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MOIIMIYI'MY
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?1917 BY
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CHAPTER XIX.
On Hla Own.
Of course Tommy cannot always be
producing plays under fire but while
In rest billets he has numerous other
ways of amusing himself. He Is a
grant gambler, but never plays for
larn* stake*. Generally, In each com
pany, you will find a regular Oanfleld.
This man banks nearly all the games
of chance and Is an undisputed author
ity on the rules of gambling. When
ever there is an argument among the
Tommies about some uncertain point
as to whether Houghton Is entitled to
?\Vatklns' sixpence, the matter Is taken
to the recognised authority and his de
cision Is final.
The two most popular games are
"Crown and Anchor" and "House."
The paraphernalia used In "Crown
and Anchor" consists of a piece of can
vas two feet by three feet. This Is
divided Into six equal squares. In these
squares are painted a club, diamond,
heart, spade, crown, and an anchor,
one device to a square. There are
three dice used, each dice marked the
lame as the canvas. The banker sets
up his gambling outfit In the corner o!
a blflet and starts hally-hoolng until a
crowd of Tommies gathers around ;
then the game starts.
The Tommies place betl or the
squares, the crown or anchor being
played the most. The banker then
rolls his three dice and collects or pays
out as the case may be. If you play
the crown and one shows up on the
dice, you get even money, If two show
up, you receive two to one, and If three,
three to one. If the crown does not ap
pear and you have bet on It, you lose,
and so on. The percentage for the
banker Is large If every square Is
played, but If the crowd Is partial to,
say two squares, he has to trust to
luck. The banker generally wins.
The game of "House" Is very {>opular
also. It takes two men to run It. This
game consists of numerous squares of
cardboard containing three rows of
numbers, five numbers to a row. The
numbers run from one to ninety. Each
card has a different combination.
The French "estamlnets" in the vil
lages are opeu from eleven lu the morn
ing until one In the afternoon In ac
cordance with army orders.
After dinner the Tommies congre
gate at these places to drink French
beer at a penuy a glass and play
"House."
As soon as the estamlnet Is suffi
ciently crowded the proprietors of the
"House" game get busy and, as they
term It, "form a school." This consists
of going around and selling cards at
a franc each. If they have ten In the
school, the backers of the game de
duct two francs for their trouble and
the winner gets eight francs.
Then the game starts. Each buyer
places his card before him on the ta
ble, first breaking up matches Into fif
teen pieces.
. One of the backers of the game has
a small cloth bag in which are ninety
cardboard squares, each with a num
ber printed thereon, from one to nine
ty. He raps on the table and cries
out : "Eyes down, my lucky lads."
1 All noise ceases and every one Is at
tention.
The croupier places his hand In the
bag and draws forth a numbered
square and immediately calls out the
number. The man who owns the card
?with that particular number on It,
covers the square with a match. The
one who covers the fifteen numbers on
his card first shouts "House." The
other backer Immediately comes over
to him and verifies ttie card by calling
out the numbers thereon to the man
with the bag. As each number is
called he picks it out of the ones
picked from the bag and says, "Right."
If the count is right he shouts, "House
correct, pay the lucky gentleman, and
sell him a card for the next school."
The "lucky gentleman" generally buys
one unless he has a miser trace in
his veins.
Then another collection is made, a
school formed, and they carry on with
the game.
The caller-out has many nicknames
for the numbers such as "Kelly's Eye"
for one, "Leg's Eleven" for eleven,
"Clickety-cllck" for sixty-six, or "Top
of the bouse" meaning ninety.
The game is honest and quite en
joyable. Sometimes you have fourteen
numbers on your card covered and
you are waiting for the fifteenth to be
called. In an imploring voice you call
out, "Come on, Watklns, chum, I'm
sweating on 'Kelly's Eye.' "
Watklns generally replies, "Well,
keep oat of a draft, you'll catch cold."
Another game is "Pontoon," played
with cards ; It is the same as our
"Black Jack," or "Twenty-one."
A card game called "Brag" la also
popular. Using a casino deck, the
dealer deals each player three cards.
It Is similar to our poker, except for
the fact thatyou onlj. use three cards
and cannot druw. The deck Is never .
shuffled until a man shows three of a I
kind or a "prlle" as It la called. The
value of the handH are, high card, a
pair, a run, a flush or three of a kind
or "prlle." The limit la generally a
penny, so It Is hard to win a fortune.
The next In popularity la a card
game called "Nap." It Is well named.
Every time 1 played It I went to sleep.
Whist and solo whist are played by
the highbrows of the company.
When the gamblers tire of all othei
games they try "Banker und llroker.'
rail and tbey assume the same duties
aud authority of a butler, the one
stripe giving him precedence over the
other servants.
There are lots of amusing stories
told of "O. S."
One day one of oar majors went Into
the servants' billet and commenced
"blinding" at then, saying that his
horse had no straw and that he per
sonally knew that straw had been la
sued for this purpose. He called the
hi nce-corporal to account. The cor
poral answered, "Bllme me, sir, the
straw was Issued, but there wasn't
enough left over from the servants'
b?*ds ; In fact, we had to use some of
the *ay to 'elp out, sir."
