The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-02-08

British and German soldiers have fra ternized in the lulls of the fighting or whenever they have been brought into contact on other than a hostile footing. The newspapers have been full of sol diers' letters dealing with the Christ mas rapproachment on the battlefield, and testimony to the same effect Is given me by clever young British actor-au- thor who was one of the first members of the profession to enlist after the out break of the war, and who is now, by the bye, one of the most disgusted per- sons in Great Britain.
 He is Miles Mallenson, who. as an ac- tor. had done good work in several ante bellum" productions in London; whose really clever one-act play, "A Man of Ideas, Is now being given .'in front" of the revival of Our Boys" and two or three of whose longer plays have been produced by the Liverpool Repertory and other high-browed managements.
 Eager to serve his country. Malenson, when war broke out, enlisted in the First London Fusiiers, a territorial regiment, and, after five months hard training, was sent to Malta. It appears how ever, that, a boy, Mallenson injured one of his ankles and, when he arrived in Malta, which he described as mere rock" the business of scrambling up and down stony declivities proved too much
 
 with the result that after five army surgeons had seen it, it became obvious that Mallenson's days of soldering were over. He got back few days ago and feeling ashamed to be walking about in civilian dress, is one of the many wht feel that some sort of badge should be devised to distinguish those who are un. able to serve through physical disability
 He remarked that, with the exception Of the officers, of course, he found him self the only educated man in his corps and has some weird stories to tell of the ways of the "Tommes," so I asked him who he found to talk to while in Malta.
 "Our German prisoners" was his un- expected reply, adding that he had been personally responsible for the exguarding of two well educated Germans Whom he de- scribed as among the most delightful men I ever met" Apparently they dis cussed all sorts of subjects and parted with esteem, if not friendship. on both sides. So, ironically, 1t may prove that the war was needed to bring about the much desired better understanding be- tween the two peoples.
 New British Peers
 This week the House of Lords reassem- bled after the holiday adjournment and Lord Kitchener summed up the progress of the war to date in language strikingly unlike that attributed to him by Irwin
  peers last met together. by the bye, no less than four of their number-all earls- have died. these deceased nobemen being the former Earls of Bradford. Stair. Erne and Courtown. The successors of two of them, moreover, have not been able to teke the oath on the reassembling of the House, for these, the new Earl of Stair and the new Earl of Erne formerly known as Viscount Dalrymple and Wis count Crichton), are prisoners of war in Germany!
 and to take their places at Westminster they will sit as Baron Oxenfoord and Baron Fermanagh, respectively, the high CT titles being on the Scottish and Irish rolls. Only one freshly created member has been introduced in the newly assem- bled House. Lord Cunliffe of Headley, the governor of the Bank of England.
 curious tradition in the Earl of Brad fords family is that all the sons shall bear the name of Orlando. in memory Of Lord Keeper Sir Orlando Brdgnan. who became the first earl in the reign of the Merrie Monarch. The new peer is pered Orlandoism by a prefix of George Cecil The new Lord Newport, beir to the Bradford peerage, and aged about five, has Gerald Michael before the Orlando
 A former British consul in Eastern Aus. tria tells me that one of the reasons why the Austrian peasant on this frontier makes bad soldier Is that he Is terribly afraid of the night and it's ghostly in- habtants. The local supersttution is that man meeting with violentNdeath becomes a vampire and sucks away the life-blood of his living companions. Tn addition to this rather unpleasant pellet.