Mexico Missouri message., September 19, 1918, Image 6

About Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918

Image provided by: State Historical Society of Missouri; Columbia, MO

                
MEXICO MISSOURI MESSAGE, MEXICO, MISSOURI.
By;
Albert N. Depew
OopyrlcM, NIB, rr Beflly and Brlttoa Co., Thronfc Bplal ArriSf? With the
GUNIVTR DEPEW SHOWS THE
NAVAL GUNNER
6yncpala Albert N. Depew, author of the story, tells of his service
In Ue United States nary, daring which he attained the rank of chief
petty officer, first-class Conner. The world war starts soon after he
receives his honorable discharge from the nary, and he leaves for
France with a' determination to enlist
CHAPTER III.
In the Foreign Legion.
This time I was determined to en
list 80, when we landed at St Na
sal re. I drew my pay from the Vir
ginian and, after spending a week
with my grandmother, I went ont and
asked the first gendarme I met where
the enlistment station was. I had to
argue with aim some time before he
would even direct aie to It Of course
X had no passport and this made him
auspicious ot me.
The oflcer In charge of the station
was no warmer In his welcome than
the gendarme, and this surprised me,
because Murray and Brown had no
trouble at all In Joining. The French,
of coarse, often tpeak of the Foreign
Legion as "the convicts," because so
many legionaries are wanted by the
police of their respective conn tries,
but a criminal record never had been
a bar to service with the legion, and I
did not see why it should be now If
they suspected me of having one. I
bad heard there were not a few Qer
nans In the legion later on I became
acquainted with some and believe
me, no Alsatian ever fought harder
against the Huns than these former
Deutscblanders did. It occurred to
me then that If they thought I was
a German, because I bad no passport
I might have to prove I had been In
trouble with the kaiser's crew before
they would accept me. I do not know
what the real trouble was, but I solved
the problem by showing them my dis
charge papers from the American
navy. Even then, they were suspicious
because they thought I was too young
to have been a 0. P. O. When they
challenged me on this point, I said I
would prove It to them by taking an
examination.
They examined me very carefully,
In English, although I know enough
French to get by on a subject like
.gunnery. Bat foreign officers are very
proud of their knowledge of English
and most of them' can speak It and I
think this one wanted to show off, as
you might say. Anyway, I passed my
examination without any trouble,
was accepted for service in the For
eign Legion and received my commis
sion as gunner, dated Friday, January
X WW.
There Is no use In my describing the
foreign Legion. It Is one of the most
famous fighting organizations In the
world, and has made a wonderful rec
ord during the war. When I Joined La
Legion, It numbered about 60,000 men.
Today It has less than 8,000. They
say that since August 1814, the legion
has been wiped out three times, and
that there are only a few men still In
Service who belonged to the original
legion. I believe it to be true. In
January of this year the French gov
ernment decided to let the legion die.
I was sorry to hear It The legion
naires were a fine body of men, and
wonderful fighters. But the whole
civilized world Is now fighting the
Huns, and Americans do not have to
enlist with the French or the Limeys
-any longer.
. But one thing about the legion, that
I find many people do not know, is that
the legionnaires are used for either
land or sea service. They are sent wher
ever they can be used. I do not know
whether this was the case before the
present war I think not but in my
time, many of the men were put on
chips. Most people, however, have the
idea that they are only used In the In
fantry. With my commission as gunner, I
received orders to go to Brest and Join
the dreadnaught Cassard. This as
signment tickled me, for my pal Mur
ray was aboard, and I had expected
trouble In transferring to his ship In
case I was assigned elsewhere. We
bad framed it up to stick together as
long as we could. We did, too.
Murray was as glad as I was when
I came aboard, and be told me he had.
beard Brown, our other pal, had been
made a sergeant in another regiment
ot the legion.
