Newspapers / The Smithfield Herald (Smithfield, … / Jan. 3, 1928, edition 1 / Page 3
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Meridith Nicholson’s “BLACKSMEEP” Starts Next Tuesday In The HERALD. Don’t Miss'It! \ r Chevrons By LEONARD NASON % ILLUSTRATIONS BY IRWIN MvEr,S, D. S. C. Copyright by ' l)oran Company, j W.Nli Service CHAPTER III—A few nights aft- ■ erward, four sergeants, Eadle, I Ham, Baldy and Short Maclc, lnsep- I arable companions, sleep together. | Eadie finds h!s old friend. Red Jake, I who has just been transferred to 1 J*ia company, and they stay to- : /gethcr. On a night march the col umns are drenched by heavy show- j ers. After several days of rest, with comparatively satisfactory ; meals, Eadie is ordered out on liai- 1 son duty, to adjust fire and repair telephone lines. In a new attack. He takes Jake along, and they are at tached to a lieutenant. J.TAPTER T V—The attack begins' at dawn and this time it is a real 1 fight. Men fall right and left un Jer a withering German fire. Eadie Iharrowly escapes a number of ma- . [chine gun bullets. An officer asks Eadie to send up signal rockets for ! La barrage, but Eadie's code does not Intake It possible to call for fire on point not designated beforehand. iHe, however, sends up rockets. Iwhich attract an enemy airplane. lShooting from the plane, the boche does Immense damage, but after a Jlme the Americans get the needed larrage. and advancing, still under heavy* fire, take refuge in a ruined town; from which they drive the en cilAPTER V—YVheh Eafije and Jake finally start for the rear they are stopped by an incompetent sec ond .■ lieutenant, Connor, formerly with' the Seventy-ninth. They are Jhaltefl by a detachment commanded Pby General MacLeod, and with ft take .'part In an engagement which stops the enemy's advance, though the American loss Is heavy. Lieu tenant Connor makes Eadie and Jake go forward with him to help lay telephone wires. CHAPTER VI—Eadie, Jake and their chance comrades face a ter rific encounter in a sunken road They beat off a savage attack or throe times their puirtber. but lose heavily in dead fund wounded. Jake Vs killed. A few minutes later Ea u;e^a.venges him by cleaning out a Gejftphu machine' gun crew, and turning the weapon on the advanc ing ■enemy. He breaks up the at tack, the Germans falling hack in disorganized rout. Jake's death an-d the severe strain he has been under have their natural effect. Eadie be comes delirious and collapses afte; two days and three nights of fight ing without food. j. CHAPTER V1J—Epdie refuses to let the doctors send him to a hdiJ-'? pital for being gassed, which Js their first diagnosis; he has had t« • much razzing on account of his firc-c gus wound stripe. This time he will Btay till he gets a real wound. Shortly after Eadie finds his com pany he is badly wounded in tire abdomen by a piece of shell. After a surgical operation at the field hospital, he is slated for the base hospital. Having spent three far ttbie days on a slowly moving ho^. - —:—TeltcTi es*'l~' -t a4* ’the wards are so crowded; he . .... i • * o Phil] fa" ohnvt*d out ir *o a cold t• ■ itt with out even having his wound dressed. Finally, five days aft.er.an operatior d into 3 when a piece of sheil Is his abdomen, lie ts m - ward avid cared for. -'CHAPTER VI11—The >< covers consciousness m hospital. His removal t>; .. ,-, pent hospital being decided on. La dle is placed on a stretcher nuH :rant r^ he bast*. after the open night of misery spent in while the wounded met. i"; halting .lie arrival „f a train. , taUcn aboard. The trim is crowd «l with hospital cases, litre is lack of appropriate food for sufferin'’ men, and absolutely no water. Thr^ nights of horror follow, many of the wounded dying. Finally they read the hospital., but theic nre no va cant beds. Eadie is pltuod in a tent, his wound not having .'ton dressed for five days. After onot-her lone delay Eadie is removed to a hospi tal bed. Rapidly slnk ng into tin consciousness, prelude of death, his life Is saved through tiie ministra tions of a nurse who nppreciates the situation and nulls him back from the dark gates. CHAPTER IX r-urtner Treatment of Gunshot Wounds. THERE was no monotony in hos pi* I life in that hospital. Re veille was at seven o’clock (‘very Morning, and consisted of nn or derly appearing beside a man’s bed •fad pounding upon a wash basin. When the man awoke he was given t»? basin full of water and allowed tb wash ldiflself. When the task ifas completed, the orderly jvent to the next lw»d and repeated the iteration. BreakfaM was at right -^-a howl of cream of wheat with a spoonful of molasses, ako one mug of black fluid called coffee. There was sometimes evidence that ro dents had been nibbling at the breakfast food, hut then, ns the head nurse remarked, a man was not compelled lo eat It. if he want ed to leave It and wait for din ner nothing would he said. There were fifty-two beds in the ward, with three nurses. The head nurse fought with the other nurses and with the patients nil day, the second nurse—it was <he who had taken care of Eadie the first day— made the beds, washed the pa tients, took temperatures, swept the floor, and made herself useful. The third nurse war the doctor’s assistant. She went uround with the butcher