Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 300, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 December 1919 — GLADNESS IN THEIR HEARTS [ARTICLE]

GLADNESS IN THEIR HEARTS

Physical Discomforts Unable to Affect Soldiers Who Had Good Reasons for Feeling Happy. .O' ‘ ” “It was three o'clock in the morning,” said the returned soldier as he recalled his departure from a training camp. “A cold rain was pouring down in torrents. The hundreds of soldiers who came from t2ve barracks of the big army camp were in a most cheerful mood. All carried heavy loads. They seemed to pay little heed to the fact the ground was soggy and their feet went into the mud above their shoe tops. At other times, when they had been brought out into the cold rain, they had spoken in bitter language, but it was not so upon this occasion. “Through the inky darkness the men tramped with their heavy luggage, the packs getting heavier as the water soaked Into them. They did not seem to mind the long hike, and they sang a little and laugh&d a little despite the fact their clothing did not turn -the streams of water the skies above poured down upon them unmercifully. “Finally the commands of officers rang out in the darkness and the men were halted near a railroad track. ■?3iey stood there for more than an hour. The rain turned into a snow. The cheerfulness ameng tbe men was not broken. Their laughter continued, and occasionally they would sing some faihiliar army song. “At last a long train of passenger coaches was backed in on the track. In that machine-like manner of troop movements the men boarded the train. The last man had no more than left the ground when the train began moving, and soon was, rumbling and screeching through the darkness. 1 “Within the coaches the soldiers continued their singing and laughter, although they were wet to the skin. They had a reason to be happy. That ‘grand and glorious feeling’ finally had arrived. “They were going—home.”