We were both surprised at some of
the differences between the French
navy and ours, bnt after we got used
to It we thought many of their cus
toms Improvements over ours. But we
could not get used to it at first For
.Instance, on an American ship, .when
you are pounding your ear In a nice
warm hammock and It Is time to re
lieve the watch on deck, like as not
you will be awakened gently by a burly
.garby armed with a fairy -wand about
the alze of a bed elat whereas in
.French ships, when they call the
Stretch, you would think you were In a
well hotel and had left word at the
desk. It was hard to turn out at first,
without the aid .of a club, and harder
till to break ourselvoe of the habit
-4 uiax our relief in the gay and
Ex-Gunner and Chief Petty Officer, U.S. Navy
Member of the Foreign Legion of France
Captain Gun Turret. French BattleshipCaasard
Winner of the Croix d Cuerre
POILUS HOW AN AMERICAN
CAN SHOOT.
festive American manner, but as I
say, we got to like It after a while.
Then, too, they do not do any hazing
in the French navy, and this surprised
us. We hod expected to go through
the mill Just as we did when we Joined
the American service, bnt nobody elung
a hand ot us. On the contrary, every
garby aboard was kind and decent and
extremely courteous, and the fact that
we were from the States counted a lot
with them. They used to brag about
it to the crews of other ships that were
not so honored.
But this kindness we might have ex
pected. It la Just like Frenchmen In
any walk of life. With hardly an ex
ception, I have never met one of this
nationality wh cm not anxious to
help you In ZZ& way he could ; ex
tremely generous, though not reckless
with small change, and almost always
cheery and there with a smile In any
weather. A fellow asked me once why
it was that almost the whole world
loves the French, and I told him It was
because the French love almost the
whole world, and show it And I think
that la the reason, too.
Abont the only way you can describe
the Polios, on land or sea, Is that they
are gentle. That Is, you always think
that word when you see one and talk
to him unless you happen to see him
within bayonet distance of Fritz.
The French sailors sleep between
decks in bunks. Instead of hammocks,
and as I had not slept In a bunk since
my Southerndown days, It was pretty
hard on me. So I got hold of some
heaving line, which is one-quarter-inch
rope, and rigged up a hammock. In
my spare time I taught the others how
to make them, and pretty soon every
body was doing It
When I taught the 6allors to make
hammocks, I figured, of course, that
they would use them as we did that
is, sleep In them. They were greatly
pleased at first but after they had
tried the stunt of getting In and stay
ing In, It was another story. A ham
mock is like some other things it
works while you sleep and If you are
not on to it, you spend most of your
sleeping time hitting the floor. Our
gun captain thought I had put over a
trick hammock on him, but I did not
need to; every hammock is a trick
hammock.
Also, I taught them the way we
make mats out of rope, to use while
sleeping on the steel gratings near the
entrance to stoke holes. In cold weath
er this part of the ship is more com
fortable' than the ordinary sleeping
quarters, but without a mat It gets too
hot
American soldiers and sailors get
the best food in the world, but while
the French navy chow was not fancy,
it was clean and hearty, as they say
"With a Fourteen-lnch Gun I Scored
Three D's.
dewn East For breakfast we had
bread and coffee and sardines ; at noon
a boiled dlnnor, mostly beans, which
were old friends of mine, and of the
well-named navy variety; at four in
the afternoon, a pint of vino and at
six, a supper of soup, coffee, bread and
beans.
Although the French "seventy-five"
is the best gun in the world, their na
val guns are not as good as ours, and
their gunners are mostly' older men.
But they will give a youngster a gun
rating if he shows the stuff.
Shortly after I went aboard the Cas
sard, we received Instructions to pro
ceed to Spezla, Italy, the large Italian
naval base. The voyage was without
mcldent but when we dropped anchor
.
Gmt Matthnr Adua Service
In Spezla, the Italian port officials
quarantined us for fourteen days on
account of smallpox. During this period
our food was pretty bad ; In fact the
meat became rotten. This could hard
ly have happened on an American ship,
because they are provisioned with
canned stuff and preserved meats, but
the French ships, like the Italian, de
pend on live etock, fresh vegetables,
etc., which they carry on board, and
we bad expected to get a large supply
of such stuff at Spezla. Long before
the fourteen days were up we were
out of these things, and bad to live on
anything we could get hold of mostly
hardtack, coffee and cocoa.
We loaded a cargo of airplanes for
the Italian aviators at the French fly
ing schools, and started back to Brest
On the way back we had target prac
tice. In fact at most times on the
open sea, It was a regular part of the
routine.
It was dnrlng one of these practices
that the Frencb officers wanted to
find out what the Yankee gunner knew
about gunnery. At a range of eight
miles, while the ship was making eight
knots an hour, with a fourteen-lnch
gun I scored three d's that is, three
direct hits out of five trials. After
that there was no question about it As
a result I was awarded three bars.
