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About Eagle Valley news. (Richland, Or.) 191?-1919 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 1918)
MACHINE EMPEY JOINS PICK AND TRENCHES IN Synopsis. Fired by the sinking of the Lusitnntn, with the loss ot American lives, Arthur Guy Enipoy, nn American living In Jersey Clly( goes to England and enlists as n private lu the Drlttsh nnny. After a short experience ns a recruiting olllcor In London, he Is sent to train ing quarters in France, where he tlrst hears the sound of big guns and makes the acquaintance of "cooties." After a brief period of training Empey's company Is sent Into the front-lino trenches, where he takes ills first turn on the lire step while the bullets whir overhead. Empey learns, as comrade falls, that death lurks always In the trenches. Chaplain distinguishes himself by rescuing wounded men under hot fire. With pick and shovel Empey has experience us a trench digger In No Alan's Land. CHAPTER XIII Continued. We lined Up In front of the baths, soaked with perspiration, and piled our rifles Into stacks. A sergeant of the U. A. M. C. with a yellow band nround his left arm on which was "S. P." (sanitary police) In black let ters, took charge, ordering us to take off our equipment, unroll our puttees and unlace boots. Then, starting from the right of the line, he divided us Into squads of fifteen. I happened to be in the first squad. We Altered a small room, where we were given five minutes to undress, then filed into tho bathroom. In here there were fifteen tubs (barrels sawed in two) half full of wnter. Each tub contained a piece of laundry soap. The sergeant Informed us that we had Just twelve minutes In which to take our baths. Soaping ourselves all over, we took turns in rubbing each other's backs, then by means of n garden hose, washed the soap off. The water was Ice cold, but felt fine. Pretty soon n bell rang and the wn ter was turned off. Some of the slower ones were covered with soup, but this made no difference to the sergeant, who chased us Into another room, where wc lined up In front of a little window, resembling "the box office In n theater, and received clean underwear A Bathroom at the Front. and towelx. From here wo went Into tho room where we had first undressed. Ten minutes were allowed In which to get Into our "clubber." My pair ot drawers came up to rny chin nnd tho thlrt barely reuched my diaphragm, but they were clean no Htrangers on them, so I was satisfied. At the expiration of tho time allot ted we wero turned out and finished -our dressing on tho grass. When nil of the company had bathed It was a cuso of march buck to billots, 71'hut murch was tho most uncongenial one Imagined. Just cussing nnd blind Jug nil tlig way. Wo wero covered with while llul full uiwusy from invent, Ml II 1" AN AMERICAN SOLDIER WHOVENT GUHIiERERYlHGW fRAIK ()?I7 BY MlRUROTftOffYl SHOVEL SQUAD AND DIGS NO MAN'S LAND. The woolen underwear Issued was Itching like the mischief. After eating our dinner ot stew, which had been kept for us It was now four o'clock we went Into tho creek and had another bath. If "Holy Joe" could have heard our remarks about the divisional baths and army red tape he would have fainted at our wickedness. Hut Tom my Is only human after nil. I Just mentioned "Holy Joo" or the chaplain In an Irreverent sort of way, but no offense 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 u chaplain. Captain Hall by name, In the brigade on our left, be cause It particularly appealed to me. A chaplain is not a fighting mnn ; he Is recognized as n noncombatant and carries no arms. In a chnrge or trench raid the soldier gets a feeling of con fidence from contact with his rllle, re volver, or bomb he Is carrying. lie has something to protect himself with, something with which he can Inflict harm on the enemy In other words, he is able to get his own back. But the chaplain Is empty-handed, and is at the niercy of the enemy If he encounters them, so It is doubly brave for hlra to go over the top, under fire, and bring In wounded. Also n chaplain Is not required by the king's regulations to go over In n charge, but this one did, made three trips under the hottest kind of fire, each time re turning with n wounded man on his back. On the third trip he received n bullet through his left arm, but never reported the mutter to tho doctor until lute that night Just spent his time ad ministering to the wants of the wound ed lying on stretchers. The chaplains of the British army are a fine, manly set of men, und arc greatly respected by Tommy, CHAPTER XIV. Picks and Shovels. I had not slept long before tho sweel voice of the sergeant Informed that ! "No. 1 section had clicked for another blinking digging party." I smiled to myself with deep satisfaction. I bad been promoted from a mere digger to a member of the Suicide club, and wns . exempt from all fatigues. Then enmo un awful shock. Tho sergeant looked ' over in my direction nnd said : "Don't you bomb throwers think you are wearing top hats' out hero. 