lated and the lowest rate at which we
could get marks was at a franc, and usually it was a franc and a quarter.
Some one opportunely arrived from Paris with a few hundred marks that he
had bought at sixty centimes. For the officers we got a suckling pig,
which Mess Sergeant Braun roasted in the priest's oven. He even put the
traditional baked apple in its mouth, a necessary adjunct, the purpose of
which I have never discovered, and such stuffing as he made has never been
equalled. We washed it down with excellent Moselle wine, for we were but a
couple of miles from the vineyards along the river. In the afternoon I
borrowed a bicycle from the burgomaster and trailed over to Elmen, where I
found my brother just about to sit down to his Thanksgiving dinner served
up by two faithful Chinamen, who had come to his regiment in a draft from
the West Coast. After doing full justice to his fare I wended my way back
to Trintange in the rain and dark.

The next day we paid the men. For some it was the first time in ten
months. To draw pay it was necessary to sign the pay-roll at the end of
one month and be on hand at the end of the following month to receive the
money. No one could sign unless his service record was at hand, and as
this was forwarded to the hospital "through military channels" when a man
was evacuated sick or wounded, it rarely reached his unit until several
months after he returned. It may easily be seen why it was that an
enlisted man often went for months without being able to draw his pay.
This meant not only a hardship to him while he was without money, but, it
also followed that when he got it he had a greater amount than he could
possibly need, and was more than apt to gamble or drink away his sudden
accession of wealth. We always tried to make a man who had drawn a lot of
back pay deposit it or send it home. Mr. Harlow, the Y.M.C.A. secretary
attached to the regiment, helped us a great deal in getting the money
transferred to the United States. The men, unless they could spend their
earnings immediately, would start a game of craps and in a few days all
the available cash would have found its way into the pocket of the
luckiest man. They would throw for appallingly high stakes. On this
particular pay-day we knew that the supply of wine and beer in the village
was not sufficient to cause any serious trouble, and orders were given
that no cognac or hard liquor should be sold. A few always managed to get
it--al