The Girl Who
Was a
Soldier Boy
How l Went' ‘Over There”
With Pershing’s Division
By HAZEL CARTER
Mr*. Hazel Carter of Douglas,
Ari*., is a young woman, twenty
two, whose young husband, Corpo
ral John J. Carter of the United
States army, was ordered to France
with the Pershing expedition.
Determined to accompany him,
she obtained a soldier's uniform
and fell In as a private on his de
parture. She was five days at sea
on the transport before she was dis
covered and was returned home
against her wishes.
Copyright 1917 by Brit Syndicate, /no.
0---|
Ms fist It was a hard situation foi
him to handle. He saw that W<
both stopped short and fell Into posl
tlon. The habits and discipline of the
army certainly get a grip on you.
On the Grill.
I don't know how long wo were on
the grill. It seemed ages to me. Wc
stuck to our story—the truth. They
brought in the first sergeant of my
husband’s company and questioned
him too. He had to admit he knew
nothing about it He might have sus
pected, but he figured It was none of
his business. He didn’t add this, how
ever. Sticking your nose Into other
people’s affairs is a dangerous pastime
in the army.
Things looked pretty tough for us at
times, but I did not lose my sense of
humor. The Q. O. kept referring to
me as “he” part of the time and "she”
the other part Now I was “Carter,”
like a regular, and again I was Mrs.
Carter. "When he looked at me In my
soldier suit, with my hair cut short
like a man’s, he could not figure me as
anything but a doughboy.
Finally they ordered the guards to
take me back to the stateroom. I did
not care what happened to me as long
as they did not court martial the “old
man,” as the soldier’s wife calls her
husband. I knew that would break his
heart and mine too.
While I was pacing the floor of that
small room waiting to hear what they
had decided to do a couple of rookies
passed outside the porthole.
"Whaddye thlnk-khey’ll do with her?”
“I dunnp. On$ o’ the men that was
over In the Philippines sez they'll ei
ther fall out the bring squad and have
her shot at sunrise or else they’ll make
her walk the plank."
"'Von mean they’ll put out a plank
rand make her walk off the end of it
dnto the ocean?"
"Sure. One o* the men that was over
in the Philipp"—
I strained my ears, hut I could not
hear any more. The rookies had pass
ed out of earshot. I hoped by the time
they made me walk the plank I would
be near enough to France to swim
ashore. Then the laugh would t>0 op
them. The prospect didn’t d*~.(uii> me
much.
After what seemed several years,
though as a matter of fact it was only
a few minutes, my husband came to
my room. He looked very solema. 1
ran to him. He took me in his arms
and held me tight for a long time.
Then he began to pull off his coat.
"Tell me," 1 begged.
"I lose my stripes,” he said. “I am
no longer Corporal Carter, but Private
Carter."
From the tone of his voice aud the
light in his eyes I knew he did not re
gret the stripes. Neither did I. Belnt
with him all this time was worth It.
“Private Carter.” 1 said, “I salut<
you. sir." And I did with a great bU
fat kiss.
Then I sat down on the edge of th<
berth and with my own hands rippet
the stripes from his sleeve.
CHAPTER V.
No France For Me.
THE rest of the trip was unde!
guard. I think It was the flftt
day we were under way they go
xne. I could hear the men singing anc
drilling. The routine of the army wai
going on as if nothing had happened
How I longed to be hack in my ok
place among them as a doughboy! A1
I had now were the clothes, just mem
ories of my soldiering. I had to stici
to them because there was nothing els<
on board for me to wear.
I did not see my husband for tw<
days. It was hard to know he was 01
the ship, only a few feet away. an(
yet I could not even speak to him.
begged so hard to see him that the;
finally let him up, and after that h<
was allowed to come to me when h
was off duty.
He told me the men were gettinj
anxious to land. They had recovere<
from their seasickness and wanted t
see what it was like "over there.” A1
were In the best of health. As thel
appetites returned they complaine<
more and more about their rations
which is to be expected. At mess on
evening a homesick Sammy talkei
about the deep dish huckleberry pi
his mother used to make. He almos
caused a riot
"You’ll be pickin' berries out of th
air soon, boy, lead ones.” said a Sam
my, who had eaten his pie mostly ol
of lunch counters all his life.
For the moat part those were drear
days for me, as I saw my husbam
only for a short time when he did ge
up to my prison. Outside I could hea
Ull the nolsee of the troops—noises tha
mtu souuaeq so sweet In my ears tie
fore. There were the calls of the crap
players, the plaintive music of the
ukelele, no longer soothing to me now.
and the harmonizing of the old. sad
tunes. Previously the accomplished
player of the “tike" had heen the most
popular man on board, and he was yet
for all i know, but not with me i
would have liked to kill him when he
tuned up.
