The Columbus courier. [volume] (Columbus, Luna County, N.M.) 1911-1920, 1915-03-12
Give Personal Touches lmpossl-
bic to War Correspondent in
These Days,
JoKERs EVEN IN TRENCHES
Irish Spirit Proves I~rrepresslbIe In
Face Of Grave Danser-sea Flight
as Seen From the En-
Cline Room. 4.

front or In hospital bases and scrappy
notes from the tars with the silent
feet mirror the actualitles of wal
with a wealth Of intimate detail and
picturesque personal touches impossi-
bic to the harshly censored war cor
respondent
The following Is written from the
front by Corp. T. Trainor:
We have had German cavalry
thrown at us six times In the last four
hours. and each time II has been a
different body, so that they must
have plenty to spare. There Is no
eight hours for work, eight hours for
sleep and eight hours for play with
us. whatever the Germans may do.
"The strain is beginning to tell on
them more than on us, and you can
see by the weary faces and trembling
hands that they are beginning to
break down.
"One prisoner taken by the French
near Courtrai sobbed for an hour as
though his heart we're broken, his
nerves we're so mre , shaken by what
he had been through The French
are fighting hard all round us with
a grit and go that will carry them
through.
Have you ever seer n little man
fighting a great, big, hulking giant
who keeps on forcing the little chap
about the place until the giant tires
himself out, and then the little one,
who has kept his wind. knocks him
nNnFN Thugfg hAu tho nnhNfnn hara
strikes me.
I'VE are dancing about round the big
German army. but our turn will
come. Our commanders know their
business, and We shall come out on
top all rirht."
Sergeant Major McDermott does not
write under ideal literary conditions.
but his style is none the worse for
the inspiration furnished by the
shrieking shell:
81 I'm writing to you with the en-.
emy's shells bursting and screaming
overhead; but God knows when II
will be posted. II at all.
I'VE are waiting for something to
turn up to be shot at, but up to now,
though their artillery has been max
ing a fendish row all along our front,
we haven't seen as much as a mos
quito's eyelash to shoot at. That's
why ! am able to write, and some OF
us are able to take a bit of rest while
the others keep dick
There Is n fne German airship
hanging around like a great blue
bottle up in the sky. and now and
then our gunners are trying to bring
II down, but they haven't done It yet.
IT'S the quantity. not the quality OF
the German shells that is having ef.
feet on us. and it's not so much the
actual damage TO life as the nerve
racking row that counts for so much.
"Townsmen who are used TO the
noise and roar OF streets can stand
Il better than the countrymen, and |
think you will find that by far the
fttest men are those Of regiments
mainly recruited In the big cities.
"A London lad near me says it's no
worse than the roar OF the motor
buses and other traffic in the city on
a busy day"
Gaelic Spirit Irrepresslble.
The Gaelic spirit has not deserted
Sergt. T. Cahill under fire. He writes:
The Red Cross girleens with their
purity faces and their sweet ways are
as good men as most OF us. and bet
ter than some OF us, They are not
supposed to venture into the firing
line at all, but they get there all the
same. and devil a one OF us burst turn
them away.
Mike Clancy Is that droll with his
larking and bamboozling the Germans
that he makes vi nearly split our
sides laughing at him and his ways.
Yesterday he got a stick and put
a cap on Il, so that II peeped up
above the trench just like a man. and
then the Germans kept shooting away
at It until they must have used ~
tons OF ammunition"
But Mike Clancy was not the only
practical Joker in the trenches. as the
following from a wounded soldier
shows.
Our men have Just had their pa
pers from home, and have noted
among other things, that Business al
Usual Is the motto OF patriotic shop
keepers.
IN last weeks hard lighting IN,
Wiltshires, holding an exposed posi-
ton ran out OF ammunition. and ha,
70 suspend firing until a party brough
Iresh supplies across the open IN
der a heavy IRE.
men the wag OF the regiment.
O~ookney' produced a biscuit tin witt
business as Uaual' crudely printed OF
H. ana set II up before the trenobe
as a hint 10 the Germans that m
equal terms.
FINALLY the tin had to be taken I
0s'ause u wes proving such a goo