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
No kidding; you know yourself you're grumbling now because all you get
in the line of vegetables is spuds, and beans, and tomatoes and beans,
and spuds, and spuds, and beans, and beans, and spuds and beans, and
beans, and beans, and beans, and beans, and beans and--what was that
other vegetable you gave us last night, Mess-Sergeant?--oh, yes, beans;
all of them canned, with now and then, on Christmas, St. Patrick's Day,
Yom Kippur and Hallowe'en, a few grains of canned corn. If you want
fresh vegetables, therefore, it's up to you to grow them. Unfortunate
people who live in big cities are able to grow them in cute little
window boxes, and thus cut down the high cost of living. Why shouldn't
you, with a steel helmet for a flower pot, be able to do the same?
Go to the French thou sluggard doughboy. Consider their ways. Get wise.
They're hard up for food, as you know; and at that, to judge from the
reports from back home, they're no blooming curiosities. But look at
what they do about it. Instead of folding their hands, saying, "C'est la
guerre," they go out and dig, and then plant, and then hoe, and finally
they have fresh vegetables--and backaches--to show for it. You can't go
anywhere along the roadsides or up the hillsides these days without
stumbling over their neat and well-kept-up little garden patches. And,
with butter selling at what it is, and eggs selling for what they do,
and everything else in the eats line skybooting in price, those little
garden patches come in mighty handy. It's worth trying.
No Favors for Lemon Squads
Although no official announcement has been made as yet, it is safe to
surmise that some company commanders will offer prizes for the squads
producing the biggest pumpkins, the best summer squashes, and the most
luscious watermelons. (Texas troops please heed.) Company commanders,
you know, have never been in the habit of awarding prizes for the squads
producing the most lemons, but, then, war changes every thing.
So keep your old campaign list for garden wear (if the Q.M. will let
you); make a pair of overalls out of the burlap the meat comes done up
in; use your trench pick and shovel, plus your bayonet, to do the
plowing, and scatter the tender seedlets. If a few acorns come along
with the rest of the plantables, plant them, too, for if we're going to
be over here a good long time the shade from these oaks will come in
mighty handy when we're old men and have time to sit down.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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