mmiwJ: nk Did ohq oi
When the En;
Dead Man's Curve!
THEY climb aboard their loaded
truck at sundown, fifteen miles
behind the lines. They rumble
through the winding streets, out on the
white road that leads to Germany!
The man at the wheel used to be a
broker in Philadelphia. Beside him sits
en accountant from Chicago. A news
paper man from the Pacific Coast is
the third Now they all wear the uni
form of one of these organizations.
The road sweeps round a village and
on a tree is nailed a sign: "Attentionl
L'Ennemi Vous Voitl The Enemy
Sees Youl"
They glance far up ahead and there,
suspended in the evening light, they see
a Hun balloon.
"Say, we can see him plain tonight!"
murmurs the accountant from Chicago.
"And don't forget," replies the Phila
delphia broker, "that he can see m just
as plain."
The packing cases creak and gropn,
the truck plods on straight toward mat
hanging menace.
They rpach another village where
' heaps of stone stand under crumpled
walls.
Then up they go, through the strands
silence broken only when a great pro
jectile inscribes its arc of sound far
overhead.
They reach a turn. They take it.
They face a heavy incline. For half
e mile it stretches and they know the
Germans have the range of every inch
of it The mountain over there is where
the big Bodies' guns are fired. This
incline is their target.
The three men on the truck bring vp
their gas masks to the alert, settle their
steel helmets closer on their heads.
At first the camion holds its speed.
Then it slackens off. The driver grab3
his gear-shift, kicks out his clutch. The
engine heaves and heaves and stalls!
"Quick! Spin it!" calls the driver.
The California journalist has jumped.
He tugs at the big crank.
"Wh-r-r-r-r-r-r-room!"
The Shell breaks fifty yards behind.
Another digs a hole beside the road
just on ahead.
And then the engine comes to life.
It crunches, groans and answers.
Slowly, with maddening lack of casta,
it rumbles on.
UNITED WAR WORK CAMPAIGN
' . letters co
ie Stalls on
" Wh-r-r-oom! That one was close
H-iind. Tha fr agments of the shell are
rutting O the truck. .
How shells are falling, further back
r'ong the ,-oad. And the driver feels
f.ift snmmit &3 his wheels begin to pick
up speed. , . -
Straight down a village street in
r.-hich the building are only skeletons
cf buildings. He wheels Into the court
yard of a great shell-torn chateau.
"Well, you made it again I seel" says
a smiling face under a tin hat a face
that used to look out over a congrega
tion in Rochester.
"Yep!" says the driver glancing at
his watch. "And we came up Dead
Man's Curve in less than three minutes
including one stall!"
Later that night two American boys,
fresh from the trenches bordering that
chattered town, stumble up the stairs
cf the chat23ii, into a sandbagged room
where tha Rochester minister has hi3
canteen.
"Get any supplies tonight? " they ask.
"You Let I did!" is the answer, "What
will you have?",
"What's those? Canned peaches?
Gimme some. Package of American
cigarettes let's see an' a cake of
chocolata an' some of them cookies!"
"Gosh!" says the other youngster
when his wants are filled. " What would
we co without you?"
Ycu hear that up and down the front,
a dozen times a night "What would
we do without them?"
Lien and women in these organiza
tions are risking their lives tonight to
ccirry up supplies to the soldiers. Trucks
'tr:d camionettes are creeping up as close
as any transportation is permitted.
From there these people are carrying
up to the gun-nests, through woods,
across open fields, into the trenches.
The boys are being served wherever
they go. Things to eat, things to read,
thinss to smoke, are being carried up
everywhere along the line.
With new troops pouring into France,
r.rx supplies must be sent, more men
ard women by tha hundreds must be
c .listed. They are ready to give every
thing. Will you give your dollars to
Lc.p them help our men?
A DUSTY courier r'id off his motor-cycle at the big double hut
in a French town and tramped up to the canteen.
"Got a note for the secretary frcm ray commanding officer,"
he said He handed a piece of paper across the counter to a smiling
middle-aged man. j
This is the note the Secretary read: '
We landed here three dsys ago miles from anywhere.
Can you send us some supplies, especially writing
paper? This is the first chance the boys have had
to write homo and wg have no paper to give them,
The older man lookrd r.p and grinned. ;
"Got you away off in the woodsy have they? J .
"I'll say they have I"
"Can you carry anything?"
?3r
v-4
fAW you'll give me!"
From the shelves the secretary took big packages of paper and
envelopes.
"Too much?" Ha asked.
"It will be gone ten minutes after I get back I M said the boy.
"Tonight," the secretary went on, ''Til drive out a truck
. with more supplies and a man to stay with you. And tell the boys
that if their letters are finished, Til bring them back with me tonight,
and get thjm into the mails."
An hour later that motor-relist whizzed into camp, loaded
down with writing paper, and in ten minutes letters were being
written to 200 American homes.
The United War Work organizations know what letters mean
to American soldiers. They know that fighters want to get letters
and want to write letters.
o in e very hut and on every ship your boys find writing paper,
envelopes, ink, pens and pencils, and tables where they can get off by
themselves ant" tell tro folkst -ick home how things are going.
Millie .is of ib eel: are given away free every week to American
boys overseas. That Is why the letters you get from your boy are
written cn M12 static ry cf ona of these organizations. It is one of
tthe pirns to bridge t: o Athn'ic. Help keep the letters (jomingl
it
Your cellars will supply a wnote Company for several days. Dig
deep today; help to bhd tcoahcr
WL j you she 'Id give twice as much
as you L'vr gave before I
Tha reed I? to; . turn of 70p e"-' tlvn any gift ever asked lot sfnea the
wr'id be nan. Ttt Gove -neiil 1. is 6nJ thu 5um at $170,300,000.
b giving to t"u. "even .--ganbuitioiki nil M c.'-ca, tha coat and affattaf ate aeV
diti joal ar.rpJu,.i9i.i i-.vaJ.
Cn'HS American, give twir as mwb ati avet btftte, OaXMMlaca and sailors
may ui enj.7 dun.it . 19 ILjiii
9 0 P"tratiir. Hnndines
1 0 W '?a oi M-j ie t'iliu
j L' "... -!taj Stan
, Ml MJatic Direc'.urs
. do:
SC'Vt
efforts o
fn.Iit srd I" V
a (', ' -.! a
boi.ie urn wu:i L..11
V-, ir-.-n 1 .-'-.
Now ') I1J,:
UNITED YAR WORK CAMPAIGN
.Bx
J kJ v.;. v
1 '
C
these 200
me to you?
;
France and here.
2,510 Libraries supplylne) SrtSQMt book
i S Hciiieta Houses
1 ' 0JO Dlg-brother "secretarta
1. 1 Hons of dollars of home eoiWbtta
, you TiaKe r,r that every flghte bafl tha efceef ad
'rBn'-i'.i' nfl p':-1 step of the wy from horoa to tha
irovide hurt .1!' a church, a theatre, a oheetful horns,
' in u ' I tit tlaanda knowledge that tha U)iV back
! loul I
r;. , . ' to ii'j-.ply their physt-al needs,
tilts I.r. iile th:U In win..ing the warl
1
ATI CAT! '.iC WAI
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