These bars, which are strips of red
braid, are worn on the left sleeve, and
signify extra marksmanship,- I also
received two hundred and fifty franca,
or about fifty dollars in American
money, and fourteen days' shore leave.
All this made me very angry, oh,
very much wrought up indeed not!
I saw a merry life for myself on the
French rolling wave If they felt that
way about gunnery.
I spent most of my leave with my
grandmother in St Nazalre, except for
a short trip I made to a star-shell fac
tory. This factory was Just about like
one I saw later somewhere In Amer
ica, only In the French works, all the
hands were women. Only the guards
were men, and they were "blesses"
(wounded).
When my leave was up and I said
good-by to my grandmother, she man
aged a smile for me, though I could
see that it was pretty stiff work. And
without getting soft or anything like
that, I can tell you that smile stayed
with me and it did me more good than
you would believe, because It gave me
something good to think about when I
was up against the real thing.
I hope a lot of you people who read
this book are women, because I have
had It In mind for some time to tell all
the women I could a little thing they
can do that will help a lot I am not
trying to be fancy about It, and I hope,
you will take It from me the way I
mean It
When you say good-by to your son
or your husband or your sweetheart,
work up a smile for him. What you
want to do Is to give him something he
con think about over there, and some
thing he will like to think about There
is so much dirt and blood,- and hunger,
and cold, and all that around yon, that
you have Just got -to quit thinking
about It or you will go crazy. And so,
when you can think about something
nice, you can pretty nearly forget all
the rest for a while. The nicest things
you can think about are the things you
liked back home.
Now, you can take It from me that
what your boy will like to remember
the best pf all Is your face with a
smile on It He has got enough bell on
his hands without a lot of weeps to re
member, if you will excuse the word.
But don't forget that the chances are
on his sldo that he gets back to you;
the figures prove It That will help
you some. At that, It will be hard
work; you will feel more like crying,
and so will he, maybe. But smile for
him. That smllo la your bit.
I will back a smile against the weeps
In a race to Berlin any time. ' "So I am
telling you, and I cannot make it strong
enough send him away with a smile.
CHAPTER IV.
On the Firing Line.
When I reported on the Cassard
after my fourteen days' leave, I was
detailed with a detachment ot the
legion to go to the Flanders front I
changed Into the regular uniform of
the legion, which Is about like that of
the Infantry, with the regimental
badge a seven-flamed grenade.
We traveled from Brest by rail, In
third-class cars, passing through La
Havre and St. Pol, and .finally arriving
at Bergues. From Bergues we made
the trip to DIxmude by truck a dis
tance of about twenty miles. We car
ried no rations with us, but at certain
places along the line the train stopped,
and we got our to eat our meals. At
every railroad station they have booths
or counters, and French girls work day
and night feeding the Poilus. It was a
wonderful sight to see these girls, and
it made you feel good to think you
were going to fight for thera.
It was not only what they did, but
the way they did It, and it is at things
like this that the French heat the
world. They could tell Just what kind
of treatment each Pollu needed, and
they saw to It that he got It They
took special pains with the men of the
legion, because, as they say, we are
"strangers," and that means, "tho best
we have Is your" to the Frencn. 'These
French women, young and old, could
be a mother and a sweetheart and a
sister all at the aame time to any hairy
old ex-convlct In the legion, and do It
la a way that made him feel like a lit
tle boy at the time and a rich church
member afterwards. The only thing
we did not like about this trip was
that there were not enough stations
along that line. There is a tip that
the French engineers will not take, I
am afraid.
There Is another thing about the
French women that I have noticed, and
that Is this : There are pretty girls In
every country under the sun, but the
plain girls In France are prettier than
the plain ones in other countries. They
might not show It In photographs, bnt
In action there Is something about
them that you cannot explain. I have
never seen an ugly French girl who
was not easy to look at.
