TOMMY'S ABLUTIONS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2666, 11 January 1916, Page 3

TOMMY'S ABLUTIONS

■V THE UNCERTAIN "TUB" AND THE OCCASIONAL SHAVE (By a Subaltern,: in the "Daily Mail.") Washing on service varies from not at . *11 in the front trenches to hot baths and every modern convenience if sufficiently far back ill billets. A happy medium is reached when a regiment is taken out of the trenches and sent bank to lie in reserve a mile or so behind the firing line. Then chins are scraped, faces, hands; and feet washed, and possibly some .of tbo more hardy sluico each other with a bucket i and have a rub down with a towel. • . . A complete cleaning kit comprises a piece of sponge, a piece of soap, - a razor, lather brush, comb, and toothbrush, also a small pocket looking-glass.' All these things are carried wrapped in j face towel. The bundle is not largo wnsidered by itself, but when it is remembered that it has to be carried in i pack or havorsack, .and that the pack aas to hold a greatcoat,. clean socks, »nd shirt and cardigan, "iron" 01 'emergency, ration,, the day's' rations, luxuries such as. chocolate and tobacco,and possibly a pair of boots, it will be Understood that the soldier is divided in his mind between the extra space taken np by cleaning kit and the burden, of Carrying it and the disagreeableness of . not being able to wash. ■ ' The way out, ,of course, is. to carry nothing oneself and. to borrow from . one's "pals," but this cannot be done < for more-than a week, .as it is discovered, resented, and checked by the man who has carried the extra burden refusing to part with his goods to the lazy person who will keep nothing of his own. It is all very well to lend a man one's towel when one is near a laundry basket, but when his face is an eighth of an inch deep in dirt and the towel has to last till another arrives from England, it is another matter. Aldo, it requires a noble spirit of sclfsacrifice to hand one's safety razor with : the last remaining'blade to some bluechinned ruffian whose beard would take , the edge off the sword Excalibur: A Deal, Supposing one man has a safety razor and the other the only towel in the platoon, a friendship might be struck up ' which would lead to a deal., In my own case an act of kindness in days before the war led to very happy, results. When my , regiment was in and .it was possible: to get shaved with com- . fort by a West End hairdresser, I had ' . despised a safety razor which-an aunt had sent me for a birthday present and ■ given it to .my soldier servant on the occasion of his birthday on the • out; .. break of , war. The same , rascal who shaved me in the West End had sold me for, an enormous price an ivory-handled ordinary razor with an infallible edge, also a strop—equally expensive. "Just, give it a rub now and again, but the , stropping will be more a matter of form than necessity," he said. r This razor • was just the thing for me to take" out to. the front! • ' . On the fifth day ,of the second week the only way I could get the hair off my. face was', by removin'g-.the. outer- . skin. On .the sixth day an' attempt to ' dVaw the razor over the new surface " Was so painful .that I desisted.; I look- ' ed at the razor. I had no strop; I could do nothing. "Anything the matter, sir?" said . Jenkins, my servant. "IPs this — razor," I desoribed the red-stained instrument. "Beg your pardon, sir, there's that little safety razor you gave me last year.-. I've got it in my 'aversack. It's always given me a very good shave, Bir, if you'd care to try it." . .1 said I" would. The safety razor was a great success, and in five minutes, my chin was as smooth as the skin of a baby. _ . : ' ■ ' "Capital," 'I said to Jenkins, handing him back'the raßor. "Very good idea of yours' to have brought-it outjust put it in "my kit and use it yourself whenever you want to." • ' Tlie Unwashed; Some men on service are much cleaner than others. Soihe wash whenever they can; others only when, every-, one else having smartened himself up, their conspicuous state of grime obliges them to. I remember having to go back to Paris: for three days; in connection with military matters and putting up at the Ritz Hotel. The Ritz was looking much as usual; with the big blue-bearded hall porter and Monsieur : , who knows • everyone, in Europe, still in charge" of the restaurant. There were several British officers staying there or passing through. Just before dinner an officer of the tb arrived. He had come straight ,from the trenches, where he had been for ten days, and been given two days' leave,, which he was going to spend in Paris. He had come just as he was

from the trenches, unshaved, oaked with mud, in blackened field boots aud bashed-in cap. It was a strange sight for the Kite 'to.see him stalking down the restaurant with a short pipe stuck in the corneal- of. his mouth. In war time, howover, 110 one thought anything of it, and all his friends were glad to seo him. After dinner they sat round in a circle talking. Everyone, went to bed late.' and ho was left sleeping on a sofa". In the morning he woke, got up, shook himself, pulled liis- cap forward from the back of his head, stuck his pipe into his mouth, and went into the restaurant for breakfast. He might for all the world have still been in the . trenclies. He made no attempt 'to wash, shave, or change his clothessuch matters 'had. become trivial to him.

People thought that perhaps during the day he would do something, and hoped so earnestly, as lie was getting rather noticeably unpleasant indoors, but dinner-time found him just as he had arrived, and in that state the next morning he left. An Awkward Alarm. Now Motley, my . company officer, went to the other extreme. He would wash himself on every occasion, and the washing was much more thorough than that of ordinary men. I have seen him when we have withdrawn from the front trenches to trenches in reserve, screened from view by woods, make a most elaborate toilet/ Ho used to carry a little canvas bucket which he always sent to get filled when he had tlio chance. First lie .would sliavo himself, then shampoo his head and wash his teeth, then strip and soap and wash down all over, part his hair carefully with a comb, change his shirt and socks, light a cigarette, and sit down in the'sun 6aying ho felt much better. All this although we were going back to the trenches next- day.

It was the oddest sight to see _ a white/ shining body diligently cleaning itself, wit's all around muddy, warsoiled men spending the day snatching us much sleep' as they could before more fighting. Sometimes a shell rould burot near wliero he was washing, but nothing would stop him from returning to Wis buckot. On one occasion,) when he was in a state of naturo but beautifully clean, there was an alarm. Happily, however, Motley had time to dress; otherwise the Huns would have said something about naked savages who attacked tliem girded with a towel and armed with a revolver and binoculars.