The Uncensored Letters of a Canteen GirlMorse, Katharine Duncan
History
The Uncensored Letters of a Canteen Girl
Morse, Katharine Duncan
World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
I alone in the town am wearing the insignia of the old division and this
is a wonderful and weird affair cut out of turkey red bunting and pinned
to my sweater sleeve in a moment of reminiscent loyalty by my indignant
detail. But the band keeps on lustily proclaiming the brigade’s undying
allegiance, for every morning for Reveille, as it makes the grand tour
of the town it brays forth defiantly the war march of the old division.
“We haven’t got orders to stop _that!_” says the leader.
Since the spirit of rebellion is abroad I have been managing a little
mutiny of my own. It came about in the matter of Sunday movies. Up till
the present we had been accustomed to having a service every Sunday
night, but since the artillery moved in we have been furnished with a
full-fledged morning service by the regimental chaplain, in view of
which I had set my heart on having movies in the evening rather than a
second service. I based my position on the grounds that, since to my
notion at least, the main end of the work over here is simply to keep
the boys away from the things that would hurt them, on Sunday night, the
most dangerous night of all the week, this could best be done by drawing
them to the hut with a movie show; always provided that their “religious
needs” had been supplied earlier in the day.
The movie machine was at the hut, I had found an operator in one of the
batteries, a little Jewish boy who bragged of long experience in the
states; all I wanted was a film. I went with my request to the office.
My logic it seemed to me was unassailable. But the office couldn’t see
it that way. After much debate we agreed to disagree in theory. In
practice I carried off my film. But I did it with a sinking of the
heart. My relations with the office have always been quite cordial, this
was the first incident to cast a gloom over them. Anyway, I thought,
we’re going to have those movies! I advertised the show extensively.
Sunday night came. The hut was thronged. I was feeling rather
particularly pleased with things. We had ministered to the boys’ souls
in the morning, fortified the inner man with free hot chocolate at six
o’clock, now we were going to finish out the day by satisfying their
romantic cravings with a film drama of love and adventure.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account