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PAGE SIX "Over the Top" By An American Soldier Who Went ARTHUR GUY EMPEY Machine Gunner Serolng In France i| i i Ujopy right, Ull. by Arthur Uuj Huido?) (Continued From Last Issue.) CHAPTER XVIII. j Staged Under Fire. ! Three days after the Incident Just re lated our company was relieved fron the front line and carried. We stnyei 'in reserve billets for ubout two week (when we received the welcome new Jthat our division would go back of th line "to rest billets." We would re .main In these billets for at least tw< ; months, this in order to be restored b our full strength by drafts of recruit 'from Blighty. Everyone was happy and contentei at these tidings; all you could hen around the billets was whistling au< (Singing. The day after the receipt o ;the order we hiked for Ave duys, mak ling an average of about twelve kilo; ? <rer day until we arrived at the sinal 'town of O' . ii looK us anour inree uuys 10 ge settled, aud from then on our cusli: , tluie started. We would parade fron '8:45 in the morning until 12 noon (Then except for on occasional Mile lor brigade guard we were on our own (For the lirst four or five afternoons {spent my time in bringing up to dut< my neglected correspondence. Tommy loves to be amused, and be ing a Yank, they turned to me foi something new in this line. I taugh them how to pitch horseshoes, and this game made a great hit for about ter days. Then Tommy turned to Amer ica for a new diversion. I was up ir the air until a happy thought came t< me. Why not write a sketch ami breal Tommy in as an actor? One evening after "lights out," whet you are net supposed to talk, I impart ed my ? neme in whispers to the sec tlon. They eagerly accepted the idei of forming u stock company ant. themselves "The Eow Bells," and put on a sketch entitled, "Blighty? What Hopes?" They were the divisional concert party. We hoped they ull would be soon In Blighty to give us n chance. This company charged an admission of a franc per head, and that night our company went en masse to see their performance. It really was good, I had a sinking sensation when 1 thought of runniug my sketch in opposition to it. In one of their scenes they had n soubrette called Flossie. The soldlet that took this part was clever and made a tine-appearing and chic girl We Immediately fell in love with hei until two days ufter, while we were on a march, we passed Flossie with "her" sleeves rolled up and the sweul pouring from "her" fuce unloading shells from a motor lorry. As our section passed her I yelled out: "Hello, Flossie; Blighty?What Hones?" Her renly made our love dlt out Instnntly. "Ah, go to h?1!" This brought quite a Inngh from th< marching column directed at me, and 1 Instantly made up my mind that oui sketch should Immediately run In op position to "Blighty?What Hopes?" When we returned to our billet fron the march, Ourley Wallace, my the ntricnl partner, came running over t? me and said he hnd found u swank; place in which to produce our show. After taking off my equipment, am followed hy the rest of the section, went o\or to the building he had picket out. It was a monstrous barn with i platform at one end which would muk< an Ideal stage. The section got rich on the Job, and before night had tha .place rigged out in ap, k-ple or* The next day was Sui 'w church paruue we put ail our t*.,.c a dress rehearsal, and it went line. 1 made four or live large sig.ts an nouneing that our company would opei up 11 III I I'Vt-lIIIIfc (It inr IVIII* \irw? in Fifth theater, on the corner of Ainm street and Sandbag terrace. Genera admission was one-half franc. Firs ten rows In orchestra one r,n boxes two francs. Ry this time ou printed programs had returned frm London, and I further announced thai on the night of the first perfominno a program would lie given free c charge to men Holding tickets costing franc or over. We had an orchestra of seven me and seven different instruments. Thl orchestra was excellent, while the were not playing. The performance was scheduled t start at tl p. m. At 5:lf> there wns a moh In front < our one entrnnce and It looked like big night. We had two boxes each a commodatlng four people, and thes we immediately sold out. Then brilliant idea came to lkey Cohenstel Why not use the rafters overhead, ca them boxes, and charge two frnncs fi a seat on them? The only difllcul was how were the ruen to reach the* boxes, but to lkey this was u mere d tail. He got long ropes and tied one et around each rafter and then tied a 1 of knots In the ropes. These rop would take the place of stairways. We figured out that the rnfte would seat about forty men and so that number of tickets accordingly. When the tieketholders for the box ?oi a glimpse of the rafters and we H informed Hint they had to use the rope j stairway, there was a howl of Indigna-1 fu tlon. hut we had their money and told | them that if they did not like It thej , ac eould write to the management later ; I II...U ........... .......1.1 ?... ...? 1?? - I -* tiuu lUt-ll IllUlltV MVHIU Ml- I 1-& I1IIIIV11 , I (I) but under these coudttlons they would I w not he allowed to witness the performance that night. Ai After n little grousing they accepted j cl the situation with the promise that it J at the show was rotten they certainly | * would let us know uhout it during the performance. ge Everything went lovely and It was a howling success, until Alkali Ike np- w peared on the scene with his revolver ^ loaded with blank cartridges. Belilgd n[ s the bar on a shelf was a long line of p,; Q bottles. Alkali Ike was supposed to j start on the left of this line and break tv s six of the bottles by firing at them with ()| s his revolver. Behind these bottles a e piece of painted canvas was supposed m y to represent the back of the bar, at 5 each shot from Alkali's pistol a man jn behind the scenes would hit one of the ~ bottles with his eutronohinir tool handle and smash It. to give the lm- j*' j presslon that Alkali was u pood shot. su r Alkali Ike started in and aimed at Iir I the ripht of the line of bottles instead sjj j of the left, and the poor hoqh behind . the scenes started breaking the bottles j)( s . . . Preparing the "< could hardly wait tjf.tll the morning on for further details. tul After parade, the next afternoon I ?11' i was almost mobbed. Everyone In the CC! I section wanted a part In the proposed Wt> i sketch. When I informed them that it would take at least ten days of hard ' work to write the plot, they were hitterly disappointed. I Immediately got [ busy, made a desk out of biscuit tins In the corner of the billet, and put up a sign "Empey & Wallace Theatrical i Co." About twenty of the section. upon reading this sign, immediately * I applied for the position of office boy. Pr< . I accepted the twenty applicants, and 'n sent them on scouting parties through- wa ' out the deserted French village. These f-'1*1 i parties were to search all the attics for 'ur t discarded civilian clothes, and any- ',al ; thing that we could use in the props ^ of our proposed company. 1 About five that night they returned "-v t covered with grime and dust, hut load-, ? ed down with a miscellaneous assort- ^? ment of everything under the sun. They must have thought that I was1 ^1 , ^ t __ til ? u? suiri it (icpuri uieiu wort", *' [ judging from the different tilings they j ?'s r brought hack from their pillage. After eight days' constant writing I ' completed u two-act farce comedy j 1 which I called "The Diamond l'alace Mn' - Saloon." Upon the suggestion of one i va! > of the boys In the section I sent a proof ! ",v j of the program to a printing house In s<'1 London. Then I assigned the different 1 parts and started rehearsing. David on< I ltelaseo would have thrown up his "" 1 hands in despair at the muterlnl which snr i I had to use. Just Imagine trying to "I1 teach a Tommy, with a strong cockney 8 * t accent, to Impersonate a Bowery tough cn t or a Southern negro. n r 'Jacei.t to our billet was an open ' ' Id. We got busy at one end of it and | . trueied a stage. We secured the j lumber for the stage by demolishing;^ i . old wooden siiuck in the rear of i a our billet. ) e The first scene was supposed to rep- ' a resent a street on the Bowery in New 1 York, while the scene of the second t act was the Interior of the Diamond I'" 1 in d Palace saloon, also on the Bowery, r In the play I took the part of Ahe j . n Uti.iD.k .. P.. ...L^ ?....! , ' II o ?v M i ii, II iiii ill ii , win* u.UJ 1'iiiiiir i I CHI *11' it I'umpkinville Center, Tenn., to make j ^ e his lirst visit to New York. , >f In the first scene Abe Switch meets a|f ? the proprietor of the Diamond Palace saloon, a ramshackle affair which to C|| n the owner wus a flnanclul loss. n(J 18 i The proprietor's name was Toir. nn y Twistem, his bartender being named , Pu Flllera Up. j , ? After meeting Abe, Tom and Fill em | , IJp persuaded him to buy the place,: praising it to the skies and telling 8 wondrous tales of the money taken c" over the bar. ! While they are talking, an old Jew I ** 8 uamed Ikey Cobeoatein comes uhng, ,'J n- and Abe engages him for cashier. After | engaging Ikey they meet an old , "r Southern negro called Sambo, and ! f\ fy upon the suggestion of Ikey he is em ; s?e gaged as porter. Then the three of1 e- them, arm In arm, leave to take pos- r session of this wonderful palace which u 1(f Abe lias just paid $0,000 for. (Cur- 8' ?nin \ d< OX *? ?./ eg In the second act the curtain rises " on the Interior of the Diamond Palace rs s iloon, and the audience gets Its first P' lj^ shock. The saloon looks like a pigpen, two tramps lying drunk on the floor, and the bartender In a dirty shirt with his sleeves rolled up, asleep a with hl? luuil nm Um luif CI O THE LANCASTER NEM fcnter Abe, Sambo and Ikey, and the j, in commences. Oue of the characters In the second , :t was named Broadway Kate, and I | id an awful Job to break In one of e Tommies to act and talk like a oman. Another character was Alknll Ike, an rtzona cowboy, who Just before the ose of the play conies Into the saloon id wrecks it with his revolver. We hail eleven three-hour rehearsals 'fore I thought It advisable to pre-, lit the sketeli to the nnhlle The whole brigade was crazy to' Itness the first performance. This j rforinauce was scheduled for Friday ght and everyone was full of nntlclitlon; when bang! orders came rough that the brigade would move at *o that afternoon. Cursing and hiding was the order of things upon e receipt of this order, but we oved. Thut night we reached the little vllge of S and again went Into rest llets. We were to be there two eeks. Our company Immediately got lay and scoured the village for a ittable place In which to present our eduction. Then we received another iock. A rival company was already ostnb- ' died in the village. They called A 1 Q.HH^TTec bh Puguc trtroftttATtor<| Chow." the left, nnd then the hoxholdors ned loose; hut outside of this little sco the performance was a huge slices, and we decided to run it for a j < ck. I I S'ew troops were constantly coming 1 < ough. and for six performances we j | d the "S. It. O." sign suspended out- j e. | I CHAPTER XIX. i On His Own. ! course Tommy cunnot always bo iduelng plays under lire but while j 1 rest billets he has numerous other < ys of amusing himself. He Is a ( sut gambler, but never plays for ' stakes. Generally, In each com- ? ny, you will tind a regular Canfleld. ' Is inan banks nearly all the games chance and Is an undisputed authoron the rules of gambling. When?r there Is an argument among the mmies about some uncertain point ! to whether Houghton Is entitled to itkins' sixpence, the matter Is taken i the recognized authority and Ills deIon Is tlnnl. The two most popular games are rown and Anchor" and "House." The paraphernalia used in "Crowd^ j Anchor" consists of u piece of can- k t two feet by three feet. This is ided Into six equal squares. In these lares are puinted a club, diamond, j irt, spade, crown, and an anchor, ? device to a square. There are ee dice used, each dice marked the J lie as the canvas. The banker sets his gambling outfit In the corner ot >11 let and starts bally-hoolng until a >wd of Tommies gathers around; >n the game starts, flie Tommies place bets on the linen, 11iv rniwii nr alienor neing ] iyed the most. The banker then Is his three dice and collects or pays I t as the case may he. If you pluy I ? crown and one shows up on the e, you get even money, If two show , you receive two to one, and If three, pp to one. If the crown does not npnr and you have bet on It, you lose, d so on. The percentage for the nker Is large If every square Is lyed, but if the crowd Is partial to, y two squares, he has to trust to k. The hanker generally wins. The game of "House" is very popular to. It takes two men to run It. This me consists of numerous squares of rdboard containing three rows of mhers, tive numbers to a row. The mhers rim from one to nlnet/. Each rd Imh u different combination. The French "estamlnets" In the vll?es are open from eleven In the ruorn< until one In the afternoon In acrdance with army orders. After dinner the Tommies eongreite at these places to drink French er at a penny a glass and play louse." As soon as the estnmlnet Is sufllently crowded the proprietors of the louse" game get busy and, as they nn It, "form a school." This consists ' going around and selling cards at franc each. If they have ten In the hool, the backers of the game deict two francs for their trouble and le winner gets eight francs. Then the game starts. Each buyer laces his card before him on the ta- I le, first breaking up matches Into flf- | ?en pieces. One of the backers of the game has I small cloth bag In which are ninety I irdbouyd squares, each with a nura* rS, LANCASTER, S. C. ' ber printed thereon, from one to nine- i po ty. He raps on the table and cries ! sti Ollt! "Kvp? flown inv 1n?lo '? ? All noise ceases uud every one Is at- be tentlon. tin The croupier places his hund in the , bag and druws forth a numbered an Munre and immediately calls out the ) thi number. The man who owns the curd ; with that particular number ou It, | ^ covers the square with a match. The ' vj, one who covers the lifteou numbers on ' y0 his card llrst shouts "House." The 1 l.j1 other backer Immediately comes over j to him and verities the card by calling out the uumbers thereon to the man ' with the bag. As each number Is | jo called he picks it out of the ones picked from the bag and suys, "Klght." I If the count is right he shouts, "House DM correct, pay the lucky gentleman, and Bell him a curd for the next school." | The "lucky gentleman" generally buys one unless he has a miser truce in ; _ his veins. Then another collection Is made, a cr0 school formed, und they curry ou with , the game. I FCr The caller-out has many nicknames l*1'1 for the numbers such as "Kelly's Eye" cr' for one, "Leg's Eleven" for eleven, | ' "Cllckety-cllck" for sixty-six, or "Top Hee of the house" meaning ninety. ; nn< The game is honest and quite en- J"'1 Joyable Sometimes you have fourteen , ' i ? _ i % flAI Liuuim-ra vu your uiru covereu auu " " you tire waiting for the fifteenth to be 'liK called. In an Imploring voice you call i ')oc out, "Come on. Watklns, cbutu, I'm sweating on 'Kelly's Eye.'" nu Witt kins generally replies, "Well, keep out of u draft, you'll catch cold." J ? Another game Is "I'ontoon," played with cards; It Is the same us our 'Pluck Jack," or "Twenty-one." I J.J'1 A card game called "Brag" Is also popular. Using a casino deck, the (>nI dealer deals each player three curds. j,, ' It Is similar to our poker, except for j j the fact tiiat you only use three cards and cannot draw. The deck Is never fj( shullled until a man shows three of a kind or a "prlle" as It Is called. The . e value of the hands are, high card, a ^ pair, a run, a flush or three of a kind or "prlle." The limit Is generally u (j)( penny, so It Is hard to win a fortune, j The next in popularity Is a card j8 j game called "Nap." It Is well named. erj Every time 1 played It I went to sleep Whist and solo whist are played b; i j the highbrows of the company. on When the gamblers tire of all othei flXi games they try "Bunker und Broker/ I wh I spent n week trying to teach some ?t ji inn i (limine* now in piny poKer, nut ton because I won thirty-five francs they , spi declared that they didu't "fawncy" the his game. I is | Tommy plays few card games; the 1 general run never heard of poker, eu- ; col chre, seven up, or pinochle. They have am it (tame similar to pinochle called kn "ftoyul Bezlque," but few know how to lur play it. ' Generally there are two decks of Is cards in a section, and In u short time na fhey are so dog-eared and greasy, you , flcl can hardly tell t)^ ace of spades from Ze the ace of hearts. The owners of these \ ' decks sometimes condescend to lend it?t them after much coaxing. j tig So you see, Mr. Atkins has his fun lo> mixed in with his hardships and, con- on trury to popular belief, the rank and file of the British army In the trenches t Is one big happy family. Now in Vlr- j be gin I a, at school, I was fed on old McGutTy's primary reader, which gave me Bn an opinion of un Englishman about Sn equal to u '70 Minute Man's backed up wi by a Sinn Fel tier's. Rut I found Tom- tie my to be the hest of mates and u gen- g tleman through und through. He never I thinks of knocking his officers. If one I makes u costly mistake and Tommy | 1 pays with his blood, there Is no gen- , eral condemnation of the officer. He Is Just pitied. It is exactly the same I as It was with the Light Rrigade at I Balaclava, to say nothing of Gnlllpoll, B Neuve ('handle and I^oos. Personalis I remember u little Incident where ? twenty of us were sent on a trench r raid, only two of us returning, but I | will tell this story Inter on. S I said It was a big happy family, and B so it Is, but us In all happy families. | 2 there are servants, so In the Ilrltish E iiny there ure also servants, officers' ' ? servants, or "O. S." as they are termed. I 2 In the American army the common ? name for them Is "dog robbers." From E a controversy In the English papers, p Winston Churchill mude the state- ? ment, as far as I can remember, that e the officers' servants In the 'ilritish forces totaled nearly two hundred thousand. Me claimed that this removed two hundred thousand excep- , tionally good and well-trained fighters from the acting firing line, claiming that the officers, when selecting a man for servant's duty, generally picked the man who had been out the longest and K knew the ropes. Rut from my observation I And that a iurge percentage 01 me servants no , ? go over the top, but behind the linen & they very seldom engine In digging I parties, fatigues, parades or drills. , This work Is as necessary as actually engaging In un attack, therefore I think I It would be safe to say that the all- I n< round work of the two hundred thou- | sand Is about equal to fifty thousand u' men who are on straight military du- T ties. In numerous Instances, ofllcers' cr servants hold the rauk of lance-corpo- ^ rals and they assume the same duties si and uuthority of a butler, the one el stripe giving him precedence over the j other servants. I tl There are lots of amusing stories h told of "O. 8." . | 01 One day one of our majors went Into w the servants' billet and commenced o: "blinding" at them, saying that his vt horse hnd no straw and that he per- a sonally knew that straw hud been is- e< sued for this purpose. He called the h lance-corporul to a r count. The cpr- li rul answered, "lilliue me, sir, the ( uw was Issued, but there wasn't ough left over from the servants' ds; In fnet, we had to use some of e 'ay to 'elp out, sir." I It Is needless to say that the servts dispensed with their soft beds it particular night. Nevertheless It Is not the fault of i individual officer, It Is just the surrul of a quaint old English custom. iu know an Englishman cannot be unged in a day. Hut the average English officer Is a od sport. He will sit on u fire step d listen respectfully to I'rlvute nes' theory of the way the war ould be conducted. . This war is initially crumbling the once lusur?untable wall of caste. You would be convinced of tills If u could see King (ieorge go among i t men on an Inspecting tour under I e, or puuse before u little wooden iss In some shed-tossed field with rs In his eyes as he rends the inlptton. And a little later perhaps id over a wounded man on u stretchpatting him on the heud. dore than once In u hospital I have n a titled Red Cross nurse fetching , 1 carrying for a wounded soldier, hups the one who In civil life de?red the coal at her hack door. Tor she does not shrink from lighting I fag or even wushlug his grimy ly. 'ommy admires Albert of Belgium be- I ise he Is not n pusher of inen ; ho < ds them. With hlin It's not n case "take that trench," It Is "come on 1 we will take It." t Is amusing to notice the different iracteristlcs of the Irish, Scotch and gllsli soldiers. The Irish and Scotch very impetuous, especially when It nes to bayonet fighting, while the gllshmun, though a trifle slower, roughly does his hit; he Is more thodieal and hns the grip of a bullj on a captured position. Me Is wer to think ; that Is the reason why novitP lriwm u lelion h.. I.. ll/?b/w? Fwenty minutes before going over 1 top the English Tommy will sit on > tire step and thoroughly examine mechanism of his rltie to see that it In working order and will Ore propy. After this examination he Is sated and ready to meet the Roches, iut thcf Irishman or Scotchman sits the Ore step, his rifle with bayonet I'd between his knees, the butt of ileh perhaps is sinking into the mud lie bolt couldn't he opened with a| im of horses It Is so rusty?but he , ts on his sleeve and slowly polishes , i bayonet; when tills Is done he also ready to urgue with Fritz. It is not necessary to mention the onlals (the Cuuadians, Australians il New Zealanders), the whole world I ows what they have done for Eug-1 id. The Australian and New Zealander termed the "Anzuc," taking the me from the first letters of their oflal designation, Australian and New aland army corps. rnmmv dU'l/Lio ilio > ? 1UIII11IJ Ullllf.iI CTTT: UL'l IIIMII U1 1UJ o three classes according to their I htlng abilities. They rank as fol- i vs: Prussians, Bavarians and Sax-; s. When up against n Prussian regl>nt It Is a case of keep your napper low the parapet and duck. A hangng all the time and a war is on. The varians are little better, hut the xons are fairly good sports and are Ulng occasionally to behave as gen-1 men and take It easy, but you cuu- ] V ?t trust any or (Hem overloug. At one point of the line the trenches ere uhout thirty-two yards apart, his pounds horrible, but In fact It wus vsy, because neither side could shell le enemy's front-line trench for four >ells would drop Into their own. This I minuted urtillcry fire. In these trenches when up against le Prussians and Buvartuns, Tommy nd a hot time of It. but when the Suxas "took over" It was a picnic; they 'ould yell across that they were 8axns and would not fire. Both sides ould sit on the parapet and carry on I conversation. This generally consistd of Tommy teljlng them how much e loved the kaiser, while the Hnxous { iformed Tommy that King (Jeorge' r~ FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 1918. B Rheumatism Yields I Only rheumatic sufferers know 1 the agony of its darting pains, I aching joints or twisting cords. A but some tew have not Known that scorn J EMULSION has been correcting this trouble when other treatments have utterly failed. Scott's is essentially blood-food in such rich, concentrated form that its oQ gets into the blood to alleviate this stubborn malady. Get a bottle of Scott's Emul faion or advise an ailing \ friend. No alcohol. The Norwegian cod llrer oil la Scott** FmnUna ti now refined In oar own American laboratories which [ make* it pure and palatable. ; Scott & Bowne. Bloomfield. N. I. tT-M Lost MotTon. e| Tve climbed these stairs six times W to see you, sir," said the bill collector. E* Too bad, too bad," murmured Mr. fp lobbies. "Now, what do you think of 1 that, sir?" "Urn. Well, I guess that^ f' :omes under the head of lost motion." '] whs a partleuit r mono or ttietrfi and \ hoped that he was doing nicely. When the Saxons were to be relieved v by Prussians or Bavarluns, they would yell this Information across No Muii'h Laud und Tommy would Immediately tumble into his trench und keep his head down. If an English regiment was to he relleved by the wild Irish, Tommy would iw tell the Saxons, and immediately a vol- 9 ley of Thinner und Hlltzens" could ,a be heard and It was Fritz's turn to get I a crick In his buck from stooping, aud jd the people In Berlin would close their | windows. I Usually when un Irishman tnkes over | a trench. Just before "stand down" In I the moral ng, he sticks his rltle over | the top, aimed in the direction of lier- I lln, and engages hi what is known as I the "mud minute." This consists of | firing fifteen shots In a minute. He g Is not ulmlng at an/thlng in particular ?Just semis over eucli shot with a prayer, Roping flint one of his strays will got some poor unsuspecting Fritz In the nnpper hundreds of yards behind the lines. It generally does; that's the reason the Itoches hate the man from Erin's isle. The Saxons, though better than the Prussians and Itavarinns, have a nasty tyalt of treachery In their makeup. At one point of the line where the trenches " 'ere very close, a stake was driven Into the ground mhlwuy between the hostile lines. At night when It was his turn, Tommy woftld crawl to this stake and attach some London papers to It, while nt the foot he would place tins of bully beet, fags, sweets, and other delicacies that he had received from Rllghty in the ever lookedfor parcel. Later on Fritz would come ^ ; out and get these luxuries. i The next night Tommy would go out to see whnt Fritz put Into his stocking. The donation generally consisted of a paper from Ilerlln, telling who was winning the war, some tinned sausages, ^ I clirars, and occasionally a little hecr. id Infantry Attack. nut n funny thing, Tommy never returned with the beer unless It was Inside of him. Ills j.lateen pot a whiff of hla breath one night and the offending Tnmrnw !/? Kio / K IVOl Alio JUU. One night n young English sergcartt* J crawled to the stnke and na he tried to detach the German paper a bomb exploded and mangled him horribly. Frits had act a trap and gained unother victim which wan only one more black g mark agalnat him In the book of thlA war. From that time oo diplomatic relations were severed. | Returning to Tommy, T think hia I spirit is beat shown In the questions he nsks. It Is never "who is going to win" I but Always "how long will it take?* (To be Continued.)