ANAMOI^OUffiR WIIO VENT * * MI1IMJYEMY MACHINE QUIU1ER,JERV1NGIH FRAHCf1 ' I ?1*7 OY "I lAHTHuxitfY cnjcyj I CHAPTER XIII. My First Official Bath. Rlgl.* behind oar rest billet was a 'large creek about ten feet deep and twenty feet across, und It waa a habit) ?if the cimpnny to nvall themselves of an opportunity to tnUe a swim and ut tlie mime time thoroughly wush thi-in selves nnd jtholr underwear when on their own. We were having a spell of hot weather, and these bath* to uh were a luxury. The Tommies would splosh nroand In tlie water nnd then , e<>i:ie out and sit In the sun and have what IliCy t- rined n. "shirt hunt." At first we tried to drown the "cooties,'' but th' v also seem.-il to enjoy the bath. One Sunday morning the whole sec tion \vr. 11n the creek and we were hav ing i. e y time, win * the sergeant ma jor apjv-ired on the scene. Ue came to the ii'f of the creek nnd ordered: "Tout out of It. Get your equipment on. 'drill or.ler, und full In for bath parade. Link lively, my hearties. You luve en'v r"t rrt".-n minutes." a howl of liitlirnutlon frian the creek greeted th's f'filer ?-tf rut we came. Disci pline n 'IIscI' Mk We lined up In fri>rf of rar l.i.et with rifles and hay cr.i t-' (whv y.::r ri *ed rllles anil bayo r.? i to take a bath gets me), a full qi;e*i of imimiinltlon, und our tin hats. Kin h m n tied a piece of soap and a to* . I. ier ,n glit-kllo march along ? iIm-' v "i i(- nn ocenilonal ("hell whist lir- vveraiiiii. rte arrived at a Jltr.e ?!?!?' i::iis.e culltilng ujion the fci' k ol ereec. .V:iied over the door f? ??? r rf V.T- wn? > large sign which rtini "L'ivMumii ni.:..v In u vooden ?)i"il in the rear we eoulrl hear a wh" zy ui'l in.'tne lumping water. V.e lined up In 1 .'iint of the batlM, ; ?oaki-it ? with perspiration, nnd piled1 ?ur ritl-s into stacks. a im meant of j the IS. A. M. C. wltji a yellow band am >i.d his left arin on which was "8- i(srnltary f*i lce) In black let-j ters, look charge. ordering us to take ' off of:r eqnliHie I. unroll our puttees ami tm nee bun:*. Then, starling from | the right of I be line, he divided u* j Intn M|iind? of I. f teen. i happened to be li the f.r?t squad. We catered u snmil room, where we ; were given live tniniit -s to nndress. tinn JHd ir.to ihe bathroom. In here. A Cathroom at the Front tiiero """o fifteen tnhs (barrels Mined 1 In trto) tin!r fail of water. Each tub f contain.i| u of hiundry soap. The j ?pru"i|i 111 formed u? that we hud Just ] tWfito uupiUe* tn which to take our hntli*. Set |ilnc ourselves nil over, we I took turn* in ruhMng each other's ? hnck* then l>y nienn* of n garden hose, washed llie soup off. The water was Icc cn ii l?m felt Hot1. Tuny ?i?wi a hell inng nnd the wa ter wn* turned off. ?ome of the slower ones frrn covered with xonp, hut thl* mni'o t"> rt!.Ti iviw? to Ihe sergeant, who rh-.ted js into another room. Where hi- lined up In front of a little wlndo'v. resembling the hoi office In a thent.r i .nl received clean underwear and ?.??*-Ws. from here we went Into the r.X'i" where v.ehml M*?t undressed. Ten minutes were u i lov ed Id which to jet lot" "ir "eliililwr," My fiiif of drawers entile up to m.v chin nnd 'he shirt Imreiy reached my dlnplirugni. imi they were clenii?no ?trvi-ers ?n them, no I v.'?s sntlsfled. - a* "Ti'lnitlon of the tltne nllot.^ Vteil m? were lurneti oat and flulahed V?Ttf (' ?e??l |yf on the f--~ frk ? When all ot tne compauy xma uataea It was a case of march back to billets. That march was the most uncongenial one Imagined, Just ensuing and blind ing *11 the way. We were covered with white dost and felt greasy from sweat. The woolen underwear Issued was Itching like the mischief. After eating our dinner of stew, which bad been kept for us?It was now four o'clock?we went Into the creek and had another bath. If "Holy Joe" conld have heard our remarks about the divisional baths and army red tape he would have fainted at our wickedness. But Tom my Is only human after all. I Just mentioned "Holy Joe" or the chaplain in an Irreverent sort of way, but no oOense was meant, as there were some very brave men among them. There are so many Instances ot he roic deeds performed under fire In res cuing the wounded that It would take several books to chronicle them, but I have to mention one instance per formed by a chaplain, Captain Hall by name, In the brigade on our left, be cause It particularly appealed to me. A chaplain Is not a fighting man; ha Is m-ognlied as a noncombatant and carries no arms. In a charge or trench raid the soldier gets a feeling of con fidence from contact with his rifle, re volver, or bomb he Is carrying. He has something to protect himself with, bouicthlug with which he