cart every ntorning and w:>s busy all afternoon making pads and dressings »frr the next day. The personnel of the hospital were boys from sonu eastern col lege. Some old had ad dressed a mass meet It; at the col lege and asked for volunteers for a Unit that was to gp immediately Uterseas. What the unit was to be bo did not say. jit went over seas, too, and “took 0 or” this nice new base hospital. r4T e boys found that their part in Ufa war was to perform menial tasks for wounded nten, and since they: < ould not venge themselves on he men who had lured them Into tie army, they tpok It out on the P*»ien4«. After breakfast tlv slam of a ifoor and a hurried irituted vales asking if everything Mas ready, an nouncod the arrival ;«t’ the doctor. Then would come creaking of '.ec and a rattle of glimvare. The butcher’s cart, a nhber wheeled ffair bearing lust runouts, dress. and various*' ntmsils for the ^tching of blood o» the bathing iiimh ysmtd ajheur, shoved tat Doctor would rut on his rubber gloves, be tied j into his apron by the nurse, and i proceed with the dressing of the j wounds. Eadie being in Number! One bed. was always the first vie-j lim. The other members of the l ward watched and waited. Eadie! usually grave them something tpi think about, for be had a deer] wound, into which a pair of tongs j a foot long was plunged again ami j again, and moreover, the doctor I had never forgiven him for the j things he had said the first after noon. .when Eadie, semi-delirious, i had thought the doctor was Jake*] The doctor bore no resemblance to Jake except that he smoked in- j cessantly. There was no merriment, no in-j terest in anything but the ap-; proach of the doctor, and when j any man groaned or cried out, every ’ one in the ward trembled in sym-j pa thy. They knew they would get i The dressings were all change') j by dinner time, which meal usually [ consisted of bully beef and boiled j potatoes, or soup for the liquid diets. Day after day the same | things, varied by prunes or canned 1 apricots for dessert on Wednesdays; and Sundays. In the afternoon the ] patients slept, or rend, or visited > with each other. For supper beans! and canned tomatoes. The lights j went out at nine o’clock and the j patients could sleep. Ah! they could sleep, but—! A man named Carrel and another named Dakin had invented a fluid that kept a wound from suppur-1 ating and assisted granulation. This fluid must he injected Into J the wound every two hours night! and day, by means of a number of j rubber tubes that remained permit* j nently in the wound. In the day*] time it was not bad, but in the cold darkness of the winter night—the! nights are very cold in France, even j in sit Aimer—the' man had to be. j .dragged from sleep every two hours i and this liquid injected, ft could f not be warmed, for that would de- j stroy its properties. Endie had j four tubes in him, but some men ] bad eiglit or ten, and even more.) When the orderly or nurse awak ened them rhcy would swear ter* j ribl.v, cry our at the bite of the ley i Dakin, then drift to sleep again to] be aroused two hours later for the I same performance. The night orderly was a man who! made up for all the deficiencies of his fellows. A faint whisper, “Or derly.” and ho was there at the bedside. lie had bought himself felt slippers to deaden the sound of Ids' footsteps on the floor. If] a man felt ragged during the night, or just suffering, or thirsty, or cold, or just lonely and homesick, the or derly was there to do what he could. lie brought up food from the officers’ ward for the seriously ill, not telling that he lftid begged this food for himself from Ids* uioiiht, who •* «•» * .. * .. j officers’ ward. lie wrote letters, t he shaved, he smuggled in } wine, j always patient, always sniilinp, al ways working. Every man I’n the ward harbored two afibitlons. two projects for the day when In? was a well man. One was to beat the i day orderly Into n red mush and | the other to give the night orderly | the best drunk he ever bad in Ills i life. The really Interesting time began after Eadie could sit up. The first day be sat tip a minute, tlie sec ond ten. and by the end of a week be could sit up for a whole morn ing. He began then to make ac quaintances. His name, be found, was Number One, the men in the ward being designated by the njm be* of their beds. There wts a man a little way down the ward called the Regular, another the Ma rine. an Italian who had lost his leg was called Garibaldi. There was a man known as Forty whose j voice Eadie bad learned to wc^ j nize during the weeks when the | sergeant hno lain on his hack. There were also four German pris I oners In the ward, nil badly wnt.nd I ed. There was no love lost between the Americans and the Germans. The latter had no friend but the head nurse, who spoke to them charmingly, and went out cf her way to be agreeable to them She was perhaps strengthened i: this course by the outspoken r , ust with which the Americans ird A morning arrived, then, some i lime after Eadie had been si ring tip, when he really felt at jnnee with the world. The brent fust having less caraway seed In Indian usual, he had eaten a hearty meal and so felt the need of tnhacec. He regarded his watch. Five mhules of eight. A man was not. allowed to smoke