When Li'l Joe the soldier got home for Christmas he was lugging on his back a great big load, not a Santa Claus pack but one of these big army laundry bags, a sturdy green cylinder about four feet high and two feet across, packed with GI garments and a goodly portion of Kentucky. They had been out on bivouac for a rainy week and had no time or opportunity to get their outfits cleaned before starting their leaves, and not wanting to let them lie dirty so long, he just fetched them along. When he spread them out, coated an inch deep, it seemed, with that yellow-red sandy clay, his Pa remarked, "Well, at least they didn't waste any good farm land when they took that area for an army base." Don't be insulted, Kentuckians, we really have a soft spot in our hearts for that state because my father was born there, but up here in the Nawth nothing looks like good farm land to us unless it is black. I will say that the Kentucky dirt washed out a lot easier than some of our Illinois mud.
It was really rather nice to have some laundry brought in again. For years we were used to getting clothes boxes in the mail, until recently when the parcel post rates increased so much that Joe and his buddies turned to the helpy-selfy automatic machines near the campus (which system they like very well after they learned by experiment that it is best not to put the gaudy sox in with the white underwear). Just a few days ago one of our older boys remarked, quavering his voice in imitation of an old man, "Times is changed! In them good old days I got my laundry done for 18 cents a week, and got a bonus back in every batch, apples, cookies, chewing gum or candy."
But what I wanted to say was that you're never too old to learn. When sewing shoulder patches on for Joe after the clothes were all cleaned and pressed, I remarked that he didn't have enough patches, shouldn't there be one on each sleeve? Wilbert did. And Joe replied, "Sure, he did. But the only time you have a right to wear a patch on the right sleeve is after you have been overseas with that outfit."
That was news to me, and I pass along the nugget of information without charge in case you can find use for it. Also, you are supposed to set the patch just half-an-inch below the shoulder seam. Betcha you didn't know that, either. It would be nice to have a patch on both sleeves so you could see them from any direction you approach, but on the other hand it's nice that only one is necessary per garment when you are doing the sewing. They are the toughest things to stitch! -- Hope.
Memory Gem
The best way to knock the chip off a fellow's shoulder is to pat him on the back.