The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-07-12
Special Correspondence 10 THE suS.
BY FREDERICK PALMER.

BY FREDERICK PALMER.
BRITISH HEADQUARTERS. France. June
23.-"What do YOU think I am? A
blooming trafnc policeman 70 growled
the cook to two soldiers who had found
themselves in a blind alley In the maze
Of the trench streets back of the firing
trench. MY word. Ia his Majesty's
army becoming iiliterate? Strafe that
sign at the corner! What do you think
We put II up for? To show what a
beautiful hand we had at printing
That sign on "A board fastened against
the earth wall read mo th~oroughfare."
The soldier cook, with a fork In his
hand. his sleeves rolled up, hts shirt
open at mis- tanned throat. looked 'orri
dable. He was p~reoccupied. he was At
close quarters. roasting a chicken over
a small stove.
oh. yes. they have cook stoves In the
trenches. Why not? The line had been
in this same position for six months.
Little by little we improve our happy
home" said the cook.
The latest acquisition was a lace
curtain for the Officers mess hail. bought
at a store in the nearest own
When the cook was inside his kitchen
there wasn't any room 10 spill anything
on the floor. Thu Kitchen was abou.
three feet square. with board walls and
roof. which was covered with tar paper
and a layer Of earth set level with the
trench parapet.
Bullets "Pins."
As the chicken roasted and the frying
potatoes sizslcd an occasional bullet
''plrged" over the trenches. OF course
they don't ping AS a rule they make
A DRY. sharp crack. But ping" is the
accepted word. All trench narratives
and conversation should be interlarded
with then a bullet 'pinged' overhead.
So they do. jus, As flies buzz about the
screen door when Mary is baking BIS
cults for supper. II you keep your
vulnerable Uranium down below the
parapet YOU are in about AS much dan
ger from them as from getting a shock
from the current of the trolley wire
which takes your car home after WORK
To get indigestion from the biscuits
Mary baked.
That officers mess hall next to the
kitchen. and built In the same fashion
had some boards nailed on posts sunk ir
the ground for A table which was proof
against tipping when you climbed over
IL or squeezed around II TO your place
The chairs were rife ammunition boxes
whose contents had been emptled VIII
individual care. bullet by bullet. at I'M
Germans In the trench on the other SD
of the wheat field. Dinner was al
in the evening, when II was st'll fain'
twilight, in the longest day of the veal
in this region. The hour hts In VIII
trench routine when night is the tin'
TO be on guard and YOU sleep by DAY
Breakfast comes at 9 In the morn
ing was invited to help eat I'M
chicken and to spend the night.
Now the General commanding .
brigade who accompanied me 10 tn
trenches had been hit twice. so nae
the Colonel. a man about 40. From a
ages among the regimental ofhcer'
dropped into the twenties' MANY OF th.
older men who started In the war hat
been killed or were back in thsiah'
wounded or had been transferred u
other commands where their experience
was more useful.
My hosts were the officers OF wv.
compan!es. Their regiment we Will cal
the Kings own Particular Fuslllers
; II gave It's real name - which !
, against censorship POPULATIONS migh
! he saving that II was about the finest
: proudest old regiment In the Brits'
army, which would be invidious in Viev
Of all the other finest, proudest old regi
m.nts in the British army,