We finally got to DIxmude, after
having spent about eighteen hours on
the way. On our arrival one company
was sent to the reserve trenches and
my company went to the front line
trench. We were not placed in train
ing camps, because most of us bad
been under fire before. I never had,
but that was not supposed to make
any difference. They say If you can
stand the legion you can stand any
thing. Before we entered the communica
tion trench, we were drawn up along
side of a crossroad for a rest and to
receive certain accoutrements. Pretty
soon we saw a bunch of Boches com
"I Got Wan From Each of Thlm Feb
las."
lng along the road, without their gunk,
a few of them being slightly wounded.
Some of them looked scared and oth
ers happy, but they all seemed tired.
Then we heard some singing, and pret
ty soon we could see an Irish corporal
stepping along behind the Huns, with
his rifle slung over his back, and
every once in a while he would shuf
fle a bit and then sing some more. He
bad a grin on blm that pushed his
ears back.
The British noncom who was de
tailed as our guide sang out: "What
kind of time are you having, Pat?"
The Irishman saluted with one
hand, dug the other Into his pocket
and pulled out enough watches to
make you think you were in a pawn
shop. "Oh, a foin tolm I'm havln',"
he says. "I got wan from each of thlm
fellas." We counted fourteen prison
ers In the bunch. Pat sure thought be
was rolling In wealth.
After we were rested up we were
Issued rifles, shrapnel helmets and
belts, and then started down the com
munication trench. These trenches
are entrances to the fighting trenches
and run at varying angles and vary
ing distances apart They are sel
dom wide enough to hold more than
one man, so you have to march single
file In them. They wind in and out,
according to the lay of the land, some
parts of thera being more dangerous
than others. When you come to a
dangerous spot you have to crawl
sometimes.
There are so many cross trenches
and blind alleys that you hove to have
a guide for a long time, because with
out one you are apt to walk through
an embrasure In a fire trench and
right out Into the open, between the
German front line and your own.
Which is hardly worth while I
If any part of the line Is under fire,
the guide at the head of the line Is on
the lookout for shells, and when be
hears one coming he gives the signal
and you drop to the ground and wait
until it bursts. You never get all the
time you want, but at that you have
plenty of time to think about things
while you are lying there with your
face in the mud, waiting to hear the
sound of the explosion. When you
hear It you know you have got at least
one more to dodge. If you do not bear
it well, most likely you are worrying
more" about tuning your thousand
string harp than anything else.
Depew gets his first experience.
In the front line trenches at
DIxmude and learns how the
British Tommies "carry on."
He tells about it In the next In
stallment (TO BE CONTINUED,)
8he Earned It
. My little daughter came in with a
penny. - I asked her where she found
It and she said: "I earned it You
see, Carter called me a bad girl and I
was going to flght blm, but be hfti
some pennies, so I told blm If be
would give mo a fcenny I woillda'l
oUt blm and ba did," ' 1
r- ,., ' . Hrff ' -.. -rX- . --b? yv-1 .,ri.ri J...JL -
Visiting Marines Made Victims of Soldiers' Joke
I. t
WASHINGTON. There was a bnseball game at the Florida avenue military
reservation between the Camp Meigs boys and the marines from Qunn
tlco. It was a gala day. All tho marines came to town to see the game, and
each marine had a gtrl on his arm.
Just within the gate to the camp,
and to ono side of tho guardhouse, was
an American flag, standing in the sod.
It was not a large flag, neither was it
a smell one, Just a medium-sized Amer
can flag.
Each marine passed through the
gate with his girl on his arm, all right
and each marine failed to see tho flag.
When It was taken into consideration
that the flag was Just without the
range of vision and the girl was well
within the range of vision, no one. need
feet ahead, the sergeant of the guard
back here. Leave your lady."
The wondering marine would turn
taught to salute the flag" the sergeant would ask.
Tp this question the marine would reply In the decided affirmative.
"Weil, then, why don't you do it?" the sergeant would say, pointing to the
flag.
The marine, seeing the flag for the
explain.
"That's all right" says the sergeant, "let's see you do It right, now.
And the marine would march by at salute, while his gtrl would grin from
afar, and Camp Meigs soldiers grouped
Of Course Her Middle Name Was Generosity, But
SHE was as gay as a knitting bag, in tan pongee all over green moons set
in pink triangles. Her tan straw was wreathed with more green moons.
only" they were grapes, and her tan
TOO
rllOhT
ClVE IT
ArYAY
exact size of the Venus do thingnmajig,
so that time I took art lessons on trial.
but it was such n lovely blue crossbar
"You might give it away." The unsympathizer was Just the right size for
checks.
