Salt Lake Tribune | 1918-03-10 | Page 30 | Sammies are Great for War Souvenirs

FOR iiOlli Monster Guns, Lion Cubs and Red Breeches Popular Pop-ular as Mementoes. Tli ft rr.or. enthusiastic a nd comprehensive- collectors of souvenirs in tho world, nefordiii.c; to an amusing article bv Misa an'-he McMunus In the Marcti Issue of AJoToi:, tJ,e national maazlr.o of motor-in motor-in if, are the American hoys driving motor mo-tor vehicles of various rorta 1 ri France. The average American soldier or civilian in the war zone Is limited in his collecting collect-ing to easily portable objects, but the driver of a motor iriick or ambulance has ready "to hand a means of ettlny away with a ht.-Mvicr sort of "loot." .Mi-'-'s McAIanus tells of meeting a youns Americ,-iii camion driver on his way into I'aris for live davs' hrave. "Straj.ped -ohdly mi tii,; guuriJs on either side of his hi i,' friu-k was 'loot' lu the shape of two hm.'ky Irvncii moruirs. siznhle ev.in beside ins h'n truck. "So that 's the kind of freight yon bandit-,' I remarked interest, inter-est, -dly. 'Freight N'o. Those are pimjay a i i.i. i" t. of mv war souvenirs,' returned the bcimhiL,' youth from up state, bntfirmlnj? eauei'ly to exhibit what was still work-niih work-niih of thp we ipons' meciiauism for my benefit. These discarded cutis mi.iit have been scrapped in any other than in-P'-nlous American hans, hut Youi'i.er America dc-ian.-fl for nothing of the kind I and declared that he Intended to put liu-m In shape for Fourth of July salutes j lu his honiH town." Personal tastes h.ivo the widest possible nini'e in the acquirement of souvenirs, which ficem to ran-e from invalided field ;:uns throuqli trench mortars, hnche rifles, i,'.-is masks, t i-ench helmets, hi tn of Zeppelin Zep-pelin framework, hand erenades, "duds," hunnlsh idckellia nbes, poilu earrings from Ihe trenches, tli nt lighters contrived by the Ingenious French soldiers from cart rldtfo cases, doss, lion cubs. " red breeches and heaven knows what other unconsidered trifles. Indeed the collecting collect-ing zest has not stopped short of thlnps human, or should we say divine, for not a few of our boys have "collected" fair French demoiselles, whom they purpose carrying off to add to the pulchritude of their own home towns. .Miss McManus, writing from Paris, relates re-lates amusingly her experiences as a sort of informal custodian of souvenirs of the . ni erica n automobile contingent. "Lit tie thing's Indeed," she exclaim.'?. "I am living liv-ing In tho midst of the most modern lypes, more or- less fragmentary, of most of the modern engines of war. f havo not a chair to sit on that is not occupied occu-pied by shell eases ami dare not move any thins on the writing table for fear that one or another -of the .gremides may not have had its fire pulled. Gas masks exhaling musty odors hang on my ea.-:c! j a nd trench helmets adorn Ihe heads of ! statues. The corners are heaped with all sorts of debris of trench life "deposited there hy young wn r ri ors wh o may be nmbulnneing, camion iner or aeroplanlng or i engaged in relief work with the French armies. They come driving up In trucks and cars white with the chalky dust of the Champagne or the mire of the Aisne and unload their plunder with the blithe request: 'Will vou please keep them for a little while.?' "