'Cord In' to orders you've been taken up on tho strength of this section, and will have to do your bit with tho pick and shovel, same as tho rest of us." I put up n howl on my way to get my shovel, but tho only thing that re sulted was u loss of good humor on my port. We fell in nt eight o'clock, outside of our billets, a sort of masquerade party, I was disguised as n common laborer, had u pick und shovel, and about one hundred empty sandbugs. Tho rest, about two hundred in all, were equipped likewise: picks, shovels, sandbags, rifles and ammunition. Tho party moved out In column of fours, taking tho road leading to tho trenches. Several times wo had to string nut in tho ditch to let long col umns of limbers, artillery und supplies get past. Tho marching, under these condi tions, was necessarily slow, Upon ar rival nt tho entrance lo (ho communi cation (ninuh, I looked nt my llluml- nnted wrist watch It was eleven o'clock. lleforo entering this trench, word wns pawed down the line, "no talking or smoking, lend off In single file, cov ering party first." This covering party consisted of SO men, armed with rltlos, bayonets, bombs, and two Lewis inn 'lno guns. They wero to protect us and guard against n surprise attack while dig glng In No Man's Land. Tlio communication trench wns about half n mile long, n zigzagging ditch, eight feet deep and three feet wide. Now and again. German shrapnel would whistle overhead and burst til our vicinity. We would crouch against the earthen walls while the shell frag ments "slapped" the ground above us. Onco Fritz turned loose with n mil chine gun, the bullets from which "cracked" through tho ntr and kicked up the dirt on tho top, scattering sand and pebbles, which, hitting our stool helmets, sounded like hnllstoucH. Upon arrival In tho II ro trench an olllcer of tho Itoynl Engineers gave us our Instructions and acted us guide. Wo wero to dig an advanced trench two hundred yard from tho Germans (tho trenches at this point wero six hundred yards apart). Two winding lanes, fivo feet wide, had been cut through our barbed wire, Trench Digging. for tho passage" of the diggers. From these lines, white tnpo hud been laid I on the ground to the point where wo i were to commence work. This In or der that we would not get lost In the darkness. The proposed trench was also laid out with tape. Tho covering party went out first. After a short wnlt, two scouts camo back with Information that tho work ing party was to follow and "curry on" with their work. In extended order, two yards apart, wo noiselessly crept across No Man's Land. It was nervous work; every minute we expected n machine gun to open fire on us. Stray bullets "cracked" around us, or a ricochet sangi over head. Arriving at tho taped diagram of the trench, rifles slung around our shoulders, wo lost no time lu getting to work. Wo dug us quietly us pos sible but every now und then the noise of a pick or shovel striking u stono would send tho cold shivers down our backs. Under our breaths wc heartily cursed tho offending Tommy. At Intervals a star shell would go up from the German lines and wo would remain motionless until tho glnro of Its white light died out. When tho trench had reached u depth of two feet wo felt safer, bo cause It would afford us cover In case wo wero discovered nnd fired on. Tho digging had been In progress about two hours, when suddenly hell seemed to break looso In tho form of machlno-guu and rlflo fire. Wo dropped down on our bellies In tho shallow trench, bullets knocking up the ground and snapping In tho nlr. Then shrapnel butted In. Tho music wus hot and Tommy danced. Tho covering party was having n rough tlmo of It; they had no cover; Just had to tako their medicine. Word was passed down tho lino to bent It for our trenches. Wo needed no urging; grabbing our tools nnd stoop ing low, wo legged It ncross No