before eight o’clock, hut what were three or four minutes? He selected a cigarette frrm a package his friend the nurse had given him and lighted it. A long drag and a cloud of smoke rolled out Into the aisle. There wag a swish of skirts. ‘‘Ah!” said the head nurse in a tone of satisfaction, “I eatiglii voti, didn’t I?” “Tup,” agreed the sergeant, puff ing “two minutes of eight.” The outside door hanged then, announcing Hie arrival of the doc lor. so she went out with no morel ado. Eadie dragged on the ciga rette. “I hot t»he turns you in for j that.” announced the lteg,i!nrj • grimly. “Aw, no," answered the ser I geant, “she isn't so had as you birds! try to make out. She nevei*'rt1dt anything rough to me. and shei wouldn't to you If you didn’t bc'ly acho every time she says Hood! morning’ to those Jerries.” No one said anything, but one or j two laughed a little. Then the office door s’,amme(| and'the doctor | seemed to leap at Eadie. Behind! him was the head nurse.! Two' i jumps and they were at til* foot i | of the sergeants bed. “You were smoking this, immlng before hours, weren’t you?” veiled the doctor. “I*on't lie, the nurse saw you. What, did you do*r for? .f>on‘t you moke re In this'ward, i do, HI I rvnt of that hod and on the rockpile. 1 Understand?" “Yessir," said the sergeant The doctor turned abruptly and went back into the office. The nurse followed hint. There was a low ; murmur of laughter from all the other beds. “You’re getting better," l said the R*Tular. “That’s right," boomed Nlimber ! Forty from down the ward, the j first sign of recovery in this word j is to have a fight with the head ! nurse.” j “Yeh, she turned in Roarin’ Forty j yesterday to {the O. I). for some- j thing—talkin’ back about the chow, I guess.’’ “Whad they do to you, Forty?’’ | asked some one. “I don’t know yet. I’m to get a trial when I get better. They ought to give me a vote of thanks.” “What did he say?" Eadie in quired of the ward in general. “Hahn!" replied several at once. “He said he wanted some more jam. You know him. Lie belly ached till she come down the ward and wanted to know what he was yellin’ about. T want some more jelly,’ ho says. ‘Ain’t no more,’ she says. ‘I didn’t have enough to put in my eye,’ he says. ‘Too much jam ain’t good for yuli,' she says. 'This ward gets too much, that’s why the men in it are such softies.’ ‘The ward don’t get a h—1 of a lot,’ he says, ‘because one orderly an’ the bead nurse.can eat up a whole Issue of It, an’ have often.’ Then she goes for the "It’s true, too,” yelled Forty. “I’ve seen ’em. When they had me In this little room to die I could look out through the door into the kitchen. An’ the orderlies scofftn i the light diets’ chicken Sunday nights.” “Chicken* What do you mean chicken?” demanded Endie. “When do they have chicken here?” “Aw, this was before your time,” said the Regular. “We didn’t have it so bad here until all you hom* j bres started runnin’ around gettin’ yourselves shot up In them Ore-! gon woods.” “Nnw, it ain’t so!” cried some one else, “because after Shatter Theery we didn't get nothin’ ’to eat here for mouths but bully beef right out the can. I know! We didn't have no pajamas either. The guys* were all lyin’ around raw.” The butcher cart approached with a rattle and the dressings be gan. They seemed to be more hur ried than usual. There was a tiny stove ~about a foot in diameter that heated tbe, ward, the water for the men’s baths, the water for washing arid the water for dressing. Tbe tQp always bore a bucket, and this bucket belonged to tbe first that removed It. Since tbe surgical nurse wanted it for dressings and i'ie old Frenchwoman..wt'*' fuSi..*, *% ihied if io 1* that, and the ward nurse wanted it for baths, there were always two disappoint ed. and harsh words passed. Eadie had early made friends with the Frenchwoman, since he could speak French, and when the head nurse wanted to give Instructions for An nie, as the Frenchwoman was known In the ward, she did it through Eadie. lie was tempted several times to translate literally the Woman's remarks to the head nurse, but he desisted. It would have meant I he loss of her job to Annie and a probable trial for the sergeant. One morning, however, the sur gical nurse, instead of sneaking up quietly nnd rushing upon the bucket, came down the aisle hold ing Annie by the hand, and dl-' rented the Frenchwoman to take the hot water first. “What’s going on?" asked Eadie, ns Annie went hy the foot of the bed. “Ah,” replied Annie, “there's go ing lo he nn Inspection, A general.1 I wish T could speak English, I’d tell the general what n snlotte hei has for a head nurse.” ,j The dressings were hurried through with, the orderly fruit-i tically swept the floor until one could hardly see for the dust, the! beds were straightened and the, head nurse sat down breathlessly I Io wait for the Inspector. He nr-1 rived suddenly, accompanied by several other officers, slummed open the door, and followed by his -staff or guides or assistants nr what not. ho walked through the ward ns fast ns a man might with out actually running. He glnheed quickly to right nnd left as he walked along and was probably one of those who can tell at a glance If everything is In Its proper place, for one glance was nl he gave. lie fore Hie men in file ward had really lime to draw a second breath lie vas gone nnd the door at the far end of the ward slammed behind The head nurse, who had trotted in his wake, turned with n sigh of relief. “lley,” yelled the Regular, com ing to his senses now that It was too late, call that bird back here. 1 want to tell him I ain't genin' enough to eat!’’ “That’s right!” called some more, “where’s the lire? He went through be.-e like he’d just heard pay day blow. How come we ain’t got no sheets? it's gettin’ tiresome sleep in’ between scratchy blankets.” . “I don’t give a U—n about the blanket!*,” .veiled; some man the length of the ward, “food Is what I want. Nobody gets any thing to eat fh this ward hut the jerry prisoners and I want some one should know it!” “All of you shut up!” said the nurse vehemently, “if any of you had yelled at the inspector you would have regretted It, I assure .you! That means you ! And you, too! Soldiers! r never saw such children in my life! Von ought to be ashamed of yourselves ^ l don't want to hear any more marks about the prisoners, •Suppose you were prisoners, selves I Now not anotl, out of you two. Don’t there are a lot of roads, ground here and that clnfm tluy’re loo sick to build roods then,* arc* convalescing tents to sleep in. Ii’s not very warm out in l host? tents, oil her!” She prl ired n't the Regular and lhe man who had yelled so loudly, then she swung suddenly about and walked quickly to (lie bedside of Roaring Forty. “And i don’t want n word out of you, either!” she snapped. ‘‘I didn’t say anything,” protested Fnr.v. “Well, I don’t want you to, either.” "That so? Well,, now. I could if I felt like it!” cried Forty. “Well, you’d better not feel like it,” brandishing her fist in Forty’s face. "I didn't say anything nil this time.” yelled Forty, “but I will now! There are fifty-two Ameri cans In this ward that are getting a raw deal, and you hang around the prisoners nil the time. A month ago those birds were trying to kill 11s! If It wasn’t for them or some like ’em, we wouldn’t be here. What the h—l! Why don’t you mooch a little chow out of the offi cers’ ward for us an’ give the jer ries what we get to eat? An’ you rubbin’ that d—d Hun down with alcohol every night’” “All right.” said the head nurse, i controlling herself with difficulty, ‘Til get you a chance to talk to the general that you won’t like. The general that you'll see will be general court-martial!” She stalked; vigorously away down tlw ward, her hair flying. At Eadie’s bed she paused. "Is it true fbat you haven’t had a hath since you came in off the field?” she demanded. "Yes, it is true,” replied Eadie. , “Well, why didn’t you ask for one? Have I got to follow you up like a childV The day nurse is hanging around you all the time, why don’t you ask her? I’ll bet you weren’t so particular about a bath before you came in the army!” *:i asked her,” said Eadie, “but I can’t take a bath in cold wa ter, can I? These men have to shave and by the time Annie has got her dishes washed and a few goldbrick nurses have filled up their hot-water bottles, it’s too late for a bath, it takes half a day for a bucket of water to lose Its chill, let alone getting warm!” The head nurse tightened her lij>s and left without replying. ‘ She’s gone for the O. D.,n ^aid the Regular. "She must be a pop ular old bird up around the officers’ II r The Head Nurse Stood by and Lis tened With Satisfacti »n. mess. Slie’s always draggin’ some one out o’ there just at (firmer time to come down here and bawl us out. The O. D. arrived, sure enough, and held a long conversation with l-’orty. The O. D. explained that it was unchivalrous tu be rude do 8 woman, that the hospital was over crowded, its personnel was new and unaccustomed to its duties; lhat food was very short it France, and all the best of it must naturally he sent tip to Hie lines for the combat troops. lie furtliermore.nn nounced that he did not care to tramp half a mile from the'officers qu;.tiers to the ward, to calm ob streperous soldiers very often, and that if e'\ms called again, the obstreperous man would he shifted from the ward to a cold convales cent tent, regardless of his condi tion. The head nurse stood hy and listened (vfth satisfaction. ‘‘There now,” exclaimed the head nurse after the O. D. had gone, ‘‘watch yourself. Any fresh ness and an., remarks about the prisoners, and out you go.” On her way back to the office she paused by Ha die’s bed. “That goes for you, '‘too,” she said, ‘‘if I catch you smoking again, out in the cold you “It might ho worth It,” an swered the sergeant. “I might get the treatment n seriously wounded man is entitled to out there.