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About Eagle Valley news. (Richland, Or.) 191?-1919 | View Entire Issue (July 11, 1918)
MACHINE EMPEY LEARNS, AS COMRADE FALLS, THAT DEATH LURKS ALWAYS IN THE TRENCHES Synopsis. Fired by the sinking of the Lusltuulu, with tho loss of American lives, Arthur Guy Empey, nn American living tu Jersey City, goes to England nntl enlists as a prlvuto in the Urltlsh nnny. After a short experience as a recruiting olllcer In London, ho Is sent to train ing quarters In France, where he llrst hears the sound of big guns nuil makes the acquaintance of "cooties." After n brief period of training Empey's company Is sent Into the front-line trenches, where he takes his first turn on the fire step while the bullets whiz overhead. Empey learns, as comrade falls, that death lurks always In the trenches. CHAPTER VIII. The Little Wooden Cross. After remaining In rest billets for eight days, we received the unwelcome tidings that the nest morning we would "go In" to "take over." At six in the morning our march started and, after long march down the dusty road, we again arrived at reserve billets. I was No. 1 In the leading set of fours. The man on my left was named "Pete Walling," n cheery sort of fel low. He laughed and Joked nil tuj way on the march, buoying up my drooping spirits. I could not figure out anything attractive In again occupying the front line, but Pete did not seem to mind, said It was all In a lifetime. Sly left heel was blistered from the rub bing of my heavy marching boot. Pete noticed that I was limping and offered to carry my rifle, but by this time I had learned the ethics of the march In the British army and courteously refused his offer. We had gotten half-way through the communication trench, Pete In my Im mediate rear. He had his hand on my shoulder, ns men In a communication trench have to do to keep In touch with each other. We had Just climbed over a bashed-ln part of the trench when In our rear a man tripped over a loose signal wire, and let out an oath. As usual, Pete rushed to his help. To reach the fallen man he had to cross this bashed-ln part. A bullet cracked In the nlr and I ducked. Then a moan from the rear. My heart stood still. I went back and Pete was lying on the ground. liy the aid of ray flashlight I saw thnt he had his hand pressed to his right breast. The fingers were cov ered with blood. I flashed the light on his face and In its glow a grnylsu blue color was stealing over his coun tenance. Pete looked up nt me and said: "Well Yank, they've done me In. I can feel myself going West." His voice was getting fainter and I had to kneel down to get his words. Then he gave me a message to wrlto homo to his mother and his sweetheart, and I, like a great Wg boob, cried like a baby. I was losing my first friend of tho trenches. I Word was passed to the rear for a stretcher. He died before It arrived. Two of us put the body on the stretcher and carried It to the nearest flrst-ald post, where the doctor took an official record of Pete's name, num ber, rank and regiment from his Iden tity disk, this to be used In the cas ualty lists and notification to his family. We left Pete there, but It broke our hearts to do so. The doctor Informed us that we could bury hlrn the next morning. That afternoon five of the boys of our section, myself Included, went to the little ruined village In the rear and from the deserted gardens of the French chateaux gathered grass and flowers. From these wo made a wreath. While the boys were making this wreath, I sat under a shot-scarred apple tree and carved out the follow ing verses on a little wooden shield which we nailed on Pete's cross. True to tils God; true to Dritaln, Doing his duty to the last, Just one more name to bo written On the Uoll of Honor of heroes passed- Possed to their Qod, enshrined In glory, Entering life of eternal rest. One more chapter In England's story Of her sons doing their best Rest, you soldier, mate so true, Never forgotten by us below; Know that we are thinking of you, Ere to our rest we are bidden to go. Next morning tho whole section wont over to say good-hy to Pete, and laid him away to rest. After each one had a look at the face of the dead, a corporal of tho It. A. ill) i: !' ANATffifiKMSOLWER WHO WEST OJNfiCft.OTNGIH FRANCE- 17 OY M. C. sewed up the remains In n blan ket. Then placing two heavy ropes across the stretcher (to be used In low ering the body Into the grave), we lift ed Pete onto the stretcher, and rev erently covered him with n large union Jack, the flag he had died for. The chaplain led the wny. then camo the officers of the section, followed by two of the men carrying n wreath. Im mediately after came poor Pete on