The Stars and Stripes, Vol. 1, No. 1, February 8, 1918: The American Soldiers' Newspaper of World War I, 1918-1919United States. Army. American Expeditionary Forces
History
The Stars and Stripes, Vol. 1, No. 1, February 8, 1918: The American Soldiers' Newspaper of World War I, 1918-1919
United States. Army. American Expeditionary Forces
World War, 1914-1918 -- Periodicals; World War, 1914-1918 -- United States -- Periodicals
Horace Lovett, U. S. Marine Corps, on duty "somewhere over here," has
just been appointed a horseshoer of Marines with the rank of corporal.
In the same company Sergeant John Ochsner is stable sergeant and
Corporal Stanley A. Smith is saddler. No, you have guessed wrong. The
captain's name is not Jinks but Drum--Captain Drum of the horse and
other marines.
----
HIS MORNING'S MAIL
IS 8,000 LETTERS
----
Base Censor Reads Them
All, Including 600 Not
in English
----
"Now, how the devil did he pick mine out of the pile?"
Shuddering, a young American in France gazed at the envelope before him,
addressed in his own handwriting, to be sure, but with its end cut open
and a stout sticker partially closing the cut. Stamped upon the face of
the envelope were the fatal words "Examined by Base Censor." And the
words, because of the gloom they brought the young man, were properly
framed within a deep black border.
It was this way: The young man in question had been carrying on, for
some time, a more or less hectic correspondence with a _mademoiselle
tres charmante_ in a not far distant town. That in itself would be
harmless enough if he had sent his letters through the regular military
channels--that is, submitted them to his own company officers to be
censored. But dreading the "kidding" he might receive at the hands of
his platoon commander--which he needn't have dreaded at all, for
American officers are gentlemen and gentlemen respect confidence--he had
been using the French postal service for his intimate and clandestine
lovemaking. That, as everyone knows or ought to know, is strictly
forbidden but the young man being "wise," thought he could put one over
on the army. Result: That much dreaded bogey-man, the Base Censor knew
just how many crosses he had made at the bottom of his note to Mlle. X.
But he needn't have worried a bit, for the bogey-man isn't a likely
rival of any one. In fact, he isn't a man at all, but a System--just as
impersonal as if he wrote his name, "Base Censor, Inc." Also, he is
pretty well-nigh fool-proof and puncture-proof--which again removes him
from consideration as "a human."
Remembers No Secrets
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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