With the Doughboy in France: A Few Chapters of an American EffortHungerford, Edward
History
With the Doughboy in France: A Few Chapters of an American Effort
Hungerford, Edward
American National Red Cross; World War, 1914-1918 -- United States
One evening she dined in the Y. W. C. A. hostess house at Coblenz with two
of these boys. Left alone, she would have dined by herself. She was
tired, very tired. There comes the hour when a woman worker wearies a
bit at sight of a ceaseless file of chattering and khaki-clad men. And
so when she seated herself in one of the little dining booths of the
"Y. W." restaurant, it was with a silent prayer that she might be left
alone--just that evening. Her prayer was not granted. A big doughboy
came and sat down beside her, another across the narrow table from her.
The second vouched for the first.
"You will like Hank," said he. "He's one of the livest in the whole
First Division. He's from Waco, Texas, and say, he's the best gambler in
the whole army."
At which Hank grinned and produced a huge wad of ten and twenty and
fifty and hundred franc notes from his hip pocket.
"Don't you let him string you, Miss Tippitoes," said he, "but if ever
you get where you need a little spare change you know where your Uncle
Hank is to be found."
He called her "Miss Tippitoes" because he could not remember her real
name even if ever it had been given to him. But he had danced with her
and watched her dance, and marveled. And well might he have marveled.
For if I were to give you Miss Tippitoes' real name you might know it as
the name of the most graceful and popular dancer in a fashionable suburb
of Chicago.
Hank edged closer to her. It was in the crowded restaurant, so he took
off his coat and unbuttoned his blouse, as well as the upper buttons of
his undershirt. And Tippitoes stood for it--it was a part of her job and
she knew it--while Hank leaned closer to her and confided some of his
troubles--they were troubles common to so many of the doughboys.
"It's a dump that we're billeted in, miss," said he, "and it's all the
fault of our colonel--him and that Red Cross girl he's stuck on. Just
because he's got a mash on her he had the regiment moved in to G----.
But I've got his number. And as for her--why, that girl comes from my
home town. I've got hers, too."
Tippitoes' eyes blazed. She could have lost her temper so easily. It is
not difficult when one is fagged and nerves begin to get on edge, but
she kept her patience.
"Don't be foolish, young man," said she, "otherwise somebody will have
to take the trouble to tell you that a colonel does not locate his
regiment. He has no more to say about where you shall all be billeted
than you yourselves. And as for the Red Cross girl, she is in the same
position. Moreover, your remark is not worthy of an American
soldier--and a gentleman."
There was something in the way she said these things--no type may ever
put in upon paper--that, in the language of the motion-picture world,
"registered." In a little time Hank was ashamed of himself, and with the
innate generosity of his big, uncouth heart, apologized--like a
gentleman and an American soldier.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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