Mini's Land. Tho covering party got nwny to ii poor start but beat us In, They iniiNt have hud wlngH becuuso wo low ered tho record. Panting and out of breath, wo tum bled Into our froTifdlfio trench, I (nro my hands tttln' through our wire, but, at tho time, dldnt notlco It; my Journey wns ton urgent. When the roll wns called wo found that wo had gotten It lu tho iioho for i'l casualties. Our artillery put n barrage- on Frits' front-lino and communication trenches and their muchlnc-gun and rlllo tiro suddenly ceased, Upon tho cessation of this fire, stretcher bearers went out to look for killed niul wounded, Next day wo learned that 21 of our men had been killed and 117 wounded. Five men wero missing; lost In tho darkness, they must Imvo wandered over Into tho Gor man lines, where they wero either killed or captured. Speaking of stretcher hearers and wounded, It Is very hard for tho aver age civilian to comprehend, tho enor mous cost of taking caru ot wounded and tho war In general. Ho or nhu gets so accustomed to seeing billions of dot lars In print that tho significance of tho amount Is passed over without thought. From nn oftlclnl statement published In one of tho London papers, It Is stated that It costs between six and seven thousand pounds (10,000 to 000) to kill or wound n soldier. This result was attained by taking tho cost of the war to dato and dividing It by tho killed and wounded. It tuny sound heartless and Inhuman, but It Is n fact, nevertheless, that from u military standpoint It Is better fur n man to bo killed than wounded. Empey tells of many ways the soldiers havo of amusing them selves, In the next Installment. (TO ISIS CONTIKUKD.) IRREPARABLE LOSS TO WORLD Literary Treasures Destroyed by the Huns at Louvaln Can Never Do Replaced. No reparation can restoro to tho I world tho galleries whero Charles V I ruler of almost all Europe, pored over old learning, asserts tho Toronto Mnll and Empire. There Is no way to ro- placo the 2.10,000 manuscripts which went up In smoko nnd ashes on Aug. 27, 10H. Mankind Is permanently poorer by tho destruction of complcto sets of nil sixteenth-century editions of Virgil, nineteen sixteenth-century editions of Terrence. ten of Snllust, complcto sixteenth-century editions of Tncltus, Seneca, Martial, Ovid, Horace, Juvcnnl. Llvy. Lucretius, Luclnn, Cic ero and Caesnr. Itaro copies of Aris totle and tho Impcrlshnblo Greeks are lost forever; priceless early Bibles, wholo libraries of ecclesiastical history and civil laws, texts Illuminated and Initialed nnd bordered by tho patient labor of Spanish, German and Lowland monks. "Hero wns tho truth regard ing tho Spanish Conquest nnd tho grip of tho Inquisition." There wero innth einatlcal treasures also, First Irish Coaching Company. In 1815, an Italian, named lllanconl, started tho first coaching company In Ireland, running long cars over vari ous regular routes. Long cars soon became tho safest nnd most reliable means of traveling over Ireland, and lllanconl turned rich and prosperous. Writing In or about 18-12, Mr. nnd Mr Hall, who hove written i.iuch of Ire- i land, tell us tl at "per -jus of the high est respectability" used tho lung cars I for traveling. At (his time, although these cars passed through 123 towns, they hud not made Ualr way Into the north of Ireland. The cam varied con siderably In si, reqnlrlo? from one to four horses. The faro, even over the rockiest roads In tho West, was two pence farthing a mile. Tho Knits care fully oxplalr. that pi.ss ngorit were pro vided with "dry and comfortable horse hair cushions and apror.V and that, in wet weather, tho long errs never Jour neyed inoro thar. two :tages without changing tho cushions. Eucalyptus Valuable Tree. KucnlyptiiH will grow under many adverse conditions, so long no thoy are protected from frost. The young trees cannot stand frost, and thin fact has restricted tho growth of the species to certain favorable seotlons of Cali fornia and tho Southwest. On the other hand, tho trues will thrive on very poor soil nnd they do not rcqulro very much attention. Some of tho largest commercial plantations, main tained by railroad companies for tlo mnklng purposes, nro located along the shores of tho Pacific ocean near San Diego, whero their principal raolsturo comes from tho heavy fogs tlmt roll In from tho sea, and which aro absorbed by tho leirVes. Spoiled the Good Thing, Hobby had n bad habit of wuklng up In tho inlddlo of ho nlglit and crying