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SAND SHOTS FROM
112TH REGIMENT
Two Band Boys Mafried. Quar
antine Keeps Whole Regiment
in Camp. Major •Smathers
Commands Organization for a
Time.
The 112th Infantry Band left its
home station in Oil City last Septem
ber with only one member a married
man—Musician Francis Maloney, and
now there are so many Benedicts in
the outfit that statisticians are begin
ning to lose .count. Two more band
boys were married during the past
week —Leonard Rumburg to Miss
Agnes Gilten, of Oil City, and Claude
R. Moore, to Miss Clara Schorman,
pf the same city. The weddings took
place on Wednesday and Thursday of
last week, and the bridegrooms con
sidered themselves lucky in getting all
day passes for the occasion.
For one whole day last week the
men were denied the privilege of send
ing letters home, although they were
allowed to get all incoming mail. When
it was announced late Friday night
that they could send letters once again,
beginning Saturday, they were about
the happiest looking crew of dough
boys you ever saw.
When Colonel Rickards went to San
Antonio for a course at the Field
Ofieers’ School, Lieut.-Col. Garhble
assumed command. On Monday morn
ing he was taken to the hospital,
threatened with pneumonia, but re
covered rapidly, and has been out to
camp an hour or so every day since
last Thursday.
Pay-day arived at last—-on Wednes
day, January 16th, after nearly every
soldier boy with an empty pocketbook
had thought the ghost might not walk
this mouth. Shortly after 1 -o’clock
the 112th Band marched down the
avenue to Company M, the. buglers
blew pay call while the famous musi
cians blared away with “The Gold
Gray Mare.” What a picture! Fellows
high, up .on the. tent poles pulling up
canvas, men in the streets with theft
cots and blankets, fellows playing ball
—everybody stopped and dropped ev
erything, letting out one great shout
that went rolling across the field and
to the edges of the camp. Pay day
arrived and not a pass to the city
to be had!
The. fellows at Regimental Head
quarters are finding out these days
that the drilling game is not the only
one that keeps a soldier busy; clerks
can be as much on the jump, too.
Colonel Gamble has suggested that an
"awkward squad” be organized soon
and the clerks given an opportunity
to drill with the. rifle at least an hour
a day, but the youngsters who pound
the keys have been so busy, working
throughout the evenings as well, that
there has been no chance for the
"awkward squad” to get in motion.
The whole office force is on the job
from early in the morning until late
at night-
Another wind storm approaching but
in a small way the terrific wind and
sand storm of the 11th, visited Camp
Hancock during the night of the 14th
15th, but practically all the tents in the
112th Regiment and through the di
vision stood up under the wind* Suf
ficient warning was given by Division
Headquarters to permit all companies
to brace their sq_uad tents and prepare
for the "blow.”
All the infantry reg'ments, the bay
onet artists, the artillery and the wa-_
gon trains pfised for Uncle Sam’s
movies on Friday afternoon and Sat
urday last jveek, the camera man
"shooting them” as they passed be
fore his machine at Division Head
quarters.. The soldiers were grouped
so that the most spectacular effect
would .be provided, even though the
formation was not always according to
hard and fast military rules. The ar
tillery came sweeping across the field
in battery front, presenting a great
sight and one that will not soon be for
gotten. Clouds of dust rolled up and
provided a background of real action.
Harry Gillis, a private in the Sani
tary Detachment, was given unique
recognition this week when his re
quest for transfer to the Signal Corps
was granted. He reports an Atlantic
port for duty with the School of Mil
itary Cinematography.
Wednesday and Saturday afternoon
and all day Sunday are the specified
times when the bath houses are be
ing heated. Camp Hancock is doing
its share to conserve fuel in that mat
ter. As a result, . the bath houses are
crowded to capacity.
HELPING ALONG.
On Sunday we no sugar eat.
On Monday we refrain from meat;
On Tuesday all our bread is rye;
On Thursday •butter has no call;
On Friday we’ve no milk at all;
On Saturday we dine on meal.
And so you see we somehow feel
We do our bit and so perchance,
Contribute to the eats for France.
—Brooklyn Standard-Union.
HOT STUFF.
It is said that a noted explorer in search
of adventure, made an examination of the
bottom of hell and found thereon, "Ma4te
in Germany.”
Page 2
TRE NC H AND'CAMP
With all of this good talk about thrift
you would naturallv expect that a man
would save himself wouldn’t you? There
is no waste like wasting yourself. I re
member being some years ago in a con
ference of ambitious young men when
the president of Ohio .State Univrsity was
talking to us. _ He said, "Young men,
the struggle today is so intense that we
dare not waste ourselves at any point.
The race is so swift that if any one is
retarded by this waste he will surely
be passed and left sadly behind.” That
word has never for a moment escaped me.
