The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-04-26
GOSSIP IN LONDON
From the Philadelphia Evening relc

From the Philadelphia Evening Tele- l graph.
 Paris qui samuses is not very
 amusing in these days-indeed was il ever very amusing? Paris is a queer
 city. There is the real French capital
 and there is the Paris obvious, tawdry and infinitely boring that has benn
 manufactured expressly for the delec- tation of Americans and of Englishn1en
 who. for II months in the year, lead hlameless lives on Streatham Commo on.
 The war has wiped this Paris practi. cally out of existence The establish
 ments that formally advertised that
 they were open all night (to the infi- mite weariness of the waiters) are now
 never open at all and it is curious how , Tar more fascinating Montmartre is
 with no Rat Mort, no Abbaye, no Mou- lin Rouge. These things were always
 really artificial products devised to
 lure louis from the pockets of the fool ish. Without them Montmartre is real i ly city set upon a hill.
 | There are now no English tourists in Paris eager to be shocked. The only
 young Englishmen one meets has been |
 with attractive dignity the almost af- | fectionate sa1utes offered them by con valescent French soldiers passing them | on the boulevards.
 l Everybody knows that some of the young officers in the new armies are
 more than a little "heady'' and are suffering from bad attacks of self | importance. These youngsters make | easy victims to those who practice the ungentle art of leg pulling. Here is an example. After receiving a com
 mission. young undergraduates head swelled to such dimensions that there was no cap except a fools cap that would fit him He was delighted when he received congratulatory wire signed Kitchener" and showed it to all his friends. But he grew suspicious when another wire came saying: Your King and country are proud of you" A third wire: For heavens sake re-
 main Wilhelm," has sent hir1 into retirement.
 In view of the prevailing lack of fod- der and the proportional low price of potatoes, it was feared that tic latter would be used as fodder. In order tc prevent such use, the maximum price for potates has been increased to A
 cents per bushel.
 The maximum price for potatoes to
 be harvested during the period of May
 to August 15, 1915, has been Set at
 SIPS per bushel, in order to encour- age raising of early potatoes which will be available for food during June and July.
 In this way endeavors are being made to secure a sufficient supply of table potatoes for the next months.
 There Is no doubt that the author ities will order a general investiga- ton as to the available supply of po-
 regulations.
 The following is from the letter of Canadian private to the London Times
 "We have been on the firing line for 2i hours mixed up with the British reg ulars, who showed us all the lodges and little tricks for these Germans We are all very proud and give the English Tom mics the very highest praise because wo know now what they have been through and seen their ability in the trenches. The German trench was quite close, just 100 yards from ours. I sent them few Canadian souvenirs! Our artillery is do-
 Ing fine. and giving them a great re- ception of spinning jennies,' as we call them. The Saxons shouted out, Good r,icy T|yo 1ic11s ehan shoot and all was quiet all night. Next morning they put the Prussian guard against us, and we soon knew it, for thousands of bullets went high above our trench. Several of our boys got wounded, most in the right arm. Britain has a fine system of transporting troops and placing them into the firing line. The A. s. c. are doing great work. We get our rations very good, but the cars cut the roads up very badly We soon got used to the noise and bullets, but those huge shells are fierce and doing awful damage to the towns; houses and The Tommies have made the trenches strongly fortified and very comfortable We dug and fixed our trench with mud up to our waists, so it will give you an idea what the Tommies have done ever since 1t started, but they are very happy and contented and seemed very pleased to see us boys They told us everything; the Germans are just what the papers describe. The people tell us all sorts of stories of them, but Britain will repay! The English Tommies are just 1t and we all admire them."
 The extract, which is as follows, is from a letter from the o. c. First battalion, Irish guards:
 "At f005 a. m. the fercest bombard~ ment I have ever seen began and lasted but stuck after 1t had passed a barri- cade, held by QieutenanD Innes and IA men, The reason for this, think. was that some of our shrapnel was falling rather short-the barrlcade to be captured being only about 40 yards ahead. Innes and his 14 men were ordered to charge which they did most gallantly. and took the attack with them
 "One man, Corporal O'Leary, Irish guards, pushed forward up the railway embankment and calmly shot down Ger mans behind the first barricads, Ave in all, and then rushed on to another ba rrl- cade and shot three more and took two prisoners, all by himself.
 "I promoted Lance Corporal O'Leary full sergeant for gallantry in the field" 
 LUKE M'LUKE SAYS zs. n