The War Romance of the Salvation ArmyHill, Grace Livingston
History
The War Romance of the Salvation Army
Hill, Grace Livingston
World War, 1914-1918 -- War work -- Salvation Army
“Why, sure!” he said heartily. “That’s my regular work!” So they
eagerly put it into his hands and departed. The Staff-Captain worked so
hard at it and grew go interested in it that he forgot to go for his
chow at lunch-time, and when supper-time came the hall was so crowded
and there was so much still to be done that he could not get away to
get his supper. But it was a grand and glorious time. The place was
packed. There were two American Colonels, a French Colonel, and several
French officers. The soldiers crowded in and they had to send them out
again, poor fellows, to make room for the children, but they hung
around the doors and windows eager to see it all.
The regimental band played, there were recitations in French and a good
time generally.
The seats were facing the canteen where the supplies were all stocked
neatly, boxes of candy and cakes and good things. The Colonel in charge
of the regiment looked over to them wistfully and said to the
Staff-Captain: “Are you going to sell all those things?” The
Staff-Captain, with quick appreciation, said: “No, Colonel, Christmas
comes but once a year and there’s a present up there for you.” And the
Colonel seemed as pleased as the children when the Staff-Captain handed
him a big box of candy all tied up in Christmas ribbons.
In the huts, phonographs are never silent as long as there is a single
soldier in the place. One night two of the Salvation Army girls, who
slept in the back room of a certain hut, had closed up for the night
and retired. They were awakened by the sound of the phonograph, and
wondered how anyone got into the hut and who it might happen to be.
They were a little bit nervous, but went to investigate. They found
that a soldier on guard had raised a window, and although this did not
allow him room to enter the hut, he was able to reach the table where
the phonograph stood. He had turned the talking machine around so that
it faced the window, and, placing a record in position, had started it
going. He was leaning up against the outer wall of the hut, smoking a
cigarette in the moonlight, and enjoying his concert. The girls
returned to bed without disturbing the audience.
One of the most popular French confections sold in the huts was a
variety of biscuits known under the trade name of “Boudoir Biscuits”
One day a soldier entered a hut and said: “Say, miss, I want some of
them there-them there—Dang me if I can remember them French names!—them
there (suddenly a great light dawned)—some of them there bedroom
cookies.” And the lassie got what he wanted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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