It has been for years a burning inspira
tion, because I wanted to succeed. The
price of success is self-control.
"Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-con
trol
These three alone lead life to sovereign
power.” —Tennyson.
But fifteen years ago the struggle was
not by one-third as desperate as today.
'Every process has been speeded up. If it
took a good man to hold his place in the
race then, it takes a very strong man to
move forward today. But it’s a grea game
and the chap with sporting blood will
control himself and make the fight. I
saw a man loosing a game the other day.
All at once it seemed to strike him that
he was loosing. He was a gopd sport.
He steadied himself, put in all he had and
won. To see him set his jaw and pull
up his reserve power was a sight to go
miles to see.
A colored brother who headed a Ways
and Means Committee reported “We have
plenty o’ ways but no means. ” His poverty
is strikingly like that of many young men.
There are a lot of grand things which
they dream of doing but they lack the
punch and the power to put them over,
to make the dreams come true. They
have little reserve power. The reservoir
is slowly filled and it takes years to get
the reserve power behind you. Charac
ter is the most valuable thing in the
world and it is the hardest to attain.
Every week I get one .or more letters
from commercial houses asking me con
fidentially and honestly to tell what I
kno wabout young men seeking em
ployment. I always tell the truth. It
is a painful job in many cases, for you
know that the young fellow absolutely is
not there with the stuff. He drinks, he
cheats, he lies, he is extravagant and
careless about money matters, lie is loose
in his relations with women, lacking in
fine chivalry, He cannot get the job.
He does not deserve it. He would not
be a benefit to anv employer who took
him on BECAUSE HE DOES NOT POS
SESS A RESERVE POWER OF CHAR
ACTER.
Now one does not win character by ac
cident. He clearly sees what he,wants,
realizes the value of it and goes for it
CONSERVATION OF HEALTH
To Be Read Only By the Wise and Patriotic.
Conservation is the watchword of the
day. We arc instructed to save and con
serve everything that can be of value in
winning the war.
What could be of more importance
than conserving the health of our sol
diers. upon whom the eyes of the worltj
are fixed, the men who are expected to
give the smashing knockout blow for
World Democracy.
The Japanese soldiers in their war with
Russia, considered it disloyalty to their
Emperor to allow themselves to become
sick and thereby deprive their country of
their help in time of dire need.
You may have already guessed the text
of this little health sermon. Yes, you
are right first guess; it is conserve your
health by taking care of it in every pos
sible way so that not only will you be
able to do your full share in winning the
war, but looking further still you will
have a better chance to return in full
health to your. family. You may go
through the war and never come within
speaking distance of a bullet, and yet; on
account of your own carelessness may re
turn a rheumatic, cripple or worse still;
•a carrier of specific or other disease, so
that where the facts known, your welcome
at the home fireside might not be as
genuine as you might wish.
You want to know what can be done to
conserve your health? Just heed the
words of an old campaigner.
In the first place you are a soldier, and
let us hope a "he man” as Colonel King,
our chief of staff, is fond of calling his
ideal type of soldier. If you are of this
stamp, you will seldom worry about your
health. rmy surgeons abhor the neuras
thenic, or in other words, the man who
thinks he has every disease he hears
about. These men want sympathy if
thev so much as stub a toe. and are out
of place in the army. On the other hand,
one should use good Judgment and never
neglect the symptoms of disease, or fail
to have an iodine application on any
small wound. The big corporations teach
their first aid teams the danger of in
fection lurking in apparently trivial
wounds. They know that the larger in
juries will not pass untreated but that
blood poisoning often results from a
scratch, if it happens to become infected
by certain bacteria.
As we cannot see the invading bacteria,
we have no means of knowing whether
those present are the innocent sort or the
kind that might be called man-killers.
Two types of bacteria are so dangrous
when they find a lodging place in wounds
that the army surgeons after the bitter
experiences of the opening months of the
war, now inject protective cubstances
hypodermically into the arm of every in
jured man before lie leaves the front.
Hundreds of valuable lives have been
saved by this means alone. You have
heard of the troops dying from pneumonia.
Don't be one of these. Prevent it by
sleeping as much as possible in the open.
Cover your body warmly, but leave your
tent wide open in all but the most ex
treme nights, and then manage to have
sufficient ventilation without drafts. You
are safer sleping under the stars than
in a tightly closed tent or one with a
small opening at each side causing a
draft.
A tent opened all around will not have
dangerous drafts.
Take care of your feet, of course, you
will do this to be a good hiker, but here
I refer to damp feet. Have an extra
pair of dry socks and shoes handy, and
never fail to change when you come in
V«t. If our army equaled in numbers
SELF-THRIFT
steadily. If he is serious he soon sees
that he needs Christ to help him overcome
his temptations and inspire him to the
highest things. No man goes far with
out" inspiration of that variety. He will
most zealously guard his reputation.
