Page:The history and achievements of the Fort Sheridan officers' training camps.djvu/355

 use of digging six feet of trench six feet deep, just for communications, when a telephone wire w^ould give quicker and better service and be a darn sight easier to rig up?"

Another younger man w^ho had never dug very hard at anything before and w^hose idea of training to be an officer had been gained largely from colored posters, w^as heard to remark, "What's the use of my learning to do this? 1 could get a Dago to do this better than I could for a few^ dollars a day and it w^ill cost me more than that to get fixed up after this mess. "

But for the majority of the men it was the first real entrance into the hardships of w^ar. Many had been engaged at home in sedentary occupations and the terrific change had been a real test and the w^ay the men stood up to it w^as a foretaste of the way thousands of them stood up to the eventual gruelling test in the front lines of the Argonne.

There were a lot. of things that came out of the trenches besides mud and weary men at the close of that w^eek. One w^as poetry. Listen to this: of the Fifteenth Company, 2nd Regiment:

"Who is this guy whose last name is Day,

And where in h 1 did he come from?

He's big and strong and tall, they say. And wears a considerable 'tum-tum.'

He is the feller who walks along the top. While we're digging below in the mud. And shouts out Kis oiders with not a stop. In tones that fair thrills your blood.

It may be, at heart, he's a regular guy,

But he'll have to prove it to us,

'Cause since he's been running along there in high.

He's done nothing but make us all cuss."

An event of unusual interest after the work in the trenches was the arrival of Colonel Theodore Roosevelt. The famous Roosevelt smile illuminated his face as he greeted the representatives of the Camp at the station.

He was escorted through the Camp and then inspected the trenches. He exhibited a great interest in every detail of construction and asked many questions of the officers w^ho conducted him.

Standing on the brink of the gully and looking over tow^ard the lake, he gave utterance to one of his explosive thoughts:

"What we need," he said, "is a hydraulic engineer at w^ork in Northern France. How^ easy it w^ould be to take the w^ater from the coast and transfer it over to the German trenches and force them out by hydraulic pressure."

Some w^ho had seen w^ater at work during the previous week realized that there w^as something more than humor in his suggestion.

After a thorough inspection, he w^as escorted to the parade ground, w^here a large review^ing stand had been erected. The band began playing, the candidate officers passed in review^. At the conclusion the men advanced in mass formation and stood at attention while he addressed them.

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