The personnel of enlisted men, too, with Base 11, was exceptionally superior, coming from some of the best families of the Middle West. Anderson, McCranahan and the two Tobins of the famous Paulist choir were there, and what wealth of vocal melody they represented! Talbot, Bunte, and Leo Durkin of Waukegan; Dunn, Farrell, Lewis, Talbot--these, and five hundred others like them, were the splendid fellows to whom I now fell heir. Camp Dodge, like many another Cantonment, the War Department miraculously "raised" over night, was a vast school, pulsating with martial throb. Hundreds of the brain and brawn of the far-flung prairies were arriving daily, and being classified, drilled and seasoned into efficient soldiers. [Illustration: U. S. UNIT NO. 2--BLESSING OF UNIT'S COLORS AT ST. STEPHEN'S.] Poets have to be born; but soldiers, in addition to qualities inbred, have to be made; and while the process of making was invariably laborious and often discouraging, it usually repaid patient effort. The raw recruit of yesterday became the pride of the line today! They call me the "Raw Recruit," The joke of the awkward squad, The rook of the rookies to boot, And a bumpkin, a dolt and a clod; But this much I'll plead in defense I seem popular with these chaps, For they keep me a'moving thither and hence From Reveille to Taps. Though no doubt I have had them for years, For the first time I'm _sure_ I have feet! When the Corporal said "Halt" it appears That my feet thought he ordered "Retreat"! And my eyes o'er who's blue ladies 'd rave, And called them bright stars of the night, Now simply refuse to behave And mix up "Eyes Left" with "Eyes Right." I'll admit that I'm no hand to brag; But the fact is I've won a First Prize! 'Twas not that I have any drag, Nor excel in the officers' eyes. It was close, but I won, never fear; My home training helped me, I guess; I beat every man about here; At being the first in, at "Mess"! My Corporal admits I'm not bad Through the night, when I'm buried in sleep! It's waking that I drive him mad, And cause very demons to weep. But Rome was not built in a day! And once I get used to my suit, I'll just force all these pikers to say "He once _was_ a raw recruit!" CHAPTER II CAMP MILLS--ST. STEPHEN'S, NEW YORK--ENTER ARMY Given sufficient time and mellowing, the butterfly eventually merges from the chrysalis; and it was with rapturous delight early June saw us exchange Camp Dodge for Camp Mills, Long Island! We were now on the shores of the Atlantic, and would soon tread the deck of our ship of dreams--a transport bound for Over There!