Gilpin observer., 1914-12-31
TAKE WAR LIGHTLY
Hindus CheerfuIIy Patient Under
All Circumstances.
One Complains That Prussian Soldiers
Neck Is Too Fat for StrangIIng-
Meet Old Comrades in
Arms.

London.-A correspondent of the
Times. who signs himself AN Anglo
Indian" contributes the following:
one would not have recognized the
tired, war-worn crew who came
In yesterday in a hail of pelting sleet
MOST or them were sitting up In their
beds chatting and laughing; pears, ap-
pies, cigarettes. chocolate and war pic
lures were strewn on the tables by
their sides. A hot scrub-down and the
oiling and massage of the head, which
the indian loves, had altered the color
OF lie to them. Mussulman from
the khyber whom | had seen lifted
In the day before on the shoulders of
two orderlies. his face pitted with the
debris thrown up by shell, was ".
ing back peacefully smoking Gig
arctic.
Il found the Dogras and Gurkhas
together. They had come from the
same part OF the field
How were you hit?' ! asked one.
by pataka. sahib.
"A crackerl' At first | did not un.
derstand. A pataka is the cracker
which is thrown about the streets
when the religious professions pass
In the bazaar
"A bomb he explained.
1T slowly dawned on me that the
man thus lightly dismissed Jack
Johnson or a Black Maria. The
war is not like the war in old times
he added regretfully.
Some OF the wounded had not seen
the Germans. Those who had did not
speak respectfully OF them. One man
who had come to grips with a fat
Prussian complained that he could not
get the fingers OF both hands round
his opponents throat. They are
not bony men, he added But this
would mean less resistance TO the
kukri. While he was struggling and
rolling on the ground he was shot
point-blank through the lung and the
bullet had come out through his shoul-
der.
Another man told me how his com.
pany and another we're enfiladed BY
machine gun fire In the trenches and
lost all their British officers. A
havildar got the men together and led
them back in the dark to the line be-
hind. They had been badly pounded
and felt a little lost I'D uncertain
where they would find themselves.
BY piece of good fortune they hit
on the trenches OF the Seaforths. The
Highlanders and Gurkhas are old com.
rades in arms.
There was story in the ward OF
a wounded havildar who fell into the
hands of Good Samaritan. The Ger.
man officer spoke to him in Hindu.
stani. asking him the number OF his
regiment and where he came from.
He bound up his wounds. gave him n
drink and brought him a bundle of
straw 10 support his head.
The Gurkha as "a rule Is direct and
matter of fact more Interested in
physical than abstract affairs, as when
he complains OF the thickness of the
Germans neck. But one meets a
more Dumasesque type sometimes |
among the Sikhs and Mohammedans.
J asked Pathan how many of the en-.
emy he had killed.
"A great many he said; one can
not count
DE Souza. felicate. cultured
youth. who was laid up with a slight
attack of pneumonia. gave me a vivid
picture OF life in the trenches The
German trenches were not two hun.
dred yards from his own, and he Law
awake at night listening TO thei,
accordions, and concertinas. He seemed
rather to like the music. One morn.
ing they hoisted up huge placard ON
a pole with the inscription In large
letters:
Holy War.
Indians Fight on Our Side.
Woe to the. British.