It is needless to say that the serv
ants dispensed with their soft beds
that particular night.
Nevertheless it is not the fault of
the Individual officer, it is Just the sur
vival of a quaint old English custom.
You know an Englishman cannot be
changed In a day.
Hut the average English officer Is a
good sport. He will sit on u fire step
and listen respectfully to Private
Jones' theory of the way the war
should be conducted. . This war is
gradually crumbling the once Insur
mountable wall of caste.
You would be convinced of this If
you could see King George go among
his men on an Inspecting tour under
fire, or pause before a little wooden
Meeting a Gas and Infantry Attack.
I spoilt n week trying to teach some
of the TommleH how to piny poker, hut
because I won thirty-five francs they
declared that they didn't "fawncy" the
game.
Tommy plays few card games; the
general run never heard of poker, eu
chre, seven up, or pinochle. They have
u game similar to pinochle called
"Royal Bezlque," but few know how to
play It.
Generally there are two decks of
cards In a section, and In a short time
they nre go dog-eared and greasy, you
can hardly tell the ace of spades from
the ace of hearts. The owners of these
decks sometimes condescend to lend
them after much coaxing.
So you see, Mr. Atkins has his fun
mixed In with his hardships and, con
trary to popular belle/, the rank and
file of the Hrltlsh army In the trenches
Is one big happy family. Now In Vir
ginia, at school, I was fed on old Mc
Ouffy'g primary reader, which gave me
an opinion of an Englishman about
equal to a '76 Minute Man's backed up
by a Sinn Felner's. But I found Tom
my to be the best of mates and a gen
tleman through and through, lie never
thinks of knocking his officers. If one
makes a costly mistake and Tommy
pays with his blood, there Is no gen
eral condemnation of the officer. He
Is just pitied. It Is exactly the same
as It was with the Light Brigade at
Balaclava, to say nothing of Galllpoll,
Neuve Chapelle and Loos. Personally
I remember a little Incident where
twenty of us were sent on a trench
raid, only two of us returning, but I
will tell this story later on.
I said It was a big happy family, and
so It Is, but as In all happy families,
there are servants, so In the British
army there are also servants, officers'
servants, or "O. S." as they are termed.
In the American army the common
name for them Is "dog robbers." From
a controversy In the English papers,
Winston Churchill made the state
ment, as far as I can remember, that
the officers' servants In the British
forces totaled nearly two hundred
thousand. He claimed that this re
moved two hundred thousand excep
tionally good and well-trained fighters
from the actual firing line, claiming
that the officers, when selecting a man
for servant's duty, generally picked the
man who had been out the longest and
knew the ropes.
But from my observation I find that
? large percentage of the servants do
go over the top, but behind the lines
they very seldom engage In digging
parties, fatigues, parades or drills.
This work Is as necessary as actually
engaging In an aUack, therefore I think
It would be safe to say that the all
round work of the two hundred thou
sand Is about equal to fifty thousand
men who are on straight military du
ties. In numerous instances, officers'
serrmntf hold the rank of lajce-coipo
cross tn some shell-tossed field with
tears In his eyes as he reads the in
scription. And a little later perhaps
bend over a wounded man on a stretch
er, patting him on the head.
More than once tn a hospital I have
seen a titled Red Cross nurse fetching
and carrying for a wounded soldier,
perhaps the one who In civil life de
livered the coal at her back door. To
day she does not shrink from lighting
his fag or even washing his grimy
body.
Tommy admires Albert of Belgium be
cause he Is not a pusher of men; he
lends them. With him it's not a case
of "take that trench," it is "come on
and we will take It."
It Is amusing to notice the different
characteristics of the Irish, Scotch and
English soldiers. The Irish and Scotch
are very Impetuous, especially when It
comes to bayonet fighting, while the
Englishman, though a trifle slower,
thoroughly does his bit ; he Is more
methodical and has the grip of a bull
dog on a captured position. He Is
glower to think ; that is the reason why
he never knows when he Is licked.
Twenty minutes before going over
the top the English Tommy will sit on
the fire step and thoroughly examine
the mechanism of his rltle to see that It
is in working order and will fire prop
erly. After this examination he Is sat
isfied and ready to meet the Boches.
But the Irishman or Scotchman sits
on the fire step, his rifle with bayonet
fixed between his knees, the butt of
which perhaps Is sinking into the mnd
? the bolt couldn't be opened with a
team of horses It Is so rusty ? but he
spits on his sleeve and slowly polishes
his bayonet ; when this Is done he also
Is ready to argue with Fritz.
It Is not necessary to mention the
colonials (the Canadians, Australians
and New Zealanders), the whole world
knows what they have done for Eng
land.
The Australian and New Zealander
Is termed the "Ansae," taking the
name from the first letters of their of
ficial designation. Australian and New
Zealand army corps.
Tommy divides the German army
into three classes according to their
fighting abilities. They rank as fol
lows: Prussians, Bavarians and Sax
ons.