eviu infliat harm on the enemy?In other words, he Is able to get his own back. But (lie chaplain Is empty-handed, and Is at the mercy of the enemy If he encounters them, so It Is doubly brave for him to go over the top, under Are., and bring in wounded. Also a chaplain Is not required by the king's regulations to go over In a charge, but this one did. made three trips under the hottest kind of fire, each time re turning with a wounded man on hla back. On the third trip he received a bullet through his left arm, but never reported the matter to the doctor until late that night?Just spent his time ad ministering to the wanta of the wound ed lying on stretchers. The chaplains of 'hip British army are a fine, manly set of men, and aru Greatly respected by Tommy. CHAPTER XIV. Picks and Shovels. I had not alept lone before the awMt voice of the ^sergeant Infonnrt that "No. 1 section had clicked for anothei Mlnklng digging party." I s-niled to myself with deep satisfaction. I had been promoted from a mere digger to a member bf the Suicide club, and was exempt from all fatigues. Then came au awful shock. The serpeant looked over In my direction and said: "Don't you bomb throw ers think you are wearing top hats out here. 'Cord In' to orders you've been taken up on the strength of this section, and will have to do your bft with the pick and ahovel, same as the rest of us." I put up a lowl on my way to get my shovel, bt't the only thing that re sulted was a loss of good humor on my part. I We fell In at eight o'clock, outside of ouv billets, a sort of masquerade party. I was disguised as a common laborer, had a pick and shovel, and ahont one hundred empty sandbags. The rest, abont two hundred In all, j were equipped likewise: picks, shovels, sandbags, rifles and ammunition. The party moved out In column of fours, taking the road leading to the trenches. Several times we had to string out In the ditch to let long col umns of limbers, artillery and suppllM get past. The marching, under these condi tions, was necessarily slow. Upon ar rival at the entrance to the communi cation trench, I looked at my llluml nnted wrist watch?It was eleven o'clock. Before entering this trench, word was passed down ihe line, "no talking or smoking, lead off In single file, cov ering party first." This covering party consisted of 90 men, armed with rifles, bayonets, bombs, and two Lewis machine guns. They were to protect us and guard against a surprise attack while dig ging In No Man's Land. The communication trench was about half a mile long, n KiRzagging ditch, eight feet deep and three feet wide. Now and again, German shrapnel would whistle overhoml and burat In our vicinity. We would crouch against the earthen wails while the shell frag ments "slapped" the ground above vs. Once Frit* turned loose with a ma chine gun. the bullets from which "crocked." through the air and kicked up the dirt on the top, scattering sand and pebbles, which, hitting our steel helnieta, sounded like hailstones. . Upon arrival In the lire trench so officer of th?. Royal Kotlneer* rave B? uur instructions ?uU u< ied us gn'''? - , _ We were to dig an advanced ttencb two hundred yards from the German* (the trencbe* at thla point were alx hundred yard* apart). Two winding lane*, Ave feet wide, bad been rat throagb our barbed wire, (or the paaaage of the diggers. From tbe*e line* white tape had been laid Trcnch Digging. on the ground to the point where we were to commence work. Thl? In or der that we would not get lost In the darkness. The proposed trenoh was also laid out with tape. The covering party went out first. After a short wait, two scouts came back with Information that the work ing party was to follow and "carry on" with their work. In extended order, two yards apart, we noiselessly crept across No Man's Land. It was nervous work; everyt minute we expected a machine gun to ! open fire on us. Stray bullets "cracked" around us, or a ricochet sang over head. Arriving at the taped diagram of the trench, rifles slung around oar ?houTdeft, We lost no time in getting to work. We dug as quietly as pos sible but every now and then the noise of a pick or shovel striking a stone would send the cold shivers down ocr backs. Under onr breaths we heartily cursed the offending Tommy. At Intervals a star shell would go up from the German lines and we would remain motionless until the glare of Its white light died cut. When the trench had reached ? depth of two feet we felt safer, be cause it vould afford ns cover In case we were discovered and fired on. The digging had been In progre* ?boat two hours, when snddenly hell seemed to break looseMn the form of machine-gun and rifle fire. We