Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-01-25
STRANGE DUTIES FOR SOLDIERS
Fighting Not the Only Work Assign.
ed to Modern Military Forces.

From the Army and Navy Journal.
The orders given to their soldiers bv
the leading powers OF the world COM
prise many queer services In these days.
Formerly no government expected any
service OF its military forces except that
connected with actual fighting but modern
conditions call for all sorts OF additional
work.
BY the United States in recent years
there has been wholesale employment OF
our troops i'm sanitary work notably I'm
cuba. in putting out forest fires and aid
.ns sufferers by the Mississippi floods
/ \ year or so agoRthe French ministry
OF war ordered attachments of men ia
the army comprising those known TO be
exceptionally tine shots to place them
selves at the disposition OF the local au-
thorities at Calais ana Boulogne for th.,
purpose OF destroying troublesome seals
that frequented the sand banks between
those towns. and thus constituted men
ace TO the fishing industry.
The Grand Duchy OF Luxembourg was
once so infested with wolves that great
alarm was excited among the inhabit-
ants, who found themselves unable Ia
cope with the animals The minister OF
state called out the army with the re-
suit that tie wolves were quickly exter-
minated
Almost at the same time the neigh
boring state OF Belgium was having its
,roupie with rats. a vast horde of which
mad crossed the frontier into the eastern
part OF the kingdom. The depredations
OF the rodents were on so wholesale A
scale that In some towns. IL is stated. the
! nouseholders We're on the point OF flee
ing When finally the government was
appealed to for assistance IL issued or
oers TO the garrisons OF towns near The
point OF outbreak to do everything nos
slpie 10 aid the Inhabitants to stem the
rouent invasion. and II was not long be-
lore all the pests We're destroyed
n hnr
upon TO eradicate was that OF sparrows i'm
Algeria. which gave the French garrison
much trouble before they were DESTROYED
ABOUT eight years ago an army was
o oaned upon to aid the people stricken ina
: one OF the provinces OF southern Russia
| ny disastrous blizzard. Hundreds Of
peasants were buried under the snow
orifts, while outside Odessa the trains
We're completely blocked. Many detsch-
| ments OF the Russian army CORPS sta
| TONED at points I'm the distressed prov
| lhces were called upon TO clear roads
operate the railways. distribute supplies
| SI 1000. and' In fact, to act as good
| Samaritans I'm every respect
A curious role falls to the lot OF the nri
| Ndte soldier who may be quartered I'm IN.
garrison at Heidelberg, inasmuch as il
seems TO ne expected that any private
may be brought into requisition as a.
object for study by the students of anal.
omy at the university
IN august. 1880. during the journey OF !,
SoiIpany OF Austrian engineers from
vienna to Trieste the engineer of the
tram by some mischance was killed
while the fireman. under stress of hi.
emotion, tainted away. The soldiers a,
once took charge Of the train, and as q
.rioute to their versatility. IL may b.
auoed that they got II into Trieste Ave
minutes ahead OF the scheduled time.
One OF the strangest duties that eve,
!, zen 20 BODY OF soldiers was that arts
s uurlns the French army maneuver.
!. / AT Cnartroq
that several Of the menagerie attache,
/, 70 circus playing in a neighboring tow,
. escaped from their cages and made OF
Tor the open country. immediately. o
, course the countryside was In a state o
. panic, ana the war Office at Paris wa
, appealed to, with the result that 500,
. mere was presented the unique spectac
OF an army corps interrupting its ma
neuVers to engage I'm a hunt for wild ami
mails at large i'm a peaceful province q
france So we'll did they do their work
however. that the beasts were. with on
exception. restored uninjured to the cir
. Gus management.