"I see myself! I take notice people
hurry to give me things. The. trouble
gone and given my cousin a brown silk
self."
"That old foulard? What on earth
"I like your nerve why, woman,
"Forty-eleven years ago-
"The buttons alone were worth
as new, except at the elbows, and say,
on and have one."
She piloted the way from a remnant
cutting coupons, and, being so seriously troubled with generosity to say noth
ing of tho extended invitation you would have supposed that knitting bag
would have paid for both tickets, but
The treat was Dutch.
Dare Death and Injury
ASOCIAL atmosphere was given to an
passengers, who were obviously out
serious person aboard was the inotorman, who kept a firm grip on bis lever
and looked ahead with an ever-watch
ful eye.
Bach time the car stopped to let a
passenger get on or off people scut
tled across the track with the same
apparent inscrutability that mnkes a
hen cross a road. No one seemed the
least afraid of being run over. Such
reckless flirtation with danger .sur
prised at least, one stranger-looking
man who sat on a front seat and could
Bee what was going on.
"Say, motorman, I'm new to this
burg. What's the matter with the people here? Do they all belong to the
suicide club? First thing you know you
itant or two under your wheels."
"They don't mean anything by it. I suppose they know we are keeping a
sharp lookout all the time. I reckon there's some sort of excuse, at that You
see, we ore forever ripping up tracks here and there overtown and folks get
so used to seeing a car poke along over broken places that for a week after a
place is mended people risk their lives like this. We have only been mended
up a couple of days hi, there I"
The motorman stopped his Just-started car with a mighty wrench that
Jerked it to a standstill. '
Otherwise a short-skirted young person in high-heeled slippers and floppy
panama would have bad her name In the papers next day in the obituary
column.
Anyway, Oldish Man Had a Way With the Babies
A WOMAN with a baby over her shoulder Bat down in a car seat offered to
her by a somewhat oldish mun. The baby started in to fret The mother
blushed the' red that means embarrassment you know how yon "would feel.
Ntii .
given up his seat, caught tho, small thing's interest with his silver-knobbed cane.
The baby quieted down. The man dandled his cane and the baby chuckled.
The woman beamed reliefs The passengers smiled approbation and the cane
man looked the pride of one who conquers. And when the baby hud chuckled
itself into a doze and the man was getting out, the woman ventured to thank
ill in tor his kindness and to say that he must be a father himself, to have such,
a-happy understanding of children.
"No, madam. No such good fortune. I era Just on old bachelor, buti 1
raus lay, I have a way with the young ladles," '
It wus supposed to be a little Joke and the passenger accepted 'fc at full ,
value, especially the mother aud another woman who Broiled inscrutably at cash,
other as if as if tliey understood about blue ribbon
wonder. As the marine would get 20
would call him. "Hey, you, marine. Come
and return, "nave you ever been
first time, would blush and start to
around would smile.
feet were classy enough for store ads.
Also she was mad enough to bite nails.
She said so. Having expressed her
willingness to partake of cold Iron
she paused for the woman with her
to wedge In a sympathetic remark
which was where she made her mis
take. . ' " J
"I don't see how you could expect
a store to take back goods you have cut
Into. , You were foolish to have bought
It in the first place, seeing you are too
chunky for checks." .
."I'm no such a thing I I'm the
except in height. The teacher tcld me
I know stripes make me look taller.
and now I suppose I've got to wear it"
don't tumble over themselves in their
with me is I'm too generous. I've Just
that I could have made over for my
did she want with It?"
that goods cost me $7 when I bought It"
and the last lining I put in was as good
I'm scorching Inside for a soda. Come
counter to where the soda clerk was
nay
Under Trolley Car Wheels
Avenue enr by the majority of the
for a denatured joy ride. The one
are going to be stopped by un Inhab
your own self, with a lot of passengers
wishing you and your child were In
Halifax make It Jericho, It sounds
farther and you could see she was
worried half to death. But the baby
lacked the finer emotions. He merely
considered his lungs. Of course, it
might have been a she-being, but It ,
didn't matter. It could bawl either
way. '
The woman was getting more wor
ried every instant, and the baby
buwllcr, when the oldish man who had