% “Seriously wounded?” cried the head nurse, “yon goldbrick; All, you’ve got is nn Incision hardly as : big as an appendectomy. Yon ought to he ashamed of yourself for slaying in hospital with It! See that ’man In Twenty-eight bed? 1I<> hasn't got any face. , but they’re making him a new one out of Ids own iiand. Look at Number Ten i with Ids leg full of tubes, and the I Marine there, six months in bed from n bayonet through tire body! Seriously wounded!. Who said you were? Look at Featherstone with liis back blown off right down to tho ribs. He hasn’t turned over or lifted an arm since June! See Ids band up to Ids Jaw? The palm is growing on to the place where his cheek ought to he, and every six weeks they cut Ids hand away and stick it on In a new place! That man’s got a wound! You Uoji’t. hear him complaifftng* do you ?” “I would, If I could talk, you old -!” mumbled the man whose i baud was growing to his fame. j The nurse turned with an ex- ! clamntion and they heard her run ning down the corridor. “Hun fast,” roared Forty, “you’ll catch tile O. D. before he gets out of' sight!” The ward rocked with laughter. From then on there was war to the knife between the head nurse and the patients. Men were ruth lessly sent out to convalescent tents long before they were in lit condition to stand the damp cold of a winter in the open. From tjiis •there was no escape, for trains.full of wounded came in twice a week, and those who had recovered some what frojn their hurts must make way for the newly stricken. The 1 head nurse was the one who de cided, and it was noticeable that , her few friends, no matter how j nearly recovered they were, stayed in the ward while others less able i went out. I The most flagrant case among | friends of the head nurse was a j boy of nineteen or so, known as i Irish. I’oor lad, he had been * brought up by his grandmother, I and had never slept away from home until the draft caugnt him and swept him away to France. He had a Jesh wound in the arm received in an air raid of a hun- \ dred kilometers or so behind the lines, after he had been only three ' weeks in France. Week after j week Irish stayed in the ward and j other men went out to the tent, j No one cared very much, for the poor boy would excite pity in any breast, but one day the orderlies J took Forty out of bed and carried him to a tent. The next morning Irish was gone and Forty was in his bed in the ward. Irish might I hftve walked out, but who had car* J rled Forty in again? There was what Is knov.r in army circles as a “stink” about the affair, but ' Forty stayed in the ward and the < men counted it a victory over the head nurse. Lnpmneria broke out in the nos- I pltnl and everyone in the ward re- j reived an injection of antitoxin. | The men .suffered frightfully, the place resounded with groans like those from a torture chamber. The « antitoxin was jnjected in the stom ach and caused the most excruciat ing pain in about an hour. The head nurse was highly amused and j walked up and down chuckling. “Well, well.” she exclaimed. “I I thought you were soldiers. I I haven’t heard such a racket since | I was in charge of a baby ward.” ' The wounded ground their teeth. . The signing of the Armistice cause little commotion. A girl from the Red Cross entered the ward one day and announced that the war was over. Few of the men believed it and the rest took no interest one way or the other. The war was over for them, and had been for some time. . “We’ll he sorry the war is over ] yet,” prophesied Forty. “We’ll get i less -work out of ’em now than i ever.” Mo was right. The personnel, i the night of the Armistice, nil left [ the hospital to take ear© of itself | and went to the nearest town to 1 celebrate. In the days that fol ! lowed, they expected that they wouh} be sent home immediately, I anj] vented their feelings of disap | point men t on the patients. The nurses at the field hospitals felt they had done thofr hit by work ing two or three days at a stretch without rest and that now the war was over they had a right to rest. The newl. arrived nurses did not agree with this view, and since no on^ else did any work, did not see why they should. Meanwhile the wounded died. Eadie’s friend, the nurse, who had saved his life the first day he had boon in the ward, got herself transferred *n another wnrd where the head nutso was less disagree nble. The closing 0f the field and evacuation hospitals and the ar rival of fresh personnel from home allowed more nurses *o the wnrd. hut, there was less work Jone than before. “By G—d.” cried the Regular bpo morning, “a week from todnv Thanksgiving (lay. j wonder if we get any turkey?” “Yep.” spoke up a man, “it says' fn the Stars and Stripes that thev’ll he n turkey for every man In the A. E. F, I was just readin* it. Tt says they come over from the States in refrigerator ships, one for each of us, with flxin’s.” “The best reason for not believin' that.” remarked Forty, “is that you seen it in the Stars and Stripes.” “Hey, orderly,” called Endie, “What do you know about It? Do you see any feigns of turkey around (he hospital?” “I don’t know,” said the orderly. I’ll ask the mess sergeant at dinner. The detachment commander made us a spiel Sunday and said that we were going to have turkey with all the fi.xings. hut he told us about {wice.n week all last summer that we were going up to the front In fen days, and so It’s hard to holiovo nim now. “Well, spenkin’ of turkey," re nuirkeil Forty, “see if you could find me a, duck." a Three ckiys nfter, n convalesconi who had cr.inc into the wnrd to visit a friend .was provniled upon to pay n visit of reeonnnisnnce to I lie hospital kitchen, lie relurned with the glorious statement that the place was full of turkeys nnrl . that the cook’s police were busy mt> packing them and preparing them ' for tlie big day. , • “I don’t believe It yet," sniu' Rj die. “I’ve always played In