Much time was on my hands fot
thinking, i was proud of the respect
these soldiers of Uncle Sam had shown
me—a girl—when they had every op
portunity to take advantage of mo with
me living among them ns one of the
gang. I nm speaking of those wh(f
were aware of my presence on board.
They ought to make a fine record In
France, both In and out of the trench
es. I was also proud I hadn’t oeen
seasick, although I had never been on
the ocean before. I had shown up
some of the rookies In this respect any
way. for they had heen a seasick crowd.
Neither had I had any fear of sub
l marines, even though I cannot swim a
stroke. This was more than some of
' the recruits could say. Several of them
i had been very open pored as they broke
Into sweats of pure fear with each
submarine alarm for drill purposes. I
felt, perhaps, 1 would fit better in the
trenches than they would.
About noon one day I beard a great
commotion on board. Men were run
ning backward and forward, shouting
und calling to one another Things
were being moved in a hurry. The
whole ship throbbed with new life. I
tried to discover the cause of the ex
citement by peeping through my single
porthole, but could see nothing. A
guard came to my door and knocked.
Land Is Sighted.
“Land to starboard!" lie shouted. He
was a nice fellow and couldn't hold
out such startling Information from me.
There was a lump in my throat the
size of an apple. Would I ever set foot
in France? The officers had promised
they would do all they could to get the
authorities to let me stay. The army
officers were especially nice to me. I
believe they sincerely wanted to see
me win out after the chances I had
taken.
Snmn t T ___«
be permitted to land. It was the ship's
captain, technically In charge of me.
who killed all my prospects, as I found
out later.
It was on Saturday we came Info
port. We were not sure of the name of
the place, although we had a pretty
fair idea what It was.
Extra guards were stationed to
watch me. The quartermaster captain
was taking no chances on my sneaking
ashore. Once he passed my cabin.
“Watch that porthole." he ordered.
"She’s as slippery as an eel. We don't
want any more of this foolishness."
By and by the ship came to anchor.
1 could hear the men going ashore.
.Was my husband with them? I did
not know. The fjhought that he might
be ordered off without so much as a
goodhy drove me uearly crazy. I guess
l was quite mad for a time. I was no
longer a soldier facing fate with a
smile. I was a woman deprived of one
of the sacred rights of love.
After a long while the bustle on board
censed Th-> V>r«! were rein”. 1 could
hem lilt- M-outa o£ welcome on the
shore and the music of the brass bands.
Brass beads reminded me of home and
the good old days at the camp In Doug
las. 1 started to rave again. I threw
myself on my berth. Some one picked
me up In a pair of strong arms and
stood me on the floor. 1 let out one
war whoop of happiness. It was the
man "
“I’ve got permission to stay on board
here with you until Monday, kiddie,"
he told me. “In the meantime the
boys are going to get busy and do their
darndest to grab you a Job over here.”
Then and there we did a song and
dance. Monday. This was only Sat
' urday. Anything could happen In that
time. Even peace might be declared.
“Maybe Bill Kaiser will call It off.
1 and we can go back home together,”
my husband consoled ine. We went up
on deck. The transports were all
around us. Some of them had already
unloaded, while others were waiting to
pour their streams of Sammies out on
the shore of France. Crowds lined the
■ shores and piers. Flags were flying
everywhere and people were in their
holiday clothes. All the children car
, ried flowers, which they gave to the
Sammies. The welcome mat was
spread all over the place,
i "They seem to lie sort o' glad to see
us." remarked the guard, who was nev
er far away. “We’re as welcome as
a pint bottle at a picnic for two."
i All day Sunday and Monday we wait
ed for news about m.v landing, but
> none came. We bad not seen the boys
i since they went ashore. They had
l gone Immediately to their quarters in
[ or beyond the town. My husband had
• orders to report for duty Monday after
> noon. As the time whe.i he must go
> drew near I grew panicky.
I want to say right here that on sev
; eral occasions while we were In port I
l could have ducked ashore. I did not
> do It because I knew if I was caught*
I again some one else would get Into
• trouble, and I could not stand for that
1 after they had been so kind to me.
, At 4 o’clock he told me he had to go
i and report. Ills face was white and
1 drawn, but he forced a smile and tried
! to keep cheerful.
t “Let me see that you are a sure
enough soldier’s sweetheart." ho said,
s "Buck lip, kiddle. You're a game girl.
- You came all this way for me.”
f “Yes, and now I have to go back
without you," 1 sobbed.