When up against a Prussian regi
ment It Is a case of keep your napper
below the parapet and duck. A bang
bang all the time and a war Is on. The
Bavarians are little better, but the
Saxons are fairly good sports and are
willing occasionally to behave as gen
tlemen and take It easy, but you can
not trust any of them overlong.
At one point of the line the trenches
were about thirty-two yards apart.
This sounds horrible, but In fact It was
easy, because neither side could shell
thej?nemy's front-line trench for fear
sheila would drop Info TKelr own. This
eliminated artillery Are.
In these trenches when up against
the Prussians and Bavarians, Tommy
had a hot time of It, but when the Sax
ons "took over" It was a picnic; they
would yell across that they were Sax
ons and would not fire. Both sides
would sit on the parapet and carry on
? conversation. This generally consist
ed of Tommy telling them how much
he loved the kaiser, while the Saxons
Informed Tommy that King George
was a particular friend of theirs and
hoped that he was doing nicely.
When the Saxons were to be relieved
by Prussians or Bavarians, they would
yell this Information across No Man's
Laud and Tommy would Immediately
tumble Into hU trench and keep bis
bead down.
If an English regiment was to be re
lieved by the wild Irish, Tommy would
tell the Saxons, and immediately a vol
ley of "Donner und Blltzens" could
be heard and it was Fritz's turn to get
u crick in his back from stooping, and
the people in Berlin would close tbelr
windows.
Usually when an Irishman takes over
a trench. Just before "stand down" in
the morning, he sticks his rifle over
the top, alined In the direction of Ber
lin, and engages In what is known as
the "mad minute." This consists of
firing flfteen shots In a minute. He
Is not aiming at anything in particular
? Just sends over euch shot with a
prayer, hoping that one of his strays
will (jet some poor unsuspecting Fritz
In the napper hundreds of yards be
hind the lines. It generally does ; that's
the reason the Bocbes hate the man
from Erin's Isle.
The Saxons, though better than the
Prussians and Bavarians, have a nasty
trait of treachery in their makeup.
At one point of the line where the
trenches *?ere very close, a stake was
driven Into the ground midway be
tween the hostile lines. At night when
It was his turn, Tommy would crawl
to this jtuke and attach some London
papers to It, while at the foot he would
place tins of bully beef, fags, sweets,
and other delicacies that he had re
ceived from Blighty In the ever looked
for parcel. Later on Fritz would come
out und get these luxuries.
The next night Tommy would go out
to see what Prltz put Into his stocking.
The donation generally consisted of a
paper from Berlin, telling who was
winning the war, some tinned sausages,
cigars, and occasionally a little beer,
but a funny thing. Tommy never re
turned with the beer unless It was In
side of him. Ills platoon got a whiff of
his breath one night and the offending
Tommy lost his Job.
One night a young English sergeant
crawled to the stake and as he tried to
detach the German paper a bomb ex
ploded and mangled him horribly. Fritz
had set a trap and gained another vic
Mm which was only one more black
nuirk against him in the book of this
war. From that time on diplomatic re
lations were severed.
Returning to Tommy, I think his
spirit Is best shown In the questions he
asks. It is never "who is going to win"
but always "how long will It take?"
(To Be Continued.)
BREWER'S BLACKBIRD
(Euphagus cyanocephalus)
Length, ten inches. Its glossy pu*
plish head distinguishes it from other
blackbirds that do not show in flight
a trough shaped tail.
Range: Breeds in the West, east
to Texas, Kansas, and Minnesota, and
north to southern Canada; winters
over most of the United States breed
ing range, south to Guatemala.
Habits and economic status: Very
numerous in the West and in fall
gathers in immense flocks, especially
about barnyards and corrals. During
the cherry season in California Brew
er's blackbird is much In the orchards.
In one ease they were seen to eat free
ly of cherries, but when a neighboring
fruit raiser began to plow his orchard
almost every blackbird in the vicinity
was upon the newly opened ground
and close at the plowman's heels in ltd
eagerness to get the Insects exposed
by the plow. Caterpillars and pupae
form the largest item of animal food
(about 12 per cent). Many of these
are cutworms, and cotton bollworma
or corn earworms were found in ten
stomachs and codling-moth pupae in
11. Beetles constitute over 11 per
cent of the food. The vegetable food
Is practically contained in three items
? grain, fruit, and weed seeds Grain,
mostly oats, anounts to 64 per cent:
fruit, largely cherries. 4 per cent; and
weed seeds, not quite 9 per cent. The
grain Is probably mostly wild, vol
unteer. or waste, so that the bird doe*
most damage by .wting fruit.
SEE OUR BIG TYPE TESTAMENT,
big enough for very old people to
read. Herald Book Store.
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Give it a coat of good paint befort
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' "> Appearances Up and Expenses
Spring Goods Are Here
If you come to Pine Level, I want to
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J. F. THOMPSON
Pine Level, North Carolina
I
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CHEERY, whole-hearted,
Southern hospitality ? it's
almost a magic phrase to many.
But really it stands for honest
friendship, cordiality and (you've
guessed it) lots of delicious goodies.
Luzianne Coffee is always in
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because it tastes so good. Fra
grant hot coffee for people who
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Good old Luzianne flavor ?
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Your grocer has it ? and if you
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