hard Iv-ck on getting big feeds since I’ve been in the army. When we were at Camp Shelby a year ago, our mess sergeant ran off with nlhfho' battery funds and we bail to eat what the quartermaster issued us. It didn’t include turkey, either Then at Christmas l was In lios ! pita' on liquid diet.” j “Me, tdo,” agreed another man. I “When I get that turkey right Id, my hand I’ll believe it.” *‘NTaw, hut t tell yuh I seen the birds bein’ fixed up,” protested the ' k scout. "They were makin’ stuffin’ , an’ everything.” "That might ho,” said the other, "but they might be genin’ ’em ready for the nurses, or the doctors, or f.»r the officers’ ward.” The Red Cross functioned well In that hospital. They furnished most of the bandages and dressings and every so often a girl would visit the wards and give every man a piece of homemade fudge. One piece was not much, but it was all the sugar the wounded got and they ! were pleased enough. Thanksgiv* ! ing morning an orchestra visited each ward, under the auspices of |« the Red Cross, and rendered appro priate music. The orchestra was 1" composed of a flute, a violin, and a hull fiddle, all local talent, and they could only play two pieces, . both of rather a doleful nature, but they were well received by the in mates of the ward. The wounded were looking forward to dinner, and anything that served to pass the time was welcome. Would they or would they not have tur key for dinner? Eadle intended to ask his nurse friend, but she bad not paid him a visit for some time, ' and so he find not been able to. i The bend nurse Informed those that questioned her Hint she had other tilings on her mind than what ! the men would eat for dinner, the orderly declared that he hail seen turkeys being dressed, and that the personnel were planning on a tur key dinner, but as to whether or not the men in the word would get turkey, he did not know. At twelve the orderly put away bis broom and left for tlie kitchen. The food was brought from the kitchen to the ward in a huge tray containing covered dishes. This food was then portioned out in the ward kitchen and served to the men. “Who wants to bet me we get canned willie?” demanded Forty. “No, sir.” announced an nnnseen speaker, “we’re goin’ to have tur key. I’d bet you, but I ain’t been paid since July an’ I ain’t liable to be with my organization until next July, so T won’t draw no money until then. T tell yuh what I’ll do. though. I’ll bet yuh my share o’ the bully beef that we have tur key. If we have bully, you can have my share.” “AV if we have turk you can i have mine? Fat chance. Heads I win. tails you lose.” “Aw, shut up, you two!" growled ; the Regular. “What’s the use of fret tin* all bet up? If we have turk we have it, an’ if we don’t we’ll be t mad enough without get tin’ our | mouth all ser for it. I don’t believe ! we’ll get it. There’s two million soldadoes in France an' ther ain’t that many turks in the world. Tf there was, they’d have to have a tlect o’ transports to bring ’em over in.” The outside door banged. The men heard the hurrying step of the orderly in the corridor, heard him enter the ward kitchen, and non ; the slam of the food tray on the table. Scrape, scrape, went a spoon. The orderly appeared again, a plate in each hand. A happy cry burst from every throat. There was tur key on each plate, turkey, hrown and inviting, flanked by the white of mashed potatoes and the red of ernnhcrry sauce. But how come? . Radio, being in Number One bed. and so nearest the door, should he j served first, and the man opposite him next. That was the usual or der. hut'tills time the orderly bore those steaming dishes down the ward and gave them to two men nt the far end. There was a heavy* silence. The orderly went iack to the ward kitchen, two more plates < of turkey appeared, one going to n Gqrimin prisoner and the other to a notorious goldbrick. a friend of the head nurse. Murmurs from the ! other men in the ward. Two more plates of turkey, to two men re cently arrived. * “What’s the grand idea of not serving us in order?” demanded Endle finally. “Bring yours in next/’ sold the i! orderly. True to his .word, he did. ! The eyes of every man In the ward fc were on the end of the corridor, and they followed the plate from! the time the orderly appeared until he put it down beside some one’s boo, then llielr eyes followed him out of sight again, ’’’very tnnn saw the orderly appear with Radio's [• ^plate. and every man save those nl- j! r$8dy eating, looked to see whntf was on it. Whatever it was It was not turkey. Radio’s shout j of anger told them what he had re ceived. “tanned asparagus and beans!" ; Ttie man opposite Endie received the same thins, so did the next ' man. The Regular, ihe Marine, Forty, all the other men in the ward, asparagus, cold and taste-; less, and the old army standby, canned beans. There was a roar of. Protest Hint swelled loader as each man was served. The head j nurse came In and commanded si-' lenee, but could not make herself! beard above the npronr. Forty do-1 scended from Ills bed, and drag- i ging himself along from one cot to Hie nest, was about to assault a German prisoner when the orderly j and the nurse restrained him unifj hustled him back to bed again1, Everyone talked at once, liowle.' wilb impotent