Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1914-12-11
FRENCH MAKE TRENCH LIFE GAY
WITH ALL COMFORTS Of HOME"
Letters From the Front Tell of Supply of Milk and Butter From
Underground Farm" of Hot Shower Baths of Hardressng
Saloon, Concerts and Vaudeville Larder Stored
With Hares, Rabbits and Pheasants

Paris.-To read the gay notes of
some of the officers who live" in the
trenches one would find it hard to
believe that it is a stern war in which
they are engaged.
A French sub-lieutenant, writes:
I'VE, dig comfortable classmates and
line them with straw, and remain
there for three, four or five days,
firing at the German lines now and
then, and the rest Of the time sleep
ing, eating, playing cards, watching
the enemy's shells falling or the flight
Of the aeroplanes. Each battery soon
becomes little village. Ours-I speak
only of the firing party, not the sup
ply column-counts so inhabitants,
living in Is huts. 1t is a sort of per-
petual July 14-rockets by day and
fireworks by night. At last we don't
hear the explosions, except by delib-
erately listening.
Such is the battle Of Flanders as
we artillerymen see it; in the day, q
village of cave jewellers behind a bank
of willows, with intervals of firing;
at night, sleep broken by occasional
alarms.
During the last two or three weeks
their larder by adding to it hares,
rabbits and pheasants. The poor
birds, which are very plentiful here,
maddened by the sound of battle, are
chased and easily beaten down. Some
days our battery has had in stock 100
hares, so rabbits and score of pleas
ants"
Another French soldier shows that
his countrymen have learned the les
son of trench warfare and can now
teach their teachers something. He
writes:
Ali the Comforts.
"In really up-to-date intrenchments
you may find kitchens, dining rooms,
bedrooms and even stables. One regi-
ment has first-class COW sheds. One
day whimsical piou-piou, finding
cow wandering about in the danger
zone, had the bright idea of finding
shelter for it in the trenches. The ex-
ample was quickly followed. and at
this moment the - infantry possess
an underground farm, in which fat
kline, we'll cared for, give such quanti-
ties of milk that regular distributions
of butter are being rnade-and very
good butter, tool"
Another young officer tells how the
enemy is quite near, just over hill,
but between fights there occur Ger
tain odd but characteristic conven-
tions."
"A hare runs out between the
trenches" he says. "It is greeted
with rival volleys. 1t falls. A French
man jumps up to get it. The Prus-
slams wave a white handkerchief and
cry 'Tabac! Tabacp which means that
If we give them some tobacco they
will let us have the hare. So our men
club together, and one of them goes
and gets the hare, leaving in place of
It a big packet of tobacco. Scarcely
has he got back to the trench ere a
'Bosche' quietly goes for the ransom.
Then silence falls on the scene, and
five minutes afterward, if head is
shown, there is blaze of firing"
But the merry French soldier must
have his little joke. When everybody
is feeling bored to death, waiting, wait
ing for something to happen, he picks
up an officers cap which has been
left In a corner of the trench and
raises 1t on stock just above the
level OF the ground. Immediately 1t
is the signal for the German marks
men, each firing in turn, not by vol
ley. A ball strikes the cap. At once
a spade is waved above the trench,
like a flash at a T1he butts. signifying
a hit, and everybody laughs joyfully.
Games of money Boxes"
There are more useful games than
this, especially the game money
boxes"
This is the name the French infan-