Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1871-03-23
Ingenuity of Prussian Soldiers.

The French hate the Germans with a
terrible hatred; they are exasperated
beyond measure at the manner in which
the Ocrmans nave conducted the war
In France: but being themselves an in
genious people, they are nightly
struck with the ingenuities of the enc
my. Thus there was a Prussian bat
terry at Breteuil which for time re-
ceived the fire of Mount Valerien with
out any apparent effect, much to the
astonishment of the gunners in the
fort. They were extremely puzzled,
and sought the point of attack with
double care. Then they discovered the
cause of their failure. 1t seems that
the Prussians flashed powder at some
distance from the embrasure of their
battery, and this contrived to misdi-
rect for some time the heavy fire of
Mount Valerien. Then there is anoth-
er contrivance of the Prussians which
has taken the fancy of the French. 1t
is that their sentinels wear white cloaks
when they stand against walls, green ones
when they appear In their fields, brown
ones for the woods, and gray ones for
the mist. ''ITens, items 2" says the
Prussisn, with an appearance of dis
dain, in which there is an under-tone
of admiration; ''their tricks are with
out number" "But," says another,
''I will tell you one of their tricks
which deserves praise, and from which
we might learn lesson. They go
about their work very quietly; we
make too much noise with onr clarions
and drums-we warn the enemy of our
movements q mile eff How much
better is their low whistle, Their peo-
pie hear it well enough, and We do not
hear it at all But talking of whist
les, the conversation goes ON, shave
you heard Of that other dodgel The
other night they managed reconnoi-
sance in the woods of Clamart by
means Of hootings like SO many owls.
Our fellows heard the hooting, and
could not make out what it was at first.
They have got little instrument to
hoot with. Then SAYS another /;
"Quite as good at the owl is the dog
trick. The outposts at Creteuil have a
dog who watches for them, and barks
when any one approaches" Then yet
another: "0h, they are ingenious
enough: and that reminds me that
they like to take things easy. We made
q reconnaissance to the Maison Blanche
the other day. We found one of the
houses with q large room loopholed
But if you imagine that the Prussians
stand before these loopholes you are
mistaken. They sit on chairs. In an
other house there were no chairsHthey
had to sit on planks; but, to make the
benches easier for the rotund sentinels,
they had got the pillows from the bed
in the next room, and therewithal made
cushions to repose upon" There is
another story of a aloophole. 1t was a
good big one-in fact, window. The
French saw a mans head there, evi-
IDENTITY the man on guard. Ii was dar-
ing too much, and they peppered him
with their Chassepots. But every
time shot took effect, and they be-
gan crow for triumph, back comes
another sentinel, showing himself al
the window as brave as ever. They
killed him off; he was replaced by a
third. Him also they killed; and q
fourth, and a fifth, and sixth. They
admired the pluck of these fellows,
coming to the window like that, one
after another, to be shot. At last they
found that il was only lay figure