CHILD SOLDIER.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 88, 12 July 1918, Page 3

CHILD SOLDIER.

YOUNGEST VETERAN. WANTED GERMAN HELMET. An amazjng story' is told by a returned soldier of a nine-year-old boy, who found his way right up into the firing line on the Somme. There have been cases of Australian youngsters who enlisted at such an early age that when the shocked authorities discovered their immaturity, recalled them to Australia, and gave them their discharge, the. dren were so young that they had to go back to school again. These voter j ans of fifteen or sixteen were surely the mnstj astonishing kind of school boys in existoneo. With all a man’s j experience behind them, to have to sit in class and learn their lessons' again! With ears deafened by shellfire to have to listen to the drone of the pedagogue; and with shrapnel) scars newly healed, to have to receive a caning for inattention! Maybe these, war-babies would have to learn history when they had just returned from making history. But this child of nine is surely the most remarkable fighter of them all. Not long out of; short trousers he has fought for hisj country, and gone through more ad- j ventures than a brty scout ever dreams of, or a reputable citizen experiences in a whole life-time. Instead of read--1 ing hoy’s story books he has been living “The Boys’ Own Annual.” At nine years of age ho can. comfortably look back to the time when he was a pirate and a Bed Indian, and a scldieiman; though one wonders what novelty or adventure the world can hold 1 for this war-wearied veteran.

ORPHAN AND STOWAWAY

When the returned soldier first saw] ‘the nipper’ in France he was covered ! with grease—ln fact, he was just onesmall grease-spot. He-had .been given the job of greasing the axles of the] wheeled transport. The lad ' stowed | away on a. Now Zealand transport. He said he was an orphan. How he got, up to the front is no doubt known to the New Zealanders; and the same, force could perhaps tell how he became possessed of a uniform. He had, stowed away for the fun of it, to see, the war; but the magnet that drew, his adventurous soul was a German helmet. , ' > “I want a German helmet, ’ he used to say; “but I’m nob going to pick up any old one. What I want is the helmet of a Fritz that killed myself. The other sorts don t; count, r Picking ’em up is a kids

game." I An (A1.1.F. officer in the firing line, took pity upon the waif, and kept him in his dug-out. There he made himself quite at home, doing odd jobs for everybody with the greatest

willingness. But a dug-out in the firing line is, no place even for ,so adventurous o. boy as, “the nipper”; though every-1 body, and especially his officer friend ,| tried to keep him out of danger. BuP the boy could not he kept under j cover. He was always hopping up on to the parapet to watch the shells! It was little use to pull him down,; up he would go again at the first hint of “liveliness.” He was keeping a bright lookout for that German helmet. ; i He had no rifle, but all the same ho managed to get a shot or two at Fritz. And he even went over the, top with the men,; But bis luck held ; he never got a scratch.. It must be remembered, though, how small a mark ho presented for a bullet. j HOW HE SPENT HIS FURLOUGH IN LONDON. |

The officer arranged for the hoy to got ton days’ furlough in London ; and off .he went, proud at being treated, like a real soldier. But someone had taken precautions that would keep him in England. On ins arrival at Horseferry Road headquarters he would bo taken care of, and certainly not allowed to go back to the firms lino But nobody was really surprised when “the nipper” arrived back' at the front. The plan was an excellent one; but the hoy did nob-go to Horse-, ferry Road. . 1 When he arrived at \ ictona B ation his small size attracted the attention Of a kindly-old lady. She was so taken with the kid that she invited him to spend his furlough at her home. And she kept him there,! looking after him, giving the lonely hoy a good boy’s time, and-surely-mothering him to her heart’s corn, tent. And then she saw him off to France no doubt wondering sadly, why such children, should be sent to fi| So there ho was, back on the sol-i diers’ hands again; hut another plan was eonooted, and one day he was ( sent on an, errand to the back areas of the lines, and there the miht.uy, police snapped him up ns a stragglThov say he “told off” the military police like -an old Anzac. “Call yourselves soldiers! Why don’t you go to the front and do your bit? Not you. Ml you care do is to arrest a better soldier than, you are yourselves. | They sent him hack to England, ( and there he is being looked after.. Bub he did not go without his Omni an helmet. ' No ho did not capture of kill the owner. He tried to, hard enough; hut as he could not got a he mot that way he got it another. He pinched it off Olio ol