Shakespeare once said:
"He who steals my purse steals trash,
but he who pilers my good name takes
that which not pilfers enriches him
but leaves me poor indeed.”
Guard your good name. Fight for your
reputation as you would for your mother’s
honor.
A wise chap soon learns that he can
not bluff —that he cannot play double;
he cannot be one thing with the boys and
another with the boss. The winner has
to be true to the core. He has to have
the actual stuff in him. Success is no
matter of wire-pulling or luck or bluff, it
is an affair of possessing the goods and
if you haven’t got them then the ash
can for you. This is a very vital fact
which ambitious young men will do well
to think over carefully. You have to be
clean and strong inside and outside.
Creases in your trousers will not take the
place of convolutions in your brain. A
i nifty suit will atone for a multitude of
faults but it will not furnish the gray
matter necessary to hold your job. No,
boy, you have to be the goods.
If all this be true then it would be well
to get a chart of the enemy. Send an aero
plane over the landscape and get a few
things in your head. Spot the enemy
and then shoot him. Self-thrift-—it means
to destroy the enemies of your success.
Lying puts a man square out of the
race;, it disqualifies him at the start.
What can you do with a liar —except fire
him? Swearing brands a man as ignor
ant and lacking in cultivation, unable to
use setrong and effective King’s English
in a successful way. President Wilson
does not need to swear in order t*s tell
the kaiser what he thinks about justice
and righteousness. Gambling reveals an
essential weakness in a man. It shows
that he lacks the sense of fair-play. He
win? or loses without reason and that
disqualifies a fellow at the start. Laziness
is abominable and makes a man value
less to himself and anyone else. Lust
saps a man’s self-respect and causes
him to fade out and drop behind in the
race. He has no chance alongside the
fine, clean, steady, controlled! man.
Spot your enemies: Lying, Laziness,
Swearing, Gambling and Lust —They seek
your overthrow. They are as heavy
weights that hold down your feet. You
cannot win with them, Never aspire to
success while “they reside in your castle
and if one resides therein he will smug
gle in all the other enemies.
Save stamps; save dollars; save your
country but do not forget to save your
self. Only a saved man can save his
country ultimately.
-JOHN RAY EWERS.
all those who have died as a result of
sitting around with wet shoes and clothes,
w would need no further drafts to de
throne the kaiser.
Hang up your clothes to dry, don’t use
your own corpse for a clothes rack.
Now for a shot at the* man who sits
in his tent heated to the boiling point and
to make matters worse is too lazy to take
off his overcoat and the outer three
sweaters that he wears out doors. The
English consider our American houses ter
ribly overheated. They say rightly that
the superheat dries up the delicate mucous
membranes that line the nose and which
were put there partly as a protection to
the lungs. The cold air is warmed by
passing through the nasal passages be
fore it reaches the throat and lungs.
Beware of the helmet in all but the most
wintry of windy days. A helmet should
never be worn in this climate. Let your
face and neck get used to the cold and
remember the sailor lad with his bare
neck. Don’t let your gifts from home
make a jelly man of you.
Take care of your teeth.. Look ahead
to the hard tack days when you may
need strong biters. The prescription here
is: one tooth brush to be "taken after
each meal. They say that Napoleon’s
army marched on- its belly. If so, then
.the Allies are-holding on with their
teeth.
Realizing that the body depends upon
food for its strength, food that has been
thoroughly masticated to make the di
gestive process more efficient, it is little
wonder that without strong teeth the
health of the soldier is quickly under
mined.
Now sit down a moment and think it
over. If you do not care enough about
your future to take care of your health
for th:\t reason, then follow the example
of the Japanese and do it for the good of
the cause for which we are fighting.
SINGING SOLDIERS
Make Victorious Army
A division school for singing lias been
authorized by general with Mr. A.
L. Tebbs. singing director of the Army
Young Men's Christian Association in
charge. The order says:
“There is a natural and commendable
desire upon the part of the soldiers to in
dulge in mass singing, especially when
on the march. It is the commanding
general's wish to encourage and direct
this tendecy so that ail the men of the
division will know the words and tunes
marching songs and be able to sing
with effect on proper occasions.”
The commanding officer of each com
pany, battery, or equivalent organization
designated five men qualified to- receive
and impart singing instruction. These
men have met in the Y. M. C. A. Hut 77,
which is the most centrally located hut
in camp. ‘ The plan is that these men
enlist or organize men in their units
and lead them in the singing of popular
and helpful songs.
' Here’s a New Year Resolution
I That will pay to keep alive;
j Resolved, in 1923
I You’ll cash in with the greatest
I glee
I Your Thrift Stamps for a five!
Jan. 23, 1918.
7TH CASUAL COMPANY
Motor Mechanics Regiment
General’ Remarks.
