me of the other boys would wake me only when
they were fully dressed; and the last to fall in at roll-call were
picked for cook's fatigue--peeling spuds and cleaning dixies! How I
loathed those dixies! The more grease you got on your hands and
clothes the more appeared to be left in the dixie! The outside was
sooty, the inside was greasy, and after I had done my best, the
sergeant cook would make remarks about my ancestors which had nothing
to do with the question, and I could not resent them lest I be detailed
for a whole week of infernal dixie-cleaning. Anyway, all his ancestors
had ever dared to do in the presence of mine was to touch their
forelock.

In those first weeks I think I would gladly have murdered every
sergeant. It was "Number 10, hold your head up!" "Put your heels
together!" or a sarcastic remark as to whether I knew what a button was
for, when I happened to miss doing one up in my flurry to dress in
time, so that I would not be at the bottom of the line and picked for
fatigue.

It is not often realized what a purgatory the educated, independent man
who enlists as a private has to go through before his spirit is tamed
sufficiently to stand bossing, without resentment, by men socially and
educationally inferior. There was a young officer who called me over
one day and told me to clean his boots. I answered, "Clean them
yourself!" and got three days C. C. (confinement to camp). This same
officer took advantage of his rank on several other occasions and
sought to humiliate me. He was a poor sort of a sport, and many months
later when I was his equal in rank in France I punched his head,
telling him I had waited eighteen months to do it. So you see,
everything comes to those who wait.

As a matter of fact, it was only three weeks before I was made an
acting sergeant, but I have great sympathy with the soft-handed rookie,
for in those three weeks it seemed to me that it was an easy thing to
die for one's country, but to train to be a soldier was about the worst
kind of penal servitude a man could undergo.

When acting as sergeant I was boss of five stables, each containing
eight men, who could only squeeze in the floor space by sleeping head
to feet. These stables were only completely closed in on three sides,
the entrance side being boarded up three feet high, except for the
space of the doorway. There was no attempt to close up this opening,
except after afternoon parade, when visitors wo