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Show YANK SOLDIERS COOL, WILLING AND DETERMINED Our Doucihboys Mean Business When They Take the First-Line First-Line Trenches. THEIR EFFICIENCY EVIDENT Veterans Before They Enter the Trenches, by First-Rate Military Training if Not by Experience Every Man In Line Has Personal Grudge to 1 Settle With Huns. With the American Troops In Als:ice-I.orrnlue. Als:ice-I.orrnlue. I'y the dim llht of the moon you could hnroly see the st renin of doughboys pouring out of the sheltering shel-tering woods nnd sernptng over the dusty French roiul townrd the trenches. Tlu'y suld very little nnd trudged nlong with that measured swinging trend which enables Kurope's veterans to carry their heavy packs almost unheard-of distances. The stream seemed unending, as the United Press staff car picked its way from squad to squad without using lights, without falling In ditches and without touching a single douirM.ey. Finally one section of the human stream halted In n ruined village. The press car stopped, too, for beyond this point everything except ammunition and food goes on foot. The officers gave the order to rest, nnd a lot of parks dropped to the pround, followed by doughboys. Their Cenuans came over, and lll'l.v of these "untrained boys" withstood the attack and stuck to their guns. The (lerinnns who were still alive and able to run, retreated, double-quick time. All In Day's Work. Speaking of the way the newly arrived ar-rived Americans take to the trenches and to their duties, one brigadier general, gen-eral, who had .lust finished a complete relief, said: "They're not exactly glad to get Into the trenches. 1 guess no one Is glad of thai, l'.ut these boys all tlgure It's work to he done, and they're here to lick (lerinnns. They're keen to get the job done. They're oon-lldent, oon-lldent, all right, but not boastful, because be-cause they know there's a lot to learn." A doughboy gave his version of how ho nnd his pals felt while out there facing No Man's Land for the tirst time. "We're not scared of the C.er-maus, C.er-maus, and when the time conies, we'll show them. We're going to do our best, which Is about all they ask of us. Helleve me, it's going to be a mighty good best." The new men in the lighting game adapt themselves to the front quickly as did the llrst Americans over. Kvery night It Is "over the lop" for patrols of them, and In a few days they are entirely en-tirely familiar with No Man's Land. The Herman front trenches next fall in tbo line of investigation nnd the Germans soon adopt the policy of falling fall-ing back to avoid lighting. Hack of the lines on the home side, bald; clerks, barbers and men of every profession who have temporarily become be-come soldiers soon make themselves nt home among the ruins and In woods. They eat army "grub" nnd relish It more than the most delicate meal lh"y ever ate from a white linen covered table nnd real dishes, especially if there lias been work to do. Soldier ins ngrees with them, you can see, by the work they do, the meals they eat and the huskies they have become. Chauffeur Gets "Fresh." Discipline is tine, even If It is hard. A major tells how his chauffeur became be-came a little "fresh" one day. Knowing Know-ing the doughboy was a good chap, the nnJor took him aside and talked to him Instead of "bawling him out" before be-fore the crowd. The doughboy apologized. apolo-gized. "I'm sorry. m,r." he said. "You see T own n couple of businesses back-In back-In New York, and have more than a million dollars In my own name, and it's a little hard to remember my place in the army now. Eut I'll do it, soiu how." You think you nre In nn lnternntion-ul lnternntion-ul army when you visit some of the new American units now In the lines. One company from New York boasts that its members know seventeen languages, lan-guages, nnd If you wander In on them about mess time, when talking nnd nnen they never dropped. In the moo-i-light you could see the ground covered with resting soldiers, mostly sitnng. There was a clicking of rifles anil Sounds of tightening packs, nnd tilts of gossip which could come vily from a irroup heading for its first night ia the t -endus. indifferent to Danger. Tliest were Uncle Sam's citizen soldiers, sol-diers, new men Just over from "the states," as they have a habit of calling home when over here. A few questions ques-tions revealed the fact that a year ago tfese boys were clerks, carpenter students nnd whatnot, in civilian clothes. Six months nu-o they were !n n training camp. Now they wer- foI-d:ers foI-d:ers in France. 5ind tonight they wete making their genuine debut into the w.:r for civilization There was no wild enthusiasm nor any evidence of fear or even nntire-hens'en nntire-hens'en among those citizen-soldiers as they rested before making the last inn intc the trenches. There was a rrrrrer-of-fact sort of confiden t prevalent, prev-alent, and every man was making the mor of the breathing spell to see th4 t he was 300 per cent ready for battle Interest nnd talk centered n round the clicking rifles and other equipment. "This old gun's sure going to do some work from now- on," said one doughboy to his pal, as he played with the rifle fondly. "It's the best gun In this r.rray." "Say. jou never shot O'S gun." replied re-plied the other. "Nobody ever did, and nobody will but mp. It's some Boche-petter. Boche-petter. Ic was made for me 'spee'ully, Bo." Officers went through the crowd, giving giv-ing a final warning about use of gas masks, and attention centered around masks for a moment. A lot of chaps tried them on again. Then packs ngni-n were adjusted, and the group of doughboys dough-boys streamed slowly on. Ready for Business. As they got nearer the front trenches the word was passed to walk more quietly. Conversation except in undertones un-dertones stopped, and they descended Into trenches. AH you heard was the steady knock of hobnailed shoes on the trench duckhoards, ns those i ew arrivals were quietly Initiated fi the trendies in France. Quietly and without with-out commotion the officer? stationed their men. with lookouts watching across moonlit No Man's Lnnd, the former occupnnts of the trenches left, and the relief was completed. There Is something nhout the fearless fear-less quiet way these new doughboys take the trenches that makes you feel they know a lot about warfare. They are veterans before they enter the trenches, by first-rate military training if not experience. Their discipline dis-cipline is fine, and their efficiency tells you they nre ready for business meaning whipping Germans. "Well, you can tell Kaiser Rill we're here to fight," said one doughboy, ns he took liis station. "Hear the Germans Ger-mans say we're Just a crowd of untrained un-trained boys. We'll soon show them we're soldiers." , It happens this doughboy's platoon did It very soon. The next night ir.O plates full of "grub" have been emptied, emp-tied, you nre convinced. But nil of these doughboys nre ardent ar-dent Americans, nnd they have won the admiration of their comrades who can speak the tongue without an accent. ac-cent. They are nil snappy looking soldiers. sol-diers. Sure of Success. The new unfts have dragged their clean and fresh-looking equipment, such as supply wagons, oniiip kitchens, mnehine-gun outfits nnd all that is needed up into the Alsace and Lorraine hills. The line runs vp and down steep mountain sides and across pretty valleys. val-leys. It is beautiful' country nnd a fine Jace to be Initiated to the front, for the doughboy must be on the alert all the time. In this nrvtt there is a shell-swept, well-wired No Man's Land ncross which Germans cans?ot come without being easily detected. Woods and hills and wild country mnKe the place one in which only strict attention atten-tion to business will keep the Germans out. These doughboys in the line have no hankering to "take things easy." Every Ev-ery man in the line will tell you in confidential tones that he has a personal per-sonal grudge to- settle with the Huns for dragging the world into this nasty business, and the sooner aggressive action is taken the sor-ner Germany is going to be punished r-nd war made a thing of the past. This is the job every doughboy figures fig-ures he has to do, nnd the confidence with which he tnkes to the trenches tells the world he will succeed. |