dropped down on onr bellies In the shallow trench, bullets knocking up the ground and snapping In the air. Then shrapnel batted In The music was hot und Tommy danced. The covering party was having a rou^h time of it; they had no cover; Just had to take their medicine. Word was passed down the line to beat it for our trenches. We needed no ?r^'ng; grabbing our tools and stoop ing lo'w, we legged It across No Man's Lund. The covering party got away to a poor start but beat us In. They must have bud wings because we low ered the record. ranting and out of breath, we tum bled Into our front-line trench. I tore my hands getting through our wire, but. nt the time, dldnt notice It; my' Journey was too urgent When the roll was called we found that we had gotten It In the nose for | 63 casualties. Our artillery pot a barrage on Frit*' front-line and communication trenches and their machine-gun and rifle fire < suddenly ceased. Upon the cessation of this fire, utretcher bearers went out to look for killed and wounded. Next day we learned that 21 of our men hod been killed and 87 wounded. Five men were imsslng; lost In the darkness, they must have wandered over Into the Ger man lines, where they were either killed or captured. Spenklng of stretcher bearers and wounded. It la very hard for the aver age civilian to comprehend the enor minis cost of taking care of wounded and the war In general. He or'she gets so accustomed to seeing billions of dol lars In print that the significance of the ainuunt la passed over without thought. From an official statement published In one of the London papers, It Is stated that It costs between six and seven thousand pounds ($30,000 to 000) to kill or wound a soldier. Till* result was attained hy taking the cost of the war to date and dividing It by the killed and wounded. It mny sound heartless and Inhumnn, f bm It Is a fact, nevertheless, that from a military standpoint It Is better for a man to he killed thus wounded. If a man Is killed he Is hurled, and the responsibility of the government censes, excepting for the fnct that his people receive a pension. Rut If a man Is wounded It takes three men from the flr:-is line, the HMD HMl t?v> " to curry !>..? to the rear to the mi\uiM'eu ui?i-uui post. Here he 1* attended T>y a doctor, perhaps nMist ed by two R. A. U. C. men. Then he la pot Into a motor ambulance, manned by a crew of two or three. At tlic field hospital, where he generally goes un der an anesthetic, either to have his wounds cleaned or to be operated on. he require* the services of about threa to five persons. From this point an other ambulunce ride Impresaea more men In his service, and then at the am bulance train, another corpa of doe-1 tors, R. A. II. 0. men, Red Cross nurses and the train's crew. From the train be enters the base hospital or casualty clearing station, where a good-sised corps of doctor*, nurses, etc., are kept busy. Another ambulance Journey Is next In order?this time to the hospital | sblp. He crosses the channel, arrives in Rllfhty?more ambulances and per hnps a ride for five hours on an Eng lish Red Cross train with Its crew of Red Cross workers and at last he reaches the hospital. Generally he stays from two to six months, or long er. In this hospital. From here he Is sent to a convalescent home for six weeks. . If by wounds he Is unfitted for fur ther service, he_ Is discharged, given a pension, or committed to a soldiers' home for the rest of his life?nnd still the expense piles op. "When you real ize that all the ambulances, trains nnd < ships, not to mention the mnn power, osed In transporting a wounded mnn. | could be used for supplies, ammunition and re-enforcements for the troops at the front, it will not appear strange thnt from a strictly milltnry stand point, a dead man Is sometimes better than a live one (If wounded). Not long after the first digging pnrtv. our general decided, after a careful tour of Inspection of the communlcn tlon trenches, upon "an Ideal spot," as he termed It, for a machine-gun em-1 placement; took his mnp, made a dot on It, and as he was wont, wrote "dig here," and the next night we dug. There were twenty In tne party, my self Included. Armed with picks, shovels and empty sandbags we ar rived at the "Ideal spot" and started' digging. The moon was very bright, but we did not care ns we were well out of sight of the German lines. We had gotten about three feet down, when the fellow next to me, aft er a mighty stroke with his pick, let go of the handle, and pinched his nose wi:h his thumb and forefinger, at the name time letting out the explosion. "Gott'strafe me pink, I'm bloody well gassed, not 'alf I ain't." I quickly turned In