae
already cut the bread-French wal
bread, made of wheat, sawdust
ground cabbage and birch bark, with
such other equally nourishing SUB
stances as he could get-and ne pass
ed each of us slice.
Supper-was over.
About quarter of a mile down the
road trucks were arriving and llnlne
up. We were sure of one thing; we
were not going to ahike," even II we
were veteran doughboys. :,
Our captain called us to Attention
and gave the command to "sllng
equipment" and after our packs were
adjusted came the command, rlgn'
by squads" and we were off IN col,
QUINN formation marching down the
road toward the waiting trucks.
The roads were crowded, our supply
trains were just arriving from the
front, which we had left but few
hours before. They were now ordered
to turn about and start back over the
same road so recently travelled.
The mule SINNERS were dong
this movement with language appro-
pirate to the occasion, and for artistic
swearing the mule skinner cannot be
excelled.
Our company was the first to reach
the long line Of waiting trucks. The
officer in charge of loading certainly
understood his business, for we were
packed into those trucks like sardines
in can. He certainly knew how to
utilize space. After the rest Of the
regiment was loaded, the truck driv-
ers cranked the engines and we were
off over the very same road over
which we had 30 recently returned
from the front the day before.
Looking baeas one could see the
long line Of trucks winding along the