Evening star., 1915-09-12
His PeaIs of Laughter Ring
Out in Trenches as
Shells Fly.
JUST EMPTY HEADED,
CIVILIAN DECLARES
But That Person Now Knows
Youngster Is Smythe, Winner
of Victoria Cross.
BY HERBERT COREY.

Copyright 1881
HAVRE. France. August 10.--After a
time he began to hate the little lieuten-
ant. He ought not to hate the boy He
knew that perfectly. he said afterward.
But the boy was such fool.
He mad just come a long distance
over a bad road. 1t was not an ordi-
narly bad road. 1t was a very bad
road indeed which had then been made
worse by huge shells dropping on 1t.
The chauffeur had had an unpleasant
habit Of ducking his head whenever a
| shell hooted inconveniently near. Then
the chauffeur made it worse by trying
to explain. Every time they had to
pull up behind some shot-to-p pieces
house, while the officer in charge ex-
amined the next bit of road through
his glasses to see whether it was pos
sible to go on. that chauffeur turned
to him.
They got my goat last week." said
| the chauffeur. his under lip quivering
a little. There was guy driving
just ahead of me, and say: shell hit
that boat Of his. His-heart--
The chauffeur never got any further
with the explanation. He seemed to
choke up at that point. and he would
! begin to fuss with the sparker. An
American, that chauffeur, by the way.
There are lots of them over here. He
spired. At first the civilian had been
oddly and not unpleasantly thrilled by
the danger. The thrill died as he
watched that cha uffeur shrug lower in
seen another chauffeur killed. 1t was
on this same road
Scenes in the Trenches.
They came to the entrance to the
trenches. At first it was pleasant to
feel that one no longer presented an
appealing target on an empty road, he
said. The lip Of the trenches was well
above his head. Then 1t was borne in
on him that the men they passed were
becoming Quieter and more grave. By
and by there were fewer men to be
seen in the trench. The greater part
were in the bombproofs. through port
holes now and then he caught glimpses
of quiet, menacing, shapeless things
upon the ground that intervened be-
tween the English trenches and those
| Of the Germans. The noise overhead
had become hellish. Shells shreiked
continually. Sometimes one would ex-
plode SO near at hand that earth
crumbled from the trench walls.
Here we are" said the staff officer,
cheerily.
the ground at the end of a short COM
munfcation trench. Once that hole had
been what the British call bomb
| proof. Now. the British bombproof is
too often dug on level with the floor
OF, the ditch, and the roof is merely
logs and dirt. If a big shell hits it, it
crumbles. The French start at the bot
tom of their ditch and dig down when
they make bombproofs. They are al
most safe. A few hours before a shell
in hn Af fhA
station. Another man volunteered as
telephone operator. and in some mirac-
ulous fashion dug out the instruments
and wires and tied them together
tion as usual 1t seemed the Germans
had an inkling as to the location of
that control station. The civilian could
feel that the surface of the surround
ing ground was being polka dotted by
the. shells.
1T was here that began to hate that
little lieutenant" said the civilian later.
Il knew 1t was wrong. But he seemed
such a fool
Lieutenant Who Laughed at War,
Not a fool precisely, either Just
absurdly and damnably jovial. He was
too young for this sort of business, 10
begin with. For all a slight coloring of
tan his soft cheeks looked as though a
Wednesday and Sunday shave would do
them quite well. He was short and
ruddy and smiling and almost-not quite
plump. The civilian thought bitterly
that he looked almost kittensh. One
could almost pet him. The civilian
thought he'd really like to see this boy at
a tea in London. He would bring some
thing sincere and youthful and invigorat-
ing into the stale air. But here
"rhe fools actually laughing" said the
civilian to himself. choking back his
anger. why do they let such pups go to
war;"
He finally decided that it was the boys
first experience at the front. The boy
didn't know-he didn't have imagination
enough to fill in the picture-that he
was in imminent. momentary danger of
death Just an empty headed kid Why
he wasn't even properly dressed for the
part he had been sent out here to play at
He wore privates cap and there was
something wrong with his kilt and one
Logging was leather and the other woolen
The boy made shocking bad joke and
the others laughed at it. The gray haired
senior among the officers patted the boy
ON the back.