his direction with an Inquir ing look, at theaame Instant reaching for my gas hag. I soon found out what was ailing him. One whlfT was enough and I lost no time In also pinching my nose. The stencn was awful. The rest of the digging party dropped their picks and shovels and beat It for the weather side of that solitary pick. The officer came over and Inquired why the work had suddenly ceased, holding our noses, we simply pointed in the direc tion of the smell. He went over to the pick, immediately clapped his hand over his no*? made an "about turn" and came bite]*. Just then our cap tain came along and Investigated, hut after abcjt a minute said we had bet ter carry on with the digging, that h< ?lid not see why we should hav< stopped as the odor was very fniul, but if necessary he would allow us our gas helmets while digging. He would stay and see the thing through, but ha had to report buck to brigade head quarters immediately. We wished that we were captains and also had u date at brigade headquarters. With our gas helmets on we again attacked that hole and uncovered the decomposed body of a German; the pick was sticking in his chest. One of the men fainted. I was that one. t'pon this our lieutenant halted proceedings and sent word back to headquarters and word came back that after we filled In the hole we could knock ofT for the night. This was wel- [ come tidings to ns, because? Next day the general changed the dot on his map and another emplace ment was completed the following nl ivh# The odor from the dug-up. decom posed human body has nn effect which la hard to descrllK*. It first [produces a nauseating feeling, which, especially after eating. causes vomiting This re- | llevea- yon temporarily, but soon a weakening sensation follows, which, leave* you limp as a dlshrng. Youi feplrlta are at their lowest ebb and you feel a sort of hopelessness and a mnd ! desire to eacupe It all, to get to the open fields and the iwrfume of the flow ers In nighty. There Is a elinn prickling sensation In the noatrlls. which reminds one of brenthlng coal gas through a radiator In the floor, an11 ly cautions. As soon as It was dark. Wheeler ftr.i j I'craw led to our post which was aliou halfway between the lines. It wn? raining bucketfuls, the ground was i. sea of sticky inud and clung to us like fttre:? We took turns In listening with our ears to the groun front of me; It looked ns hi* as the Woohvorth building. 1 could henr the hlood rushing through my veins nnd It aounded aa lotld ns Nlngnra falls. Forms seemed to emerge from ?he darkness. There were seven t ll.e:n In all. I tried to wish them away. I j never w ished harder In tny life. They muttered a few words In Herman snd melted Into the blackness. I didn't . ?top wishing either. All of a sudden we heard a stnmbls, a muddy splash, and n mattered "Don ner und Blltien." One of the Hochea hnd tumbled Into a^ahell hole. NelHier I of us laughed. At that time?It didn't strike us as funny. . About twenty minutes after the Oer msns hnd dlsnnneared something from /tit^. iv?.i gi'u|il*vu umt by ifuol I nearly fainted with frlclit. Tb?* a wrleom* whl*|H-r In a cockney acvat. "I *'y. myte. *r"re come to relieve yon."* Wheeler Bn I I erav)o aspira tions, which to- / ilny are seething In the vast poly g I o t community which we call the United States of America. That la what we are tight Jug for. we Amer icans, whether of Knglish blood, of French or Italian or Russian or Spanish blood. mini nave we in coinniun to cause us to rise ut (he cull of a common Im pulse and prepare to Ik wns yoilrjmuy?" but 'How high were your IdeatsT*1 Not "How vast your navy?" but "What waa yo.tr devotion' to Out;. ?" Kot "How quirk I y couM you inobillBeT* bat "What thought hnve yon contributed toward the?lietlerotem ??# mnnkiBd?" ? To those qttmtrtonn Germany cnn air "swer; -f re fr ffftmtwr"Ri YW vfrtHtlW: I<1? a of representation." for. as Montes quieu tells us. the representative Idea waa "born In the forests of Germany." She will hnve to confess, however, that she mat It out. s raked infant, in or aijcn of Patriotism Through K?luca i ion) Wl at the German k'overnment means by a "place In the sun" Is the extermi nation of (lie |?eoplea whose aoll It covets so that Oermans may replace those fImiv have been exterminated. The *> xtetrtatlc dee*rtt< lion of clell iana in Belgium. northern France. Po land. Serbia, and the acrvnl enalave ment of the anrvlvom proves it?the frequently boasted llem>aw j? t*Mi fc'ymn. proclalma It. From the rmllmenfa! ron/||tlon of ancb t. barbarism. a spiritual develop ment was possible; *roin the i^om plUhed Inhumanity J' a HH.r. ? .?I'tttUim* ??r '? ?? ^?? - J9 ? 4 Or. n. M. McSlroy