The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1922-11-02
Saltwater, Minnesota, Thursday November 2, 1922.

tICii. AltcI dil WHO was PIlVlitStu tO
say him nay?
1t was in the month of October, 1918,
that five of us left De Souge on foot,
bound for nowhere in particular and in
tending to stay there as long as the francs
held out. We walked to St. Medard, then
took the trolley into Bordeaux. There
were, as l said, five in the party; our
friend Buck, hero of the Battle of De
Souge; Baldy, lesser light but among
those present at the memorable scene of
action; Sarge c., the company beam
hound, also with the largest tank capacity;
Carl, first cook, and master of the art of
dealing blackjack to suckers; and myself.
AS we were travelling without passes it
behooved us to proceed as discreetly as
possible, and this we managed to do as
far as St. Medard, where one of Bucks lady
friends ran food foundry and wine shop.
Buck Airted with the proprietress while
Baldy courted his Lady Cognac with the
result that both were in that state that
borders on insanity. There are certain
brands of American whiskey that are said
to be so potent as to cause a rabbit to spit
in bulldogs face; perhaps this is true,
but, take it from me! rabbit that had
INDUCED in cognac would whip the canine
to whisper without pausing to spit.
Payday naturally meant increased
vigilance on the part Of the soldier guar
dians of law and order, and, incidentally,
increased elusiveness on the part of the
quarry. The tradition that causes gobs or
soldiers to tear loose at leatherneck is too
well-known to necessitate repitition and as
the Military Police of Bordeau were
leathernecks (marines) you may appreciate
our position if we were caught without
passes. We would have entered Bor-
deaux unostentatiously had not Baldy at
tempted"to sing Joan of Arc in terrible
French, much to the amusement of the
passengers. The puncher thought that they
were applauding him so he swung into
other popular songs with Buck getting off
an occasional sour note by way of har-
mony. Now Buck is boxer of consider
able ability while have seen Baldy ride
four-legged maniacs that l wouldn't get
into the same corral with, but as far as
their vocal abilities were concerned they
were in the same class with a crow with
a bad cold. During the intermissions be-
tween selections Baldy was passing out five
franc notes to the passengers, while his
associate in musical crime watched him
carefully to see that he didn't give two to
the same person for Badly was having
trouble with his optics. AS we entered
performance with an imitation of hun
cry coyote at sundown. 1t was the piece
de resistance of his repertoire, and was
well received.
However, the audience was increased at
this point, for two beligenent NJ. P.'s en-
tered the car. Two marines were nothing
in Baldys young life, though they carried
young arsenal on their persons, and he
concluded the performance with flourish
When passes were not forthcoming we
were requested to accompany the NJ P.'s
which we had no intention of doing, Baldy
pulled his cap promptly over his ears
Buck frightened his belt, Carl hunched up
like an alley tom cat confronted by dog
with blood thirsty ambitions and two M.
P.'s were assisted from the car with hob
nailed shoes. During the fray Badly re-