wrath, some hurled lliolr plates crashing to Hie cement floor, beans nnd nil. Finally they' tiuioted1 down, for they were sfei; i1 men. nfler nil, nnd had nut a great' deal of endurance. ; “'Vhjrt's the matter Svltlt' you men?" demanded the head nurse, when she could make herself heard, “are you all crazy? What do yon mean by breaking those plates?! What do yon moan by yelling like I this? I never heard of such a thing I In my life! You, Forty, you've got enough chalked up gainst you al ready to keep you in the guardhouse ' the rest of your life! Number one’ you're always starting something, .vou’re at Hie bottom of' this!! You were th first man served I I'll report you for this! What do you ; mean by making such a row?” ; "I've got a right to uiukc a rutvj:1 replied Endie hotly, ready to weep 1 hitter tears of disappointment and j rage. “What the h—1 you mean by | giving turkey to the prisoners nn«i your own hootliekiug, camouflaging pet's and putting, out beans to the rest of us? By G—d, if yon were a man I’d get right out of this bed and take a round out of you. 1 don’t care if my guts fell nut and hung down around my feet!” “Is that what the trouble Is?” asked the head nurse. She laughed a little rippling laugh and the ward ground its teeth at the sound. “The prisoners and my goldbriek friends get turkey and the rest of you don’t? But you men are all on light diet. It’s only the men on full diet that get turkey.” \ > Ah, so that was it!. Oh, bitter peeve! How well they remembered now, those men, that the nurse had i transferred this oqe and that one ; from full to light diet during the 1 past week. There had been no com- ! plaint, ^because the full diets ate1 heartily of bully beef, hardtack,and 1 canned hash, while the light diets had delicacies like canned aspara gus, jam,. and stewed chicken on Sunday night. But now! Only the full diets to have turkey!; Wrath and foam. The men in the ward could hear the head nurse strangling with laughter in the of fice. Kadie lay down in his bed and covered his head with the blankets. His plate lay on the bedside table untouched, while his heart burned within him. What did a man get for going to war? What did it get him to risk his life in battle? If he was killed, a hasty burial, and if he was wounded a trip to a hell like this hospital. He had been treated much better the time he had been gassed than now that he was seriously wounded. “What’s the matter with you, ap pendicitis?” “Goldbriek, you haven’t any kind of a wound. Suppose you lost a He was one man in a ward ot fifty odd seriously wounded, and the ward was one in net only a hos pital. but a concentration of five similar hospitals, huddled in the cold mud of one of the most deso late sections of France. If he died he wont to the morgue, and if he lived and get well lie would go out and spend the winter in a convales cent tent. A hand tugged gently at the blankets about Endie’s head. He put out one eye and discovered his friend, the nurse, there, the one who had taken good care of him when he had first come to the ward. “I’ve been sick,” said the nurse, “that’s- why I haven’t been around to see you before. What’s the matter, aren’t you feelTng well?” “No!” replied Eadie. “the head nurse put us all on light diet, so we wouldn’t get any turkey dinner. I don’t mind a lot. because T was on light diet anyway, hut it makes, me mad. to have a plate of beans shoved at me when I had my mouth all set for turkey.” —“,ftTJTt -nhr-tievnrr'muttered the nurse. “If ever meet up with that disgusting woman after the war or somewhere where there a.en’t any witnesses. I'll certainly give her a piece of m.v mind and*, maybe haul out a few hairs for her I What a dirty trick! Rome tiuies^I.. wonder if she isn’t de ranged.” “Well, hurray for Thanksgiving day anyway. Maybe I’ll tret a good dinner for Christmas.” “Now. there!” exclaimed the nurse. “I forgot what I came over hero for. I was up in the office .this morning nhd l saw an ordt*r they were getting out. Your name was on if.” “What for?” demanded Eadie In surprise. “What are they putting my name on an order for?” “You’re going hack to the States on _t!$ first traiiiloaVl that goes!” £N<$! I Is that a fact?” asked Em didik J | & 1 Jf ; _ . “ft certainly fs,” said'the nurse. “I saw the order myself.” Eadie at once sat’up in bed and ‘rfoolied about. “Hey. orderly!” he ..ctfpft. “who told ydn to take away jHii^ilish of beans? Bring it h ck ! make out a meal with It vt lie:. sergeant s recovery after #>nt was rapid. Ills friend the parse Tuid predicted that it would D*. forvClply wound eillier Itilled >. man -or-'ho recovered from It ^>ne or the other, nnd it took very little tlnid for of flier. The tube's Were removed from the wound In a few days, and aftoi he had slept all night he rapidly gained strength. Jfe had to learn to walk all over agalRlike a child, hut he had plenty of tiwe T1|e week be fore Christmas he vMs still In the ward, with every prflJSpoct of not leaving It for anything hoffqr thfln n convalescent tent. He hnd"rittwi issued a uniform, such as It wnsY h.nt 'lie died Ills collar ornaments anil- hfs‘ whistle, nnd his faithful friend the nurse had bought Idm a set of sergeant's stripes nnd two very glittering wound stripes. Two' Thtyeifweren’t many that could sport' two. . »' One