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Show WANTS TO FIGHT, , BUT jNAMERICA James Bracy, Black, of Ports-mouth, Ports-mouth, Doesn't Care for Foreign Legion. "SCRAPS" AROUND WH0LEL0I Isn't Afraid of the Germans, but Wants to Battle With Thm at Home Where He Knows the Country. By FRED B. PITNEY. Paris. "Yo ull is Americans, isn't ye?" It was. a very plaintive query, indeed, in-deed, and I turned from the automobile automo-bile in which I had ridden into La Vallbonne, the headquarters of the foreign for-eign legion, to see a small and very black negro in the uniform of the French army watching me anxiously. "Yes," I replied, "we are Americans. Ameri-cans. Are you'.'" "Ynssuh," said the negro. "Je suis Americain. Parlez-vous Anglais? Al comes fom Po'tsmo'th, Virginia. Mall, name is James Bracy, suh. James Bracy, B-r-a-c-y. Is yo' got dat uama right? Perhaps, yo' wants to write it down?" James was not martial. He was feline. He was like a small kitten, playing around, begging to be scratched behind. the ears. "How do you come to be here?" I asked. "Ah come in a grand ship to Bordeaux, Bor-deaux, wrastlin' hosses," he replied, "an' when Ah got there, there wasn't no way to git back, so Ah 'listed." "How long ago was that?" "Eight months, suh." He Knows Norfolk. "I suppose you know Norfolk, James." "Norfolk?" exclaimed James. "Why, of co'se Ah knows Norfolk. An comes from Po'tsmo'th." "And Old Point Comfort?" "Suh?" "Old Point Comfort, Chamerblain's hotel, Fortress Monroe." "No, suh. Ah don't know none of dem." "But if you come from Portsmouth and know Norfolk, you must know Old Point. It's only eight miles away." "Aw-h," said James, "you means Hampton Roads. Why, yassuh, Ah knows Hampton Roads. Ah sailed out-tah out-tah Hampton Roads when Ah come heah." James crept a little closer, and became be-came confidential. "Does yo' all reckon reck-on America is goin' to git into de wah?" he asked. "Do you want America to come In?" I queried. "Yassuh," he said eagerly. "Yassuh, Ah suo' does want America to come into dis heah wah." "Why?" Wants to Fight Germans. "Cause,", he replied, "ev'ybody roun' heah says if America comes in we all Americans 'd be 'matically released an' could go home. An," he added, pleadingly, "Ah sho' would like to weah some clo'es again some reg-lai clo'es. Dese heah ain't clo'es, rightly speakin', an' Ah sho' would like to weah some clo'es again, suh." "But don't you want to fight the Germans, James?" I asked. "Y'assuh, yassuh," he said. "Yassuh, "Yas-suh, Ah wants to fight de Germans. But Ah wants to fight 'em at home. Ah sho' wants to lick de Germans to a finish. But Ah wants to do it in de United States of America. Ahse eager to fight de Germans. Dey ain't nobody moh eager'n Ah am to fight 'qui in Po'tsmo'th, Virginia, wheah Ah knows de country an' de people an' Ah can fight 'em right." "You must have had some experience experi-ence already, James," I said. "You have been in the legion eight months ; you must have done some scrapping." "Oh, yassuh," he replied. "Ah done right considahbul scrappin'." "What part of the front have you been to?" I asked. Scraps Around a Whole Lot. "Ah ain't been to de front," he .saif "Theah's a couple of other fellahs an me scraps nroun' heah a whole lot. Sometimes we wrastles an' sometimes we scraps, but mostly we scraps." AVe had gone to La Vallbonne to see the American members of the foreign for-eign legion who were still at the depot, and 1 asked James if we would sec him in the squad. "No, suh," he said, "Ah ain't goin' to he in it." "Why not?" I asked. "Ah heahd yo' all was comin'," he explained, "and Ah went to Sergeanl Bouligny an' Ah says to him, Ah says salutin' of co'se, 'sergeant,' Ah says 'when de gemmuns comes to see d legion. Ahse ready, when yo' is. Yo' can call on me,' Ah says. "But Sergeant Bouligny comes fron: New Orleans, an' he looked at me an he says, 'AVe don't need you,' he says an' he turned 'roun' an' walked away. Ah reckon it's 'cause Ah'm eullurt, sc. Ah come ovah heah to a.sk yo if yo all thinks MisJ.uh Wilson is goin' to dc anything 'bout de wah so we all can go homo." |