The copper era and Morenci leader., 1915-06-11
FRENCH MAKE TRENCH LIFE GAY
WITH ALL COMFORTS OF HOME"
Letters the Front Tell Supply of Milk and Butter From
Underground Farm of Hot Shower Baths of Hardressng
Saloon Concerts and Vaudeville = Larder Stored
With Hares Rabbits and Pheasans.

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 stern war in which
they are engaged.
A French sub-lieutenant, writes:
1--WE 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-l speak
only of the firing party, not the sup
ply column-counts so inhabitants,
living in 10 nuts. 1t is sort OF per-
petual July 14-rockets by day and
fireworks by night At last we don't
hear the explosions. except by DELHI
erately listening.
Such is the battle of Flanders as
we artillerymen see it; In the day,
village of cave jewellers behind bank
of willows, with intervals of firing;
at night, a sleep broken by occasional
alarms.
our men have considerably enriched
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: -
All the Comforts. ~
I'm really up-to-date intrenchments
you may fEd kitch ems, dining rooms,
bedrooms and even stables. One regi-
ment has frst-class COW sheds. One
day whimsical piou-piou, finding q
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, well cared for, give such Quanti-
ties Of milk that regular distributions
Of butter are being made-and very
good butter, tool"
Another young oficer tells how the
enemy il quite near, just over Q hill.
tain odd but Characteristic conven-
isttoRs. 'y' II <! % -. -
"A hare runs out between the
trenches" he says. 1T 10 greeted
with rival volleys. Il falls. A French
man Jumps up to get It The Prus.
SLAMS wave . white handkerchief snd
cry 'Tabaei Tebaet' which means that
II we give them some tobacco they
win let az have the hare. So our men
club together, and one Of them goes
and gets the hare. leaving In place Of
Il q, big packet, Of tobacco. Scarcely
has he got back to the trench ere q
Bosche quietly goes for the ransom.
Then silence falls on-the scene. and
five minutes afterward, II q head Is
! shown, there Is q 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 off1cer's cap which has been
left I'm corner Of the trench and
raises it on a stock just above the
level OF the ground. Immediately It
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 q rife butts. signifying
q lift. and everybody laughs joYfully.
Games Of @Money Boxes.n
There are more useful games than
this. especially the game money
boxes" Ff
q This is the name the French infan-
trymen have given to the tins Of meat
which the British Tommy calls bully
beef" The empty tins are found to
make quite good alarm bells. Some
times they are slung on strings, some
times they are simply scattered about.
under cover of darkness, between the
trenches, so that any body of men
rushing across will make clatter.
They are put as far forward as pos
sible, and, says Mr.. Meunier-Surcouf,
there are competitions for who will
carry. his boxes the farthest There
are trenches which have as many as
FIVE hundred tins thrown about in
front of them. But the best is ever
the foe Of the good; or so we think
when a rabbit scuttles amid the tins
and receives a shower Of bullets from
either fearful trench"
Another amusing picture Of life in
the trenches Is told by an officer in
letter to relative. .,
YES" he writes, 1--WE are clean peo-
pie here. Thanks to the ingenuity of
-, we are able to take a warm
douche every day from ten to twelve.
We call this teasing the 'Bosches,' for
this bathing establishment of the
latest type is fitted up-would you be-
lieve it-in the trenches!
- ttQiok11ro 70 hn1a ci5