Oh, there’s numerous blanks in your company ranks, But there’s two in the Boches’ for one in the Yanks’, An’ all that he guv, you returned him with thanks, You doughboys, you slow boys, Here’s luck, an’ let her go, boys— We like you, Infantry. F. M. H. D., F.A. SEA STUFF Now I’m a soldier, so I ain’t No hand at art, but say, There’s things at sea I’d like to paint Before I’m tucked away. A cruiser on the sunrise track, Alert to find the morn, With every funnel belching black Into the red, gold dawn; A flock o’ transports, crazy lined, On blue-green waves advance, That sink their bows, all spray an’ dewed, Hellbootin’ it for France; A manned gun peerin’ out to port As evenin’ shadows close; Beyond, a ship slipped up an’ caught Against a cloud o’ rose; A crow’s nest loomin’ from below Across the Milk Way’s bars, Just like a cradle rockin’ slow, An’ sung to by the stars. No, I can’t paint the things I’ve seen While we were passin’ by, But, all the same, they sure have been Worth lookin’ at, say I. STEUART M. EMERY, Pvt., M.P. LETTERS My buddy reads his letters to me, and, say, he sure can write! I have to sit and chew my pen and even then The way it reads when I get through I know it’s pretty sad As far as composition goes; the grammar, too, is bad. But talk about—gee, he can sling the ink to beat the band, And picture everything he’s seen a way that sure is grand. I got him to write a note to my gal and, golly, it was fine! I copied it and signed my name, but, all the same, It didn’t seem to please her, for she wrote in her reply She’d read it several times and it didn’t sound like I Was sayin’ exactly what I meant, and was I feelin’ good; I’m kind of glad she took it so—in fact, I hoped she would. MEL RYDER, Sgt. Major, Inf. SOLDIER SMILES You may talk of kings and princes, And the glory of their show; You may sing of knights and ladies In the days of long ago; You may paint a vivid picture Of the wonder worlds to see, But the smiles on soldier faces Look the best of all to me.