the flag-draped stretcher, carried by four soldiers. I was one of the four. Be hind tho stretcher. In column of fours, came the remainder of the section. To get to the cemetery, we had to pass through the little shell-destroyed village, where troops were hurrying to nnd fro. As the funeral procession passed these troops came to the "attention" and smartly saluted the dead. Poor Pete was receiving the only sa lute a private Is entitled to "some where In France." Now ami again a shell from the Ocr man lines would go whistling over tho village to burst In our artillery lines ! In the rear. When we reached the cemetery we halted In front of an open grave, and laid the stretcher beside It. Forming Lewis Gun In Action. a hollow square around tho opening of the grave, the chaplain read the burial service. German mnchlne-gun bullets were "cracking" In tho nlr nbovo us, but Pete didn't mind, nnd neither did we. When the body was lowered Into tho grave the flag having been removed, wo clicked our heels together and came to the salute. I left before the grove was filled In. I could not bear to see the dirt thrown on tho blanket-covered face of my com rade. On the western front there are no coffins, and you are lucky to get n blanket to protect you from the wet and the worms. Several of tho sec tion stayed and decorated the grave with white stones. That night, In tho light of n lonely candle In tho machine gunner's dugout of tho front-line trench I wrote two letters. Ono to Peto's mother, tho other to his sweetheart Whllo doing this I cursed tho Prussian war god with all my heart, and I think that St Peter noted samo, Tho machine gunners In tho dugout wero laughing and Joking. To them Pcto was unknown. Pretty soon, in the warmth of their merriment, my blues disappeared. One soon forgets on the western front. CHAPTER IX. Suicide Annex. I was In my llrst dugout nnd looked around curiously. Over the door of same was n little sign reading "Sui cide Annex." One of tho boys told mo that this particular front trench was called "Suicide Ditch." Later on I learned that machine gunners nnd bombers are known as tho "Sulcldo Club." That dugout was muddy. Tho men slept In mud, washed In mud, ate mud, nnd dreamed mud. I hnd never before realized that so much discomfort and winery could be contained In thosp three llttlo letters, M U D. Tho floor of tho dugout was an Inch deep In water. Outside It was raining cats and dogs, nnd thin rivulets weru trickling down tho steps. From tho air shaft Immediately above me camo n drip, drip, drip. Pulclde Annex was a hole eight feet wide, ten feet long nnd six feot high. It was about twenty feet below tho fire trench; at least thero wero twenty Bteps leading down to It. Theso steps were cut Into the earth, but at that time weru muddy and slip pery. A man had to bo very careful or else ho would "shoot tho chutes." The air was foul, and you could cut the smoke from Tommy's fags with a knife. It was cold. Tho walls and roof were supported with heavy square cut timbers, while tho entranco was strengthened with sandbags. Nnlla hnd been driven Into theso timbers. On each nail hung a miscellaneous assort ment of equipment. Tho lighting ar rangements were superb one candle In n reflector made from nn ammuni tion tin. My teeth wero chattering from tho cold, and tho drip from tho nlrshaft did not help matters much. Whllo I was sitting bemoaning my fate and wishing for the fireside at home, tho fellow next to me, who was writing a letter looked up nnd Inno cently asked, "Say, Yank, how do you spell, 'contlagratlon'7" I looked at him In contempt nnd an swered that I did not know. From the darkness In one of the cor ners came n thin, piping voice singing ono of the popular trench ditties en titled: "Pack up your Troubles In your Old Kit Dae, and Bmllc. Smile, Hmlle." Every now ami then tho singer would stop to cough, cough, cough, but It was a good Illustration of Tommy's cheerfulness under such conditions. A mnchlne-gun olllcer entered tho dugout nnd gave me a hard look. I snenked past him, sliding and slipping, nnd reached my section of the front lino trench, where I was greeted by the sergeant, who asked me, "Where In 'ave you been?" I made no answer, but sat on tho muddy lire step, shivering with tho cold nnd with tho rnln beating In my face. About half an hour later I teamed up with another fellow nnd went on guard with my head sticking over the top. At ten o'clock I was relieved and resumed my sitting posi tion on the Arc step. The rain sud denly stopped and we nil breathed a sigh of relief. We prayed for the morn ing nnd the rum Issue. CHAPTER X. "The Day's Work." I was fast learning that there Is a regular routine about tho work of tho trenches, although