Dere Mable: Love Letters of a RookieStreeter, Edward
General
Dere Mable: Love Letters of a Rookie
Streeter, Edward
World War, 1914-1918 -- Humor, caricatures, etc.
P.S. I had to borrow a stamp for this letter. I went down town yesterday
an spent my last sent on a money belt. Its a good one though.
_Dere Mable:_
Rainin today. No drill so Im going to rite you. If I dont get no
exercise I go all to pieces. Im back from the artillery into the
infantry. Captin an I had different ideas about runnin things. One of us
had to leave. Hed been there longest. I left. Hot headed. Thats me
all over.
Were doin baynut drill now. I cant say nothin about it. Its not for
wimens ears. We have one place where we hit the Hun in the nose an rip
all the decorashuns offen his uniform all in one stroke. Then theres
another where you give him a shave an a round hair cut an end by
knocking his hat over his eyes. Then the wiperzup come over with a lot
of bums an do the dirty work. I an the rest of the fellos go ahead an
take another trench. I havnt been able to find out yet where we take it.
Its all worked out cientifick. The fello who doped it out had some bean.
The principul of the thing is to get the other fello an not let him get
you. If the allys bad doped out some skeme like this the war would have
been over now. There wouldnt have been no Huns left. It takes us Uncle
Sammies. Eh Mable?
[Illustration: "ONE DAY IT'S OUR TEETH"]
There gettin up a thrift campain now Mable. First they sell us enough
Liberty Bonds to buy a brand new army an let us go home. Then they cram
a lot of insurence at you what wont never do you no good after your
killed. Then I guess they found that someone still had a couple of
dollars left so they made us send that back home. Now there gettin up a
thrift campain Mable. They dont want us to spend our money foolish sos
we can buy the Singer Buildin or a Ford or somethin like that when the
war is over.
Some one say that we was the highest payed army in the world. Besides
all this money we get our bed and board. I guess they dont know that in
the army bed and board mean the same thing. Eh, Mable? Still the
same old Bill.
There always inspectin us. I feel like a piece of prize beef. They never
inspect a man all the way through. I guess the inspecters get payed by
the day durin the duration of the inspecshun. One day its our teeth an
another our heart an another our lungs. The other day we was all lined
up in the company street and the Sargent says "Inspecshun arms." I lays
down my gun an rolls up my sleves. Just to show you how tecknickle the
army is he didnt want to see my arms at all but my gun. Hows a fello
goin to tell, Mable?
I went up for thirds at breakfast the other morning as usual an the
cook said "You seem to like coffee." Right away without stoppin to think
or nothin I says back "Yes thats the reason Im willin to drink so much
hot water to get some." Eh, Mable?
Went to a dance the other night and met some swell girls. I made em all
laff. I says I guess I got the instinks of a soldier all right. The
minit I smell powder Im right on my tows.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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