Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 269, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 November 1918 — YANKEE GAMES HAVE MADE IMPROVEMENT„ IN PERFORMANCES OF SOLDIERS IN FRANCE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

YANKEE GAMES HAVE MADE IMPROVEMENT„ IN PERFORMANCES OF SOLDIERS IN FRANCE

(By E. A. BATCHELOR.) American athletic sports are serving « double purpose among French soldiers. Primarily introduced for the amusement of the Pollus, the Yankee games have resulted In Improving the performances of the men in purely military duties. Naturally the Y. M. C. A. Foyer du Soldat, which has charge of this work, is feeling proud. Throwing Hand Grenades. As a result of playing baseball, the soldiers at a camp where J. A. Nelson represents the Red Triangle athletic department are throwing hand grenades 40 meters, instead of the average of 30 that prevailed before the Yankee national game was Introduced. An increase of ten meters in the range of one of these deadly missiles means more “good Boches,” because,

as the plainsmen used to say about tho Indians, the Frenchman says that the only good German is a dead one. The men, in addition to throwing farther, are also throwing more accurately. Some of them were many feet “off the target” before they were introduced to baseball. Interest In Other Sports. In addition to baseball, basket ball, volley ball, association football, croquet and tennis are flourishing. The French fighters are taking such interest in these sports that some days moyi; soldiers will appear than can be accommodated with the facilities at hand. Only when the day’s artillery program has been of such an exhausting character that it has taken all the men’s “pep” is there any lack of attendance on the playground.

AMERICAN BOYS PLAYING BASEBALL IN FRANCE.