dismally until ono of his parents would walk him to sleep again, Ono night Ilobblo began to cry and his mother said to her husband; "Dear, you'd better walk tho baby," Futhor grum bled nnd baby howled mid finally spoko up Hnbblngly: "Vex, dear; I fink yotl had holler walk the biiby," After this hlu habit was no loni- Indulged. BOY SCOUTS (Conducted by NnllonsI Council ot the Hoy ttcout ot America.) BOY SCOUTS AND RELIGION Scouting presents greater opportuni ties for tho development of tho boy re ligiously than does any ot!r move ment Instituted solely for the hoys. Its aim to develop the boy physically, men tally and morally Is being realised very widely. Tho movement has heeii developed on such broad lines as to embrace all classes, all creeds, nnd at thu same time to allow tho greatest possible In dependence to Individual organiza tions, otllcers nnd boyn. The Hoy Scouts of America maintain that no boy can grow Into tho best kind of citizenship without recognis ing his obligation to 'God. As an or ganised body, therefore. It recognize tho religious element In thu training of a boy, hut It Is absolutely nnnsectarlnn In Its attitude toward that religious training. If ho be a Itoman Catholic boy scout, the church of which ho Is a member Is tho best channel for his training. If ho be u Hebrew boy, then tho synngoguo will train him lu the faith of Ids fathers. If he be a Protes tant, no matter to what denomination of Protestantism ho may belong, the church of which he Is an adherent or a member should ho the proper organi zation to give him nn education In thu things that pertain to his nlleglance to God. And ngnln, the observance of tho scout law, the tremendous collective volume of "dally good turns," and thu creation of better feeling among mil lions of scouts of our own and other lands constitute n latent but powerful and rapidly growing factor for univer sal good will and peace. PEn8HINQ'3 COU8IN A 8COUT. Dr. James U. Pershing, n scout master of Troop No. 1 of Oklnhomn City, has been chosen to net ns scout executive there. Dr. Pershing Is n cousin of General Pershing of the Untied States army. Dr. Pershing has gono to National headquarters In New York with this letter from his local scout council: "Make possible, to him every avenue of cducntlon that will be of help to him In better preparing him for the ofllce, tho duties of which he Is to tnke up. He has had many years of prac tical education, gained from actual ex perience In the work with boys, and what he will probably need from your otllco most Is that help that will more particularly apply to tho duties of n scout executive. "Ho Is coming (o your city for this direct training at the Instance of some of our most prominent business men and they will appreciate your efforts in his behalf. They havo every con fidence In -him and feel that he has tho making lu him of tho best scout execu tive In our country." SCOUT LEADER8 NOT EXEMPT. This question hits como up several times. Itecently the chief scout execu tive received a telegram from the pres ident of n local council, as follows: "Scout executive called to tho colors. In your opinion would ho not bo ublu to serve Ills country better as scout executive than us a private soldier? If so, please uso yotir Influence to havo him transferred to class II or C, There Is no other man available that can car ry on tho work nt this time," Mr. James K. West replied ns fol lows : "Sincerely regret inability to do ns you request. Wo have followed policy of not asking special consideration of any scout nlllclal, regardless of local conditions. Paramount need nt this moment Is men who can servo, and tho danger of establishing precedents Is so grcnt that It would prove embar rassing to government for us to make a request for tiny special considera tion." THE BOY SCOUT. O, lltllo boy neon 1 1 so llm and trim, in KanKi nine niul campaign nai. You're helping to wta tho groat world wai And dolmr butter than most nt that. You'vo a packot of war stamps put away In a handkerchief box for n, rainy day, And a sarden spaded to plaat with greens, Corn, potatoes and limn beans. Hut, little boy scout, thoro's inoro to do) upon your cars una pcoi your eves. For tho sake of tho flag you lovo and serve Follow the trail of the Teuton antes. Over tho country nnd through the town Wutch nnd listen and track Ilium down, And for every nno you land In the pen You'll save (lie lives of u thousand men, -MIMHjV IllVJNII, III NuW Y0IK HUH. (