It Is badly upset at times by the Germans. The real work In tho flro trench commences at sundown. Tommy Is like u burglar, he works at night. Just us It begins to get dark tho word "stand to" Is passed from trav erse to traverse, nnd tho men get busy. The first relief, consisting of two men to a traverse, mount tho flro step, ono man looking over tho top, whllo tho other sits at his feet, ready to carry messages or to inform the platoon offi cer of any report made by the sentry ns to his observations In No Man's Land. The sentry Is not allowed to relax his watch for a second. If ho Is questioned from the trench or nsked Ids orders, ho replies without turning around or taking his eyes from tho ex panse of dirt In front of him. The re mainder of the occupants of his trav erse either sit on tho flro step, with bayonets fixed, ready for any emer gency, or If lucky, and u dugout hap pens to be In the near vicinity of tho traverse, and If the night Is quiet, they aro permitted to go to samo and try and snatcli a few winks of sleep. Llttlo sleeping Is done; generally tho men sit around, smoking fags and seeing who can tell the biggest He. Some of them, perhaps with their feet In wuter, would write homo sympathizing with the "governor" becnuso ho whb laid up with a cold, contracted by getting his feet wet on his wny to work In Wool wich ursennl. If n mun should mnnago to dozo off, likely ns not ho would wnko with u start as tho clammy, cold feet of a rat passed over his fuco, or tho next relief stepped on his Btomach whllo stumbling on their wuy to rellovo tho sentries 'In the trench. Just try to sleep, with u belt full of ammunition around you, your rifle bolt biting Into your ribs, Intrenching tool hnndlo sticking Into tho small of your back, with a tin hat for n pillow and feeling very damp nnd cold, with "cooties" boring for oil In your arm pits, tho nlr foul from tho stench of grimy human bodies nnd smoke from n Juicy plpo being whiffed Into your nos trils, then you will nut wonder why Tommy occasionally takes n turn In the trench for it Vest. Whllo In n front-lluo trench orders forbid Tommy from removing hi boots, puttees, clothing or equipment. Tho "cooties" tnku ndvuntago ot tills order nnd mobilize their forces, aud Yummy swears vengeance on them nnd mutters to himself, "Just wait until I hit rest billets nnd nm ublo to get my own back." Just before daylight tho men "turn to" nnd tumble out of tho dugouts, man thu Are step until It gets Utjlit, or the welcome order "stand down" Is given. SomettmcH beforu "stand down" Is or dered, thu command "live rounds rap Id" Is passed along thu trench. This meaiiH that each man must rest his rtllo on the top nnd lire as rapidly ns possible five shots aimed toward tho German trenches, nnd then duck (with tho emphasis on thu "duck"), There Is a great rivalry between tho opposing forces to get their rapid Are all off llrst, hecuusu thu early bird, In this In stance, catches tho worm sort of gets thu Jump on tho other fellow, catching him unawares. Empey goes "over the top" for the first time and has a hand-to-hand fight with n glint Prus sian. In the next Installment he tells the story of this thrilling charge. (TO UK CONTINUED.) NUISANCE ALL TOO COMMON No Doubt the Majority of Our Readers Have Met at Some Time the "Dig Money" Doy. Step up n llttlo closer, patrons, look 'em over good, then take your seats and set bnck for n listen. Y'know this windbag, thu big money boy. Oh, yehl Go ahead, you tickle us. This plpo dream Is always putting across some "big dcnl" expecting a "clean up," "got a tip," etc., aud all that fat chatter. Ills melody goes n buzz this way: "Well, things look merry for me, I'll say. Got In on ti deal this morning; If It goes through, mentis much Mack,' a 'gas roller' ami easy picking for ma to last some moons. Can't tell you what It's about Just yet. Hacked up by so and so of tho so and so corpor ation, and he's sinking all his Interest collection on It, so you sco what a blazer It Is or ho wouldn't bo In It. I'm to bo ono of tho main squeezes, hold stock, nnd' go on tho road nt $100 per Saturday, 'M per cent commtsh nnd traveling expenses," etc., etc- Listen I This rummy has moro wind than n deck of cyclones. Ho Imagines more money In an hour than tho mint turns out In n mouth. Call his bluff and tell him to go settle his laundry bill with the Chinaman, ltcmembcr: They nro not putting signs up In tho bnck windows, "President Wnntcd." Washington Herald. Tho Oorn Orator. It Is narrated that Colonel Hrcckcn ridge, meeting Major Iluffo'd on the streets of Lexington, linked: "What Is the meaning, will, of tho conco'se befo' the co'thouso?" To which Jho mnjiih replied: "General Iluckneh. suh, Is making n