Evening journal., 1915-08-03
Scenes At THE
ITALIAN front
Wonderful System in Pre-
pairing Army for Long
Campaign
CHILDREN PLAY
DESPITE DANGERS

VENICE. June 30.-CMail to New
York; inst now D'Annunzio is
name to coniure with in Italy. The
poet who claims the honor OF haV-
ing turned the scale in favor of war.
overcome the governments last hest
tation and aroused Italian public
opinion against Signor Giolitti and
his party, is now the most popular
man in army and navy circles They
both claim him. the first because he
has already served in the cavalry with
the rank Of first lieutenant and the
second because ho wrote his Naval
Odes" while on a long cruise on board
a battleship and because in more than
one OF his later poems he has sung
the glories of the Italian navigators.
The nature OF modern warfare by
sea has deprived D'Annunzio from
the cherished pleasure of Joining. the
navy and eventually participating in
one of the engagements which italy
is eagerly awaiting. For the present
at least he must be content with re-
suming his rank as lieutenant and
assuming the role of one of Caderna's
trusted messengers, bringing orders
or discharging other difficult mis-
sions wherever and whenever the
telephone or telegraph cannot he re-
lied upon.
The poet has accepted the post
with the enthusiasms of a youth and
the only privilege he has asked for
himself is that his secretary be al
lowed to visit him once or twice a
week
This explains why the correspon-
dent was able to cross the former
Italo-Austrian boundary on the
Trentino sector The poet readily
accepted my offer 10 act for some
time as his secretary but General
Cadorna refused to ratify the agree
ment At the threshold of general
headquarters the general told the
correspondent that, officially. he was
not aware of the fact that he was
there that the poet would have a sol
dieT to take letters to the secretary
and bring back the latter's replies
and that civilians. especially those
acquainted with the alphabet and en-
dowed with good eyesight would moi
be tolerated at Italian headquarters.
From Venice to Vicenza the poets
brand new uniform was all we need
ed to secure a free pass through thC
hundred small towns dotting their ir
rigated plains. D'Annunzio's nam,
acted as a talisman. The officer sa
luted as our car sped between two
lines of soldiers and military vehicle.
Of all descriptions.
At Verona there was a suddel
change in the situation. A young lieu
tenant who had been informed of ou
trip told the poet that we could no
proceed before another officer arriv
ed D'Annunzio's protests. the pre-
sentation of General Cadornas orde
summoning him and detailing on
itinerary proved fruitless. The office
smiled and then politely asked tn
poet whether he knew where head
quarters was located
The location of Headquarters wa
military secret of the first orde
and the Austrians would pay a goo
sized fortune to discover il if 70
nothing else only for the pleasure o
affordlng the chief of the Italian arm
a good view Of a Parsital or of
Iaube dropping few bombs
So we waited and D'Annunzio sus
eested a visit to the cathedral to loo
once more at an Assumption bv Ii
tan. But our officer arrived 500
and the trip was resumed toward tn
mysterious spot whence General ca
dorna directs the movement of tn
huge army Italy has amassed at th
foot of the Alps.
Our escort was a captain of he
Engineer Corps who has been sta
toned at the foot of the Alps eve
since Austria cent bar ,,ltir,at,,,, ,