| Show OVER THE TOP Empey Tells o of Traveling by Cattle I Car to o Rouen for fOT Intensive Training Training Training Train Train- ing His First Sound o of Big Guns an and Companionship With Cooties S SYNOPSIS OF OP PRECEDING G CHAPTERS nS In yesterdays yesterday's Installment Arthur Guy Empey Empe of Ogden having pret previously pre pre- t related his experience In going from New York and London and enlisting In the British arm army in being assigned to a special recruiting detail and arid in falling Calling to secure a single Ingle recruit after aCter three weeks weeks' trial told of being sent to a a. training depot There he got outfitted and dressed up After Arter a brief brier unsatisfactory service In the mess he volunteered ered to Join re re ments at the front He arrived somewhere in France By Arthur Guy Empey s 1 CHAPTER II II Continued Continued Copyright 1918 W WE 8 slept in the th open open that night on the side of a road About 6 the next moi morning ning we were ordered to entrain I looked around for the pass passenger passenger pas pas- s coaches coache ca hc hut hint all I could see on the time siding were cattle cars We Ve climbed into these On the side of each car was a sign S. S When hen reading Hommes 40 JO Ch Chevaux we got goot inside of the cars w we thought that perhaps the tho si sign n painter had re reversed reversed re- re vcr versed pd the order of ot things thing After for for- ty-el ty eight ty-eight ht hours In the these HJ trucks we wo det detrained de do t trained at Rou Rouen n. n At t this place t we e went through an intensive training fo fur for forten r ten tell days daYrl This training consisted d of the rudiments rudi rudl- ments of trench warfare Trenches s hud bud been dug with barbed barbed- wire barbed wire d-wire wire entanglements bombing saps sups dugouts observation ob 01 s l n posts and machine gun em cot placements We Ve were given Iven a smattering smattering toying of trench cooking sanitation n 1 rC oh l eu en enin euIng in ing posts pot constructing and repairing g barbed wire currying carrying in iii PHI parties ties methods u used ed in attack and defense wiring parties mass formation and th the e procedure dure for poison gas attacks On the time tenth day we t e again met ou our r friends Hommes 40 Chevaux 8 S. S Thir t- t six ty-six Ix hours hour more of misery and und we arrived arrive at the to town tori ri of or F F- F After Arter unloading our rations and equipment we lined up on the road h In t columns o 0 of fours waiting wailing fur for tho the order order order or or- der to tu marchA march A A dull rumbling could be he heard The sun was shining 1 I turned to the manon man manon manon on my left and asked time the noise Bill Dill He lie did not know but his face was of or a pea-green pea color J Jim hn on un my Ii right ht also did not nul know but su suggested ested that I 1 a l the sergeant Coming towards us tie was an old grizzled grizzled griz Sri ser sergeant cant properly fed up with the war wal so I awaked him Think Its It's going to rain sergeant He lIe looked at me mc to In n contempt and grunted it ler er rain with the bloomin sun a shinin I 1001 looked cd guilty guilt rhems the guns up the line melad me mo melad lad and you'll get et enough of or cm om before be before before be- be fore you gets back to mighty Blighty My Iy knees s seemed to will wilt an and I squeaked out a weak Oh Then we started our march match up to the theline theline line IIno in ten kilo treks After Arter the first days day's march we arrived at atour our rest billets billets bil bil- lets In France they call them rest billets bil bil- lets because while In them Tommy works seven days a week and on the ei eighth clay day of or the week he is given twenty four Cour hours of or his own Our billet was a spacious affair a large barn on the left lert side Bide of the road which had entrances ninety pine for Tor shells rats wind and rain and the tho hundredth one Ivr Tomm Tommy I was tired out and using m my shrapnel proof helmet helmet helmet hel hel- met shrapnel proof until a piece of or shrapnel hits lilts it H or tin hat for tor a pillow pillow pil pil- low lay down In the straw and was soon tat fast asleep I must have slept Continued on Page 2 2 rt Over the Top Continued From Page PaSe 1 1 a about out two t hours when 1 awoke with witha a n prickling sensation nil all over m me As 8 AsI I T thought the straw had worked through m my uniform I woke wolo up the theto to fellow 11 0 lying on 11 my i left rt who had been een up tho the line before and asked him Does Docs the straw bother you mate It Its It's worked 1 through m my uniform and andI I cant can't sleep In a n sleepy II voice olee he answered That aln t straw them's cooties tootles I From rom that time on m my friends the cooties coolies were constantly with m me Cooties or body lice arc are the bane of or Tommys Tommy's existence The Thc aristocracy lit of if the trenches ver very ry I seldom call them cooties tootles the they speak of or them 33 as fleas Jels To an all American tIl flea fica means a small Insect armed aimed with frith n a bayonet who Is I wont to jab jah It t Into you OU and then hop skip and Jump to lo the next place to bo be attacked There In is an advantage antage In lit I having fleas on you Instead of or cooties tootles In that in ono one of if r his extended Jumps said flea tea Is liable to land on th the tho fellow fellow fellow fel fel- I low