morning Eadie finished his breakfast and whs In the midst of Ills bi-weekly shave when the head nurse ftune fiuftering up to Ids bed “*WJ “ill! nnd get that finished nnd get ready to get out of here I" she* said. ‘‘Are yon going to run me Into a tent?” asked the sergeant with a sinking heart. “No, yoii’roSpdng to leave (be hospital. Go-lip to the oliice.” The wnrtWjfrai very quiet while the nurse iarormed three more men that they,-wevS going. Eour nen. that fcfl^tttl, nnd the rest of them mast wait another month or so There was no langhter. The men watched sadly while Eadie did his packing. This consisted of wiping Ills fnee and razor, putting lie' razor In Ills musette, nnd taking Ids ! overcoat over Ids arm. lie traveled llglilj AUiea-ho went down the ward to stif' his farewells. ■ | They looked at the sergeant pa- [ llietlcnlly, Tor he was going home, nnd tho.v were doomed to stay Id i Ibe.VWdJ^A (Ight vyllh the lieml nurse. Two weeks from how, Kum-j ber One weald he at homo in the States, nt home where It was warm, nnl a man might eat his steak three times a day if he so willed, lie would h» among people who were nil “mister,” where if a man was instilled there* was nothing to hinder him from poking the in sulter in the nose. Me would have a civilized bed, in which a roan could turn over twice and not fall on the floor, and in which he could sleep twenty-four hours of the day with none to hinder him. Ah, to go home! What else did life hold but that? Padie shook hands with them all, the Regular, the Marine (lie wrte a good guy even if he was a leather neck), Roaring Forty, Twenty* Eight, even the newcomers and the goldbrick friends of the head nurse. He was tempted to shake hands with the prisoners, too, but it might “No, You’re Going to Leave the Hospital. Go Up to the Office.'* not do, and theta he knew no Ger man with which to explain the ac tion. . • . ... ■. “Good-by, nurse,” said he to his old enemy, the “head nurse, ‘‘when I’m In New York around New Year’s, I’ll think of you. When I ride up Fifth avenue in n bus. I’ll think of you wading around in the mud here.” “Do that, will you?” asked the nurse pleasantly, “and when you get to wherever you’re going, re member that I was the one that sent you there.” ' “A lot you had to do with send ing me out of hospital,” scoffed Endie. “You’d be surprised !** replied the nurse. “By golly, if I dared to believe yon I’d forgi ve you fov till "the stuff — you’ve pulled on us the last few months.” “Good-by,” said the ntfrse Sud denly, and slammed the office door in Endie’s face. At the loading platform the men gathered, two and three from each ward, pallid with their stay in hos pital, each one hunched in Ids new overcoat, and each one with the little canvas bag the Red Cross bad given him over his shoulder. The men were loaded in, some of the hospital personnel went along the train ami distributed cans of hash, bully, tomatoes, and jam, with a loaf of bread to each comportment, the doors were banged, and he train began to rattle its way to the seaboard. * “Home! The first stage of the journey! The cars were cold and the seats hard and uncomfortable, hut the men were going home and they would have gladly walked to the sea, weakened ns they were, or crawled on hands and knees. Home! Thai was the place for u man. The landscape along the track was thp same old country-that Ea die had seen so often. Sheets ol rain, swollen brooks, muddy cart tracks crawling up green hillsides, small dirty houses, wayside sta tions. large towns where the train changed engines, and demobilized French soldiers stood on the plat form with their hands in their pock ets and Idly watched the train. “I know this country,** observed Eadie. “We must be going home from Bordeaux.” “Uh hub 1” agreed the other men. They had been herded up and down the United States and all over France now for going on two years, never knowing where they were go ing, and having little Interest tn their destination anyway. “We’ll know where we’re goin* when we get there,” was their mot* \tn j trnin-^ntl.Pr new companions lie nWtH^Oj^inen were from different hospitals now, even from as far away as Contrex ville. The country changed, Poi tiers, Angouleme, Lfbourne. Bordeaux at Inst, the great plat form of the Care du Midi dimly lighted by the afternoon snn and crowded with American and French soldiers. The men all descended from the train and began to gather In groups, according as theii names were called hv two officers who had been'I.> 1 • the train since Tours, being a sergeant, b id his name toward the head ot the li<t, and so was called early. About thirty men were flnali.v grouped around.him and the officer counting them marched them across the platform to another train. “Where does this go?” Eadie asked the trainman as he got on. “La; Teste pud Arcachon,” was the reply. “La Tester*’ shrieked Eadie. “Why, we can’t be going to Le Cornea-u!" The trainman shrugged his shoul ders, “I do not pretend to know,’1 said he. Eadie leaped down from the step and frantically sought the officer. Here!” lurried. “Are you going to Le replied the officer, ge Six)
The Smithfield Herald (Smithfield, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Jan. 3, 1928, edition 1
3
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