speech. General Iluckneh, suh, Ib n bo'n orntah." "What do you mean by a bo'n orn tah?" "If you, or I, suh, wero nsked how much two and two make, wo would re ply: 'Fob.' When this Is. asked a bo'n oratah ho replies: 'When In tho co'so of human events It becomes necessn'y to tnko an Integeh of the second de nomination and add It, suh, to an In tegeh of tho same denomination, tho re sult, sub, nnd I hnvo tho science of mathematics to back mo In my Judg ment, the result, suh, and I say It with out fenh of successful contradiction, suh, tho result Is fob.' Thnt's n bo'n oratah." Itehobath Sunday Herald, Her Work. Congresswomnn .Teannctto Rnnkln snld In a Y. W. 0. A. address: "Charles Schwab married on 7-n week, and Chnunccy Dcpew on $0. I hnvo no sympathy with tho girl who makes a devoted young man wntt till he can support her as luxuriously us her old father does. "My sympathy all goes out to tho young man who said Joyously, us soon as ho was nccepted: " "Then, darling, we'll sot married nt once. Of course, nt flrst, wo shan't bo ablo to keep a sorvant.' "Oh, Jack, hadn't we bettor wait, then?' she protested. 'What would tho neighbors say If they saw mo doing my own work?' "Jack looked puzzled, "'Why, sweetheart,' ho said, 'whoso work do you want to do?'" Muscular Activity and Heat Owls nnd other birds which tiro active nt night show a rlso of tcmpernturo during tho hours of darkness and a fall during tho day, This Is n result of the well-known fact that muscular activity means nn Increased production of beat. iiilif SPEED GOOD ROADS BUILDING Federal Supervision of Nation's High way! la Being Urged Military Value Is 8hown. A few days ngo a big government motortruck stuck hard and fast In n rut on the mad between Washington nnd llalllmore. A commercial truck tried to get iiniund It from one direc tion and another government truck from tho other direction, Iloth of theso also stuck. Soon this over traveled road, for u mile each wny, was Jammed with squawking cars nuil trucks. All traffic was stalled for the better part of n day, with thu result that war work was delayed, Niihurb unites weru Into to dinner and thirsty Wnnhliigtonlans were unable In reach the Maryland oasis. This Incident In no special discredit to tho Maryland roan builders, Thu Washlngtou-Ilultlmoru road was not built for the amount and kind of traffic It Ih now bearing. The samo Is true of many other highways In all parts of tho country. More and more motor trucks are taking over what used to bo "short haul" railroad freight. And tho short haul that is accomplished by motortruck has gradually length ened from ten or fifteen mites until now much freight Is carried -00 miles In trucks. Such facts are the basis of n drivo being mndi) on congress for leglsln tlon to emM)wcr the federal govern ment to unify roads of thu country Into u comprehensive system and to spend the money necessary to make thu roads adequate to meet thu new re quirements. The federal government, It Is claimed by proponents of thu plan, must do thu work, because h central authority Is absolutely neces sary to the perfection of a national system of roads. Tho federal government should spend thu money, they say, becnuso their military value mnkMi tlm roads a great national asset. This military value of good roads Is already shown by tho dependence which the govern ment Is placing upon them for tho moving of troops and supplies. In Eu rope It tins been even more convinc ingly demonstrated. It has been said that good roads saved France nnd tho lack of tlicin defeated Itussla. It In Gand and Gravel Piled on 8ubgrad Ready for Use on Experimental Con crete Road, Chevy Chase, Md. certainly true thnt tho French had tho best roads In the world when tho war broke out nnd that thu men nnd supplies which chocked tho flrst Ger man rush went forward largely by motor, It Is also truo thnt n break, down of all transportation facilities prevented Itussla from effectually mo bilizing her tremendous resources. Thero Is now n federal office of good ronds, operating under tho federal road net, whereby tho government ap propriates funds for roads, provided thu states In which tho roads aru to be built will appropriate u similar amount. This gives the government tho poiver to recommend the Improve ment or building of certain mads and to dlsapprovo tho Improvement or building of others. It may oxcrclso n sort of advisory nnd mildly compul sory power townrd tho establishment of n unlllod nntlonnl system of roads. Hut this power, It Is argued, Is by no means sufficient In an emergency Jlko 'tho present. What Is needed Is tho power to form n dellnlto plan for a system of national highways, and tho funds to carry that plan Into execu tion us rapidly us possible.