n next to you he lie has the typical ener energy n and push o ol of the American while the cootie ha has the bulldog tenacity of the Englishman I he holds on and consolidates tJ or or ul rugs 4 In until his meal I Is finished There Thero Is Ie no wU way tray to get rid of them permanently No n mutter how often you bathe and that Is not nut often otten cr very or 01 how many times you OU change your mm nn- nn r. your jour friends s. s the cooties s. s are alwn always s 's In evidence c The billets j jare I iare are arc infested with them especially especial so if Ie there thele is iR stow on the floor f I I r have e taken a bath and put on I bran new brand new underwear In fact a complete com com- ehan change chango o of or uniform and IlIIn 1 then turned In for COI time the nl night ht The next morning m my shirt would be full Cull of or them It Is a n common sight to see eight or ten soldiers sitting under a n tree with the their l' l shirts over o their knees en engaging In iii a n shirt hunt At night about half hair an no hour before lights lIght out you rou can see ee tho the Tommies grouped around a candle trying In its dim light lIht to rid ild their underwear o of the vermin A popular an and veT very quick method is to take your shirt and drawers draw draw- ers is and run the seams Reams back hack and forward forward for tor- ward in the lam from the candle and burn them out This practice is la dangerous dangerous dan dan- erous because you jou ou are lIa liable ble to burn b holes In the garments If It you OU are arc not careful Recruits generally sent to Blighty DlIght for fora forn a n brand of or Insect powder lOwllEr advertised ad as asgood asgood good for bod body lice The advertisement advertisement advertise advertise- ment mentis Is quite cuite right the powder is good for tOl coolies cooties th they simply thrive on It The older ohler men of ot our battalion were wiser and made scratches out of or woo wood These were ru rubbed ed smooth with a bit bitof bitof of or stone or sand to prevent pre splinters The They were about eighteen IlIch Inches long and Tommy Tomm guarantees that a scratch- scratch er r of this length will reach nil any part of the body which mn may be e attak attacked Some of tho thin fellows were la lazy y and only made their twelve twel inches but hut man many mammy a night hen on guard lookIng lookIng look look- Ing Ins over o the top from the fire step of or orthe the front line trench the they would have o given ghen a n thousand nd quid qui to for I the other six Inches Once while we were In re rest t billets an Irish Hussar re regiment camped In an open field opposite our billet After the they had picketed and fed ed their horses a general shirt hunt took place The troopers trooper I Ignored ored the call Dinner up and kept on with their se search for big game They had a curious method of oC proc procedure dure The They hUn hung mung their shirts over o overa oera a hedge a and md beat them with their en entrenching entrenching en- en trenching tool handles les I asked one of or them why the they dl didn't nt pick them off ore b by hand and he answered answered an an- I We e haven't ha had a bath for tor nine weeks s or a n change of cla clabber ber If Ie I tried to trick pick the cooties off orr my shirt 1 would be here for duration o of war var After taking a it close lose look at his shirt I agreed with him it was alive The greatest shock a n recruit gets when he arrives at his battalion In France Is to seo see the men engaging In Ina ina a a. hunt With an air all of or contempt contempt contempt con con- tempt and disgust he avoids the company compan company com com- pany pan o of the older men until a couple of or days das later In a torment of or Itching he lie also has inase to resort to a shirt hunt or spend man many a I. I sleepless night of or Durin During th these sc hunts there are lots lols o of pertinent remarks bandied back hack and forth among the explorers such Ruch as asSay asSay I Sa Say Bill Dill Ill III swap you OU two little little ones for fOI a hi big one or I Ie I vc ye got a black one here that looks like KaiRer Gaiser Bill BillOne One RUnn sunny day lIay In the front lIncI line lInc I trench I 1 saw flaw three officers sitting outside outside out out- I side of or their dugout cooties are arc no nore re respecters pc of rank rani I have even noticed a suspicious uneasiness about a certain certain tain well 1 well known general one of or them wa was a major two of them were c exploring exploring ing their shirts shirt paying hm no attention to the occasional shells which paRse passed overhead The major majol was writing a aletter aletter letter el e every now and then he would I lay aside hl his writing pad pall search his shirt for fOl a few fow minutes get geli an Inspiration Inspiration i tion lion and then resume writing At last ho he finished his letter and gave it to his runner I was curious to see seo whether he was writing to an Insect firm so po when the runner passed me I engaged him In conversation a glimpse at the address on n the en tJI en- It was addressed to Miss Alice Somebody In Iii London The runner In Informed informed In in- formed me that Miss 1155 Somebody was wn the majors major's sweetheart rt and that he wrote to herr her er e every da day Just Imagine It writing a love lo letter during a cootie coo tie tic hunt but such Is the creed of or the trenches I To 10 be continued 0 tomorrow |
