The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-12-27
XMAS VS.. WAR
YuIetide GladneSS InVadeS Grim
Battle Line Trenches.
Germans in Northern France
Celebrate Under French Fire.
GIFTS FROM HOME FOR men
Nearly All of Company Are
Heads of Families.
At Eve of Festivity Captain
Learns of Sons Death.

France Dec 24.-Via Lille and Ber-
lin to London. Dec. 27.-War is no re-
specter of customs. Therefore there
was no cessation of activity along the
line in northern France on Christmas
Eve-if possible the French artillery
fire more nearly approached the cele-
brated drum fire. of the late Septem-
Der offensive than at any time since
then. Christmas to the average Ger
man. however, is the most important
day of the year and the Bavarians in
northern France refused to allow the
French artillery to spoil their celebra-
ton. All along the line from the most
advanced trenches to the communlca-
ton points in the rear Christmas
trees blazed almost as if in opposition
to the flare of exploding shells.
| 1t was the fortunate lot of the As
ISOLATED Press correspondent to be
able to spend Christmas Eve with
member of which had been in the field
at least a year and most of whom
spent the preceding Christmas in the
field, French. guns doomed incesSant-
| ly. shells ripping up acres of ground
but luckily not intruding upon the
scene of the celebration of the first
company of regiment No. TO-
In order to spend the evening as
nearly as possible in the accustomed
way all the members of the company
posts and gathered in a little wooden
building just behind the front. A tiny
stage had been erected for the newt
able orchestra and speaker and in one
corner stood a little Christmas tree
laden with tinsel and sweets. Adjoin-
ing it were long tables on which were
gifts for the soldiers-cigars, choco-
lates. mittens and all kinds Of wear
ing apparel-mostly home made ar
ticles stitched by loving fingers and
RI
least the rigors of winter time weather
Most of Company Married Men.
Not a man of the company was less
than SO years old and the majority of
them were As. Nine out of every ten,
as one could tell by the rings upon
their fingers, were married The ma
jority, too, had sons in the field, and
many had lost their nearest and dear
est. The company's capain, in pri-
vate life a lawyer and one of the old
est men in the service, had learned but
a short time before that his son had
fallen only a few miles away The
fathers voice broke as he spoke of his
sons death, yet five minutes later he.
mounted the little platform and spoke
to his men in firm, ringing tones
The music was without exception
devotional rather than patriotic. The
room fairly. shook as the bearded men,
most of them peasants, sang hymn
after hymn. After the first song
servants brought in huge mugs of
Munich beer sent especially from
Bavarian breweries. The captain had
received literally bales of presents for
his men and as far as possible had
divided them equally. They lay in
little piles on the tables past which the
soldiers filed. Accidentally or through
design each reservist had to pass his
captain and for each the commanding
officer had some special greeting.
Hello, Fritz, have you something
e.
Merry Christmas. Johan. Is that
boy of your getting better?"
Cannons' Boom Incessant.
Cannon were booming necessarily
meanwhile and the gale of shells was
constantly visible. When a shell ex-
ploded especially near or with an I'M
usually loud report the whole room
broke into laughter. AS midnight ap-
preached the scene became gayer; ex-
cept for the uniforms, one could not
have guessed the ceIeorants We're SOL
diers who had been separated from
their families for months and who
had lost friends or relatives upon the
field OF battle. Approximately every
five minutes the orchestra started a
hymn in which every one Joined.
An element of earnestness was in
jected into the celebration when the
captain rose to speak. Not as an Of
ficer to privates, but as man to man,
he thanked his soldiers for what they
Christmas and then to the hopeful ex-
pectation that peace soon would come.
calling upon them to continue to rem
der the same service to the Fatherland
as they had been giving. His final
words had just been spoken when a
tremendous French artillery salvo
sounded with a boom that drowned
every other sound. 1t was followed by
another salvo of pledges from the SOL
diers to stick it out until the last and
assuring their captain of their loyalty
to the last drop of their blood.
The only civilian guests were Amer
leans, who would not have been sur
prised at an unfriendly greeting, but
the Bavarians proved delightful hosts
and the humblest soldier of the COM
pany chose to forget he had a grudge
against America Wherever possible
German soldiers attended church on
Christmas day. In Lille there was a
special mass at the cathedral at which
German priests officiated in the pres
ence of hundreds of soldiers who made
the scene unusually impressive.