The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1919-04-11


1t was Christmas eve, and cold; not
the kind OF cold which sends the red
blood tinging through your veins and
makes you want to be "up and ut
EN-" but that miserable damp kind
that eats into the marrow of your
bones. attacking you from the rear and
lending cold shivers up and down your
spinal column. 1t gives you a feeling
If dread and loneliness.
The three Of US, Curly" Happy"
aud myself, were standing at the cor
Rer Of yankee avenue" and "Ylddish
street." waiting for the word "Stand
TO-" upon which we were to mount our
machine gun on the parnpet and so on
watch for two hours with our heads
sticking over the top.
yankee avenue" was the name Of
the fire trench, while "YIddish street"
was the communication trench leading
to the rear. We were occupying "Y"
sector OF the front line Of our brigade.
The trench was muddy, and In some
places thin crust of Ice was begin
ming to form around the edges Of the
puddles.
We had wrapped our feet and legs
with empty sand bags. and looked like
snow shovelers on Fifth avenue. My
teeth were chnttering with the cold
Happy was Shaping his hands on his
thighs. while Curly had unbuttoned
one of the buttons on his overcoat,
and with his left hand was desperately
| trying to reach under his right armpit
no doubt "cootie" had gone mar
keting for its Christmas dinner.
Then came the unwelcome "Stand
to-" and 1t was up on the firestep for
us, to get our gun mounted This took
about five minutes.
Curly while working away, was
muttering; "Bllme me, Christmas eve.
and ERE I am somewhere In France,
'alf starved with the cold"
Happy was hummlng keep the
| Home Fires Burning" Right then. to
me. any kind Of home fire would
have been very welcome.
1t was black as pitch In No Mans
land. Curly stopped muttering to him
self and Happy's humming ceased.
There was serious work in front of us.
For two hours we had to try and pene-
trate that blnckness with our straining
eyes to see that Fritz did not surprise
US with some Christmas stunt Of his.
Suddenly. Happy, who was standing
on the flrestep next to me. gripped my
arm. and In a low, excited whisper
| asked:
did you see that out In front, Yank
little to the right OF that black patch
In the bnrbed wire?'
Turning my eyes in the direction In
dicated. with my heart pounding
against my ribs, l waited for some
thing to develop.
Sure enough. l could make out q
slight movement. Happy must have
seen II at the same time, because he
carefully eased his rifle over the top,
ready for instant use. My rifle was al
rendy In position. Curly was fumblns
with the flare pistol. Suddenly, 'plop -
as he pulled the trigger. and a red
streak shot up into the air as the star
shell described an arc out In front; 1t
hit the ground and burst, throwing
out a white. ghostly light. A fright
ened "meouw," and cat, with speed
clutch open. darted from the wire in
front Of US, jumped over our gun and
| disappeared into the blackness of the
| trench. Curly ducked his head, and
! Happy let out weak. squeaky laugh.
was frozen stiff with fear. Pretty
soon the pump action of my heart was
resumed. and once more looked out
into No Mans land.
For the remainder of our two hours
on guard nothing happened. Then we
turned over" to the second relief and
half frozen, wendell our way through
the Icy mud to the entrance of our
| dugout.
From the depths of the earth came
the notes of a harmonica playing
Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old
Kit Bag. and Smile, Smile, Smile
| Stumbling down the muddy steps we
entered the dugout. About eight boys
of our section, sitting on their packs,
| had formed circle around a wooden
! box. In an old ammunition tin six
candles were burning. inwardly shud-
dered at this extravaganza, but sud-
denly remembered that it Was Christ
mas eve. "Sailor Bill" was making
cocoa over the flames OF a ''Tommy's
cooker" while "Jkey' Honey was
toasting bread In front of a trench fire
bucket. the fumes from which nearly
choked us.
Az soon as we made our appearance
in the dugout the circle stood up, and,
as is usual with the English, made
room for us to get around the fire
bucket to thaw out our stiffened joints,
In about twenty minutes or so the
cold of the french was forgotten and
we Joined In 'he merriment. The mu
stefan put hiA harmonica away, and
bursting with Importance. Sailor Bill
&C dressed us: