New Britain Herald Newspaper, October 19, 1917, Page 11

Second Section EW BRITAIN HERALD. NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1917. NTRODUCING CHEER T0° THE HOMESICK Y. M. G. A. Helps Draited Men to Forget Their Troubles mmy ls still as he has just now Al] over the country Sa en route for Somewhere, been for weeks. . But ‘Somewhere,” that flexible war-time word, chiefly means the sixteen na- tional cantonments of the United States. Toward these cantonments our somewhat bewildered Sammy of the new National Army, still without uniform, without previous military training, without even a very definite idea of war except that he is going to fight it, is speeding. Big-boned mountaineer of the South, who will wear his new uni- form when he gets it about as com- fortably as if it were & mustard plas- ter, he {» leaving the home he has never been ten miles away from be- fore in his life. Ex-member of tha Gashouse Gang, raw recruit from Hell's Kitchen, or college junior from the silk-stocking precincts,—he is pulling out of New York for Yap- hank. A slim French youth in the northern states,—the patriotism of two lands is blazing up in his eyes, as he gets on the train near Fort Caribou. A dazed young Serbian, not yet six months in America,—he is learning his first English words in the chorus of ‘Kaiser Bill” on the statlon platform of a New England factory town. East and west, north and south, the trains are tooting Sammy away from home. It isn't just one engine but hundreds of them that are grumbling their staccato warnings at him, as he lingers for a last joke with ‘“‘the bungch.” It isn’t just one woman, but thousands of them, and of all ages, whose tear-stalned faces twist brave- ly into smiles, as they wave goodbye. It isn’t one Sammy, but a whole army of him, who is going away with bra- vado, promising gaily to come back and bring the Kalser along. There has been a lot of talk about how the men in khaki pull out of the station, to the flutter of handkerchiefs, and the thrill of bands. Even with- out their uniforms, the drafted men of the new National Army have had their share of attention. It is quite a different matter when the train is a few miles on its way, after the ex- citement of departure has’ died, and they begin to realize that home is be- hind them, and the war ahead. No- body has described the sensations of Sammy en route, Nobody ever will, either. The fact is that nobody knows exactly how Sammy feels about going away to fight except Sammy, and he isn’t tell- ing. But for the past few weeks Radlroad Y. M. C. A. secretaries have been traveling with the men of the new National Army to cantonments all over the United States. On more than 760 trains they have already been ‘“following the soldiers on wheels,” as one of them gratefully put it, to do what they can to cheer his trip. As nearly as one man can know the heart of another, they know this drafted Sammy’'s. They have seen him in that first tragic moment when he begins to realize that his face is turned away from home to- 1 'p\ort that the average Sammy, no mat- ter what class or what part of the country he comes from, is more afrald of those first few hours on the train than he is of the battlefield, Wanted to Go Home. The stories of these ‘Y' men, the only ones who have traveled in this way with the soldiers to the can- tonments, begin where all the others leave off. *Says Sammy to the Pub- lic” is all very well, but “Says Sammy to Himself” is quite another matter. Sammy stripped of heroics and of bombast, Sammy homesick and human, is the one the trainmen see. Above the rattle of wheels and the shriek of the engine, an Alabama train laden with soldiers shook with a bellow like that of a bull that has nosed his way into a bee hive. With- out any trouble at all the ‘Y' secre- tary followed the noise to its source, a two-hundred pound Sammy pos- sessed of the contradictory attributes of a double chin all around, a sure- trigger hand, a hard head, a soft heart, and the self-control of a child of six. Ham-like hands over his dis- torted face, he was blubbering at the top of his, voice: “I want to go home! go home!” Down by the mass of shaken avoir- dupois the ‘Y’ man sat, and soothed him gradually, till he learned that the man came from a mountain settle- ment where he had left a wife and three children. Never in his life had he been out of his own county be- fore. War? Dang it, he wa'nt afraid of that! He'd be “darn glad to bust the Kaiser,” in fact. Only—he want- ed to go ho- me. Lots of other men in the car want- ed to go home, too, it appeared from the murderous glances they cast at the fat mountaineer, who dared to “rub it in” like this. So the ‘Y’ man sent them home for a few minutes by handing around post cards, even stamps to the ones who hadn’'t any money, and urging them to write home. “Go to it, fellow,” he said. “Send your first messages to the home-folks. They’ll be looking for a word from you, you know.” You might have thought the sol- diers had been gone from home six months instead of a few hours. They didn’t exactly ask “Have you still got the same old cat?” like the boy in Riley’s story, but they did indicate by the general tenor of their messages home that it seemed to them a long, long time since they had taken that morning train. They said, too, that they were well, and hoped the folks at home were the same, that they were having ‘some ride’ and meant to put up ‘some fight,” and sent lots of love. After that the secretary passed around checker boards,—a great game, checkers! If you don't want all your Kkings jumped off the board, you must put your whole mind on your play, to the exclusion of feeling homesick. What with the unexpected moves forced upon them by the train, and the comradeship of the gawe, the men began to feel better. The ‘Y’ man won their hearts hy passing around hot coffce for them to drink with the lunch the govern- ment had provided. They began tell- ing him how they felt about things. “War? Hell! It ain’'t war I mind, it's goin’ away and leavin’ the kids and my woman to look out for them- selves!” said one. “If we could play the game on our home field, with out own bunch around to root for us, it wouldn't be half bad,” summed up a young col- lege fellow. On another train one of the men I want'to ward unknown danger. And they re- re— first battle already. appeared to have been fighting his He was holding hlmxmof PER- SONAL TASTE—of new creations in S e 300 ARK gxoes.oneu bound to conform yours. Quality is a matter of FACT, which is vouched for by more than three million wearers of NEWARK Shoes. 'l'_rl;h this STYLB, this QUAL‘ NEW BRITAIN STORE 324 Main Street, Open Mon. and Sat. Evenings. Near R R. Crossing. (527 Stores in 97 Cities.) | glass of real hot | phate cost : an enthusiast on inside-bathing. Men ! breath, { have bilious attacks, acid stomach NASTY MEDICINES BAD FOR CHILDREN It is not often a child roquires medi- oln- of an; tlnd. If the bowels are .l’& dispose of undi- {hm«l m-ttcx- daisc d by the stomach, o general health is very apt to be ex- cellent. In any case, pills, powders, and nauseating or munpalatabl - compounds, should never be given to children. Any peutic virtue such remodies may possess is largely nullified by the young- sters’ natural antagonism. For most chiliren a mild laxative, ad- ministered occasionally, is all that is needed to assure mormal regularity good health. Dr. c:mlwnll's mm&: Pe‘)- dn is s plunmt-tuu.nt com zon of simple laxative herbs ree from opiate or marcotio flms:, .,ud gently yet effectively; children li.ko su and take 1t nldnv, 80 that 1t is the idenl remedy for the family medicine chest. Xt is sold in drng stores for ffty cents 8 bottle. A trial hottle, frce of chazce, can be obtained by writing to Dr. W. B. 04;5 ‘Washington St., nonfl one arm stiffly, a soiled and blood- stained handkerchief around the hand. “Did it leaning out of the window to wave to my girl,” he explained. “Another train came along and hit me.” It was really her badly bruised, and the ‘Y’ man helped him wash it, | and bind it up in a clean covering. ' Word went through the car that “That Y. M. C. A. chap is as good as a doctor,” and two other men with ailments sent for him. “Got anything for the toothache?” another Sammy wanted to know t's that darn candy the girls threw Mtv" us the last station back Getting Rid of Loncsomenes Lonesomeness doesn't always break out the same way; it has as many symptoms as measles. Early evening on one train found three bruised heads, several smashed windows, sev- eral dents in faces, made by tin cups and various minor injuries. The train had been stopped twice because some Sammy with a small-boy heart had pulled the emergency cord, and once had been broken in two when someone attacked the coupling lever. The secretary passed around song books at last. “Fine!” said a recruit. “We gotta do something.” So they sang all their bravado and animal spirits away, as it grew dusk in the car, and it was a husky chorus that finally took up the words of “Old Folks at Home." “Got any Testaments?” asked one of the men at last. The secretary had. They were for the men who wanted them particu- 1arly,—who did? Every man on the car except one Russian Jew pressed forward to ask for one of the little books; the Russian Jew explained with great politeness his reason for not wanting one, and then began to talk of Russia. “Can she come hack?"” “She sure can. Ain't T money invested in Russian bond On another train a fine youns col- lege chap who had just left home got a telegram that his mother had died. The secretary tried to comfort him. “Your mother would want you to | keep up your courage and fight the best you can,” he suggested. “I know she would,” said the boy. “She was sick and dependent on me, but she wouldn’t let me claim ex- emption. That's the kind of mother she was. Wanted me to be a good soldier. . . = Well, I'm going to be." After the men receive their uni- forms, they send home their civilian clothes; wardrobe room is an un- known quantity at a cantonment. Some of the men said that they hadn’t any home to send things to. But the WHEN YOU WAKE UP DRINK GLASS OF HOT WATER he got all said. my Wash the poisons and toxins from system before putting more food into stomach. Says Inside-bathing makes any- one look and feel clean, sweet and refreshed. Wash yourself on the inside before breakfast like you do on the outside. This is vastly more important because the skin pores do not absorb impuri- ties into the blood, causing illness, .while the bowel pores do. For eyery ounce of food and drink taken into the stomach, nearly an | ounce of waste material must be ! carried out of the body. If this waste material is not eliminated day by day | it quickly ferments and generates poisons, gases and toxins which gre absorbed or sucked into the blood stream, through the lymph ducts which should suck only nourishment to sustain the body. A splendid health measure is drink, before breakfast each day. water with a t spoonful of limestone phosphate ir it, which is a harmless way to wash | these poisons, gases and toxins from the stomach, liver, kidneys and bowels; thus cleansing, sweetening and freshening the entire alimentary canal before putting more food into the stomach. | A quarter pound of limestone pho.- but very little at the drug | sufficient to make anyone to a store hut and women who are accustomed to wake up with a dull, aching head or have furred tongue, bad taste, nast sallow complexion, others w or pro- hea'th constipation, are assured of nounced improvement in both and appearance shortly, secretaries announced that these men could send their clothing to the Y. M. C. A. of their home town, which would receipt the Express company for it, then send the receipt on to the soldier. It a soldier hadn’'t the money to pay the express, he could even send his things collect, and the ‘Y’ would take care of it. “Who said we hadn’t any home?” demanded one of the Sammies. “We've got the ‘Y’ " Near Anniston, Alabama, one of the trains broke down, and 50 sol- diers rushed over to the nearest Y. M. C. A., calling loudly for ham and eggs. It was a rush order, but it was filled. “What would we do without the “Y’?" they asked with their mouths full, as they rushed back to the train. Several of the men on one train in the South got on with as many as four quarts of whiskey. The men said that some of the towns there had been giving the enlisted men free of charge all the liquor they asked for, the bill being paid by the business men of the town. At first the secre- tary couldn’t be of much help to the men who were really drunk. But af- ter a time, when he had gone through ! the car with envelopes and paper *‘to write the folks at home,” he ob- served men quietly pouring their whiskey out of the window. “I don’t want the stuff,” Never did want it. It's going away that’s got me. folks back home expect me decent, and I'm going to be.” The secretary told him and the oth- one said. just this But the to be | the folks at home can't go, and for them as nearly as it can what the folks at home would of the long train shook with those Sammy-cheers. It was the kind of thing to make every mother and wife cantonment and at every army and navy encampment in the United | States,—those buildings that help the | and sister grateful for an organiza- [to do. . men “be decent,” that bring home to | tion that goes with their men where News Bulletin, them as nearly as possible, that en- - - courages the men and entertain them, I b and keep their fighting spirit up. “It'll be there” said a Sammy, “If we get all this for nothing just on a train, I'm garn(‘ to see the inside of those huts.” "T‘hra(‘ cheers for the Y M. ATTENTION! You who are hoarding you money, who are carrying your cash in your pockets of keeping it in your houses! It is earning nothing fo you there; is doing you no good; and is liabie to b stolen, lost or burned up. MANTLES i y 3 Upright or Inverted 4 . 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