’ "Don't let a Uttle thing like that dls
I courage you, honey. Go home and
take a run down to Kentucky to see
mother. Tell her I am well and doing
I all right No bocha bullet U going to
get me. Then. If you still want to
come over. Join the Red Cross. I'll
work night and day to see you are sent
somewhere near us. Re good, kiddie.
Walt for me.”
1 don't Uuow whether he said any
more or not. I was crying so hard I
couldn't hear. I ran to the rail. He
was going over the side. lie did not
look buck. He was a regular soldier.
I understood. I fell In a heap on the
deck. After that 1-do not remember.
While I had been saying goodby
to inv husband on the deck of the
tranajKirt the guards turned their
hacks and pretended to be busy. They
■ told me afterward that when they
saw me rush to the rail they had the
scare of their llTes. They thought
I was going to Jump over after him.
They reached me Just as i crumpled up
on the deck.
The first thing I remember hearing
was the voice of a seaman who had
been sent on an erraurt for the “medic.”
“A woman mokes a h—1 of a soldier.”
he was complaining. "If they ever got
out In a good, stiff battle and things
begun to look tough for them the whole
d—d army would go to work and
faint.”
"What are you blowln' about?” said
one of my personal gnnrds. who was
always willing to give me all the best
of It. I was his prisoner, and be was a
soldier and didn’t want au outsider
picking on me, "A lot of license you
have to bawl out somebody. That time
the hoys kidded you and said they
were going to draft the sailors into the
army and send them out first I thought
you hail the ague.”
“I wasn't feelln' well. I had a chill."
“Uh huh! A chill in your feet; that’s
what you had.”
“Well, maybe 1 did. A guy's got a
right (o his own ideas about flghtin'. I
ain't afraid of no submarines nor any
thing else on this here sea, hut I ain't
hankerin' to go chasin' Germans across
No Man’s l.attd nor none o’ them
strange places. If I'm gonna get mine
I want to get it on the ocean.”
This is often the case. Sailors who
do not know the meaning of the word
fear on the water will back out en
tirely when it comes to fighting oo
land. They seem to be bom to the sea.
A lot of soldiers hate tho water. They
would rather fight four years in the
hi my luau lour uays in ine uavy.
‘The kid’s all right," said my guard
to this sailor, recommending me. “Sho
made a darn good doughboy. If she
wants to take a flop because her old
man has to go out and maybe get heen
ed by a piece of shrapnel or somethin'
let her do it."
It all came back to me then why I
was here, the goodby to my husband,
the failure of my pin ns Just when it
looked as if I were going to get through
clean and maybe go with him to the
front. 1 guess I moaned.
“She’s coming toi’’ said the “Biedte,”
feeling for my pulse. “You'd better
clear out, all of you. I’ll give her some
thing to keep her quiet. She’ll feet bet
ter after a good night’s rest.”
I honestly did not know whether I
wanted to come to-or not Ufe looked
pretty hopeless with me back there on
the transport not knowing what was
coming off at Ibec^mp. Then I thought
of mv hnsbnnd. Me told me to wait :
lor him. Well. I wouldn’t disappoint
him.
Since I got back home I hare heard
of several ensea where the wives or
sweethearts of boys who have been
called away committed suicide. This
Is hard to understand. If a woman is
lucky enough to win the love of a man
who will shoulder a gun and go out
and fight for his country and her coun
try sho ought to have enough grit to
live for him and do her bit hi the
meantime. He wants to come back
and find his home or the girl he left
behind him waiting to welcome him.
This is one of the things which keep
him going, the thought that the soouer
it is over the quicker he will get back
home to hiy.
It didn’t take me very long to And
out the captain on the boat suspected
I might be one of the quitters. From
tlie porthole in my room 1 could look
Kept Under Guard.
A sailor was walking guard up there.
He never took Ills eyes off the port
hole. When he saw me come near the
opening he looked mighty worried.
The captain thought 1 might try to
jump overboard ami drown myself. It
would be up to this guard to dive over
and rescue me.
“Don't worry,” I called to him. “I’m
not going to do the Dutch, as we say
In the army.”
“You’d better not,” he grinned. “The
water Is awful damp this evening.”
But he kept his eye on the porthole
Just the same.
They brought me everything for din
ner they thought would tempt me. I
did not touch It. All 1 did was to
walk the floor. Most of the time I
cried. For five days and nights I nev
er slept or ate a mouthful of food.
The very sight of it choked me.
A guard was stationed outside my
door and another on the upper deck.
The one at the door was a soldier and
the one on deck a sailor. The soldiers
belonged to the hospital corps. They
are detailed to duty on the transporta
and go back and forth with the ship to
which they are assigned.
(To be Continued)
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