1. —Spirit is the only thing that makes
any organization. Do your bit, and do
it for the sake of your company and
incidentally for your country, without
thought of selfishness.
2. —Keep going. I on’t sit down and
wonder what’s coming around the next
turn in the road. Go and see.
3. —Keep cheerful. Life’s too short to
be blue anyway, and life these days is
apt to be rather shorter than usual.
You may think you feel better by wear
ing a scowl but it isn’t going to add
tb your popularity.
4. —Keep clean. Don’t tell smutty
stories. They aren’t funny. Don’t get
careless with your language. Profanity
is too valuable an anset to use common
ly. Save it for a time .when it may be
useful.
5. —Don’t worry about your future or
promotion. Make up your mind that you
are going to be a game one—whether
it’s as a private, corporal or sergeant.
If you can’t feel this way the army
isn’t big enough for you, your civilian
friends wont respect you nor will the
girls love you.
6. Don’t show off. Keep your mouth
shut and your eyes open. Don’t think
the man hanging around the orderly tent
is making the greatest hit with the cap
tain.
7. —Don’t undertake to be more than
one thing at a time. If you happen to
be a private in the "rear rank—be a good
one. You’ll be seen and brought forward
as a leader of a squad or platoon or
possibly the company. General Napoleon
said, "Every soldier-carries a Marshall’s
baton in his knapsack.” Times haven’t
changed in that respect. There’s always
room at the top.
8. —Don’t assume that your comrades
are either angels or devils. Most of
them are pretty good human beings.
Don’t expect too much from them.
'.9- —Don’t forget that there is a possi
bility of your sticking with us to the
end of your life. Lei’s get acquainted
and we may regret when it becomes
necessary to separate for other fields.
10.—Comradeship is the thing—get the
Spirit.
OTHER BAXTER,
, Captain, Infantry, R. C.
COMMUNICATION BUREAU
• AMERICAN RED CROSS
To give relatives of American soldiers
details of casualties at the front, the
American Red Cross has* organized at
national headquarters a Bureau of Cum
munication to supplement in a personal
and humanitarian way the reports of the
Statistical Division of the War Depart
ment.
The Bureau will advise in detail the na
ture and extent of any wound, and will
gather evidence from comrades in arms
and at the hospitals and rest camps re
garding those reported "missing.”
Any information of interest or consola
tion to relatives thus obtained will be
transmitted to them through personal
letters, while messages from the wound
ed will be conveyed through this same
agency.
The information will for the most part
be forwarded from the Paris office to
this country by mail.
For the present the bureau is reporting
on all cases that come to its -attention.
However, it is probable that with the in
crease of reports from the front, informa
tion will be sent only to relatives request
ing it, except in cases of those imprisoned
or reported "missing.”
This is a Red Cross service in Great
Austria. In the London office of the Brit
ish Red Cross, more than two hundred
women are constantly employed in com
municating with relatives of “soldiers and
their card index already covers more
than three million cases reported on.
The bureau will receive through the
International Red Cross office at Geneva,
Switzerland, the list of American prison
ers supplied officially by the German
government. In cases of imprisonment,
the bureau reports to relatives, after
which the case is referred to the Red
Cross Bureau of American Prisoners’ Re
lief.
The American Red Cross Committee in
Berne sends each American prisoner,
every two weeks, three ten-pound food
packages. Thesq subsistent stores are
provided by the government and the
American Red Cross. A sufficient quan
tity of supplies is now on the way to
Switzerland to care for 10,000 American
prisoners for a period of six months. This
bureau is also the sole agency licensed by
the War Trade Board to transmit money
to American and Allied prisoners in Ger
many.
BASE HOSPITAL PERSONALS
There has been a large demand for
chevrons as a result of the announce
ment of the successful candidates for
warrants as non-coms. The ink had
hardly time to dry before some of the
lucky ones were sporting their chev
rons.
Moe Samuels, the popular Irish co
median, is receiving congratulations
from a host of hfs friends on his ap
pointment as private, first class. Now
that Moe has started going up there
is no telling where he’ll stop.
Jimmy Butler, the boy with the Mel
lin’s Food cheeks, is having lots of fun
driving the ambulance at night. He
always was pretty good at staying up
all night.
The Record Office under the super
vision of Sergeant Kennedy and the
detachment office under Sergeant
Metz (formerly* of the Philippines)
take the prize for turning out work.
The boys in these offices work like
beavers from morning till night. Sandy
Cornelius, the speed artist, turns out
more work than any two men put to
gether. He is under the careful tute
lage of George Bresmer, the only man
who doesn’t stand reveille.
Sergeant ‘Emmett O’Neil, the Yiddish
orator, will recite "The Shooting of
Dan McGrew” before the society for
the suppression of rodents. He al
ways makes his audiences gasp for
breath, because of his proficiency in
the art of elocution, in fact one might
say electrocution.