Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1923-01-18
Crippled Minnesota Boy Won First
Prize In Corn Club Competition
ST. MIEHIEL WILL
MAKE NOAH'S ARK
RESEMBLE SKIFF
Monkeys Rhine Fish, Turtles, Etc.
Coming Home with US. Troops

COBLENZ, Germany,-The Amer
lean transport St. Mihiel will look
good deal like Noah's Ark when she
sails from Antwerp with the last Of
the American forces in Germany if
the officers and men are allowed to
carry all the queer animals and mer-
chandise they have accumulated in the
last four years.
The extent and variety of these pos
sessions only began to dawn upon them
during their hurried preparations for
the homeward voyage and some are
expressing the fear that their menag-
erie will have to be left on the Rhine
The men have acquired many strange
creatures, ranging from monkeys to
Rhine fish. The exact number of
German police dogs in the outfit is
unknown, but there are numerous Da-
schunds, turtles, monkeys and song
birds.
Of the inanimate objects, there are
queer little music boxes, fixed in the
bottom of beer stems that, when prop
erly worked, make noises like birds;
there are weird collections of postcards
antique pictures and all varities of
carved pipes, and great supplies of
carpets and civilian clothes, the lat
ter including queer shaped hats and
silg underwear bought at ridicuously
low prices in Cologne, together with
furs and other odds and ends.
Gifts to Hometolks
All these are intended either as gifts
to the homefolks, or in the cases of
those men who have married while
on the Rhine, to lend comfort to the
new homes they are planning in the
United States, as only few expect
to remain in the army after their re-
turn
But getting all this duffle aboard the
St. Mihiel has become great problem.
"You fellows seem to have the idea
one top sergeant told his men this
morning, that the old boat is just
going to steam up the Rhine, back up
to the bank and let you drag your
truck aboard You must gel busy
throwing away junk. Remember you
can fill just one barrack bag Or foot
locker, no more"
All in all, it is certain that the St.
Mihiel will be fully loaded. But it is
not so much what the soldiers want
to take that counts as what they are
leaving behind. The majority are
pulling up by the roots the life they
learned to love. it is not regiment
but colony. that is being moved.
Will Close Dairy
There will remain for time so Of
ficers and men to straightcn out the
records, dispose of property and set
tie claims. Major General Allen and
Col William w. Harris, chief of staff
of the army of occupation, probably
will head the rear guard. They will
close down the model farm, where cat
tie hogs, chickens, rabbits, fruits and
vegetables have been raised and to
which was attached a large dairy.
Then too, there are number of
army schools, tennis courts, golf clubs.
and an athletic field near Fort Alex
andra, where polo matches were held
and where American horsemanship FIRE
quently prevailed over that of the al
lied soldiers in high jumping competi-
ton. The fox and stag hunts will be
among the sports missed most by the
Americans.
One place which will be abandoned
with great regret is Carnival Island,
the scene of many horse shows, base
bali and football matches. It's dia-
mond is regarded as the finest in En-
rope, and the games there not only
excited the wonder of the Germans
but placed allied soldiers in close con-
tact with American sports.