New-York tribune., 1915-03-25

ana accepts Cigarette.
Not so fine and clean In this Russia
as in Germany" ! say.
For the will of Cod" he replies,
mot a thousandth part as fine and
clean"
We talk Of l.merica, and he would
like to know if know his brother-in-
law, who lives in Wellsstrasse, In Chi
cago. | have to confess that i don't,
but add that | shall forward a letter to
him when | get back to Berlin X the
sentry will have it ready some time
during the week. So we say good night
and part very friendly. The Russians
in their abbey prison continue labori-
ously choppng up choir stalls and
collins, and | move on.
A few hooded women wearing boots
go dumping by. They are dishwashers
from the officers casino, and are being
taken to their homes by detail OF the
guard. Ordinarily no civilians are al
lowed on the streets at this hour.
The snow has drifted the full length
of the twenty-foot archways that lead
into the courts around which the
houses are built. In an occasional
house lights are flashing, and the ser
wants of late arriving officers can be
seen drawing curtains or stufiing bits
of carpet into window frames that lack
glass.
Everybody is in his quarters and
huddled against the porcelain stove,
if he is so lucky as to have found
quarters containing a porcelain stove.
A Day Behind ,e Guns.
The next morning rise very early,
to hauo 1Ono dau hphind the
guns at Bolimow. The storm has died
down. The dawn is sickly and grlyish.
At 4 o'clock the artillery has resumed
firing.
open the window and listen. The
rumble of the guns all along that great
line to the east is heavier and more
rapid than have ever heard it before.
| look out on the snow covered
square. A fresh regiment, also bound
fvr th1 front, is drawn up in the wan
light; gray and blue clad masses of
men, who look cheerful and alert. The
only sound in the square is the soft
pounding they make on the snow when
they stamp their feet TO keep them
warm.
Hoarse cries of command run along
the lines, and they swing through the
narrow streets and out onto the plain.
A wagon train follows them; then an
other regiment, then more wagon trains
and detachments of Uhlans. their lances
making black menace against the low
horizon line.
For an hour at time in the dull
dawn of these heavy Russian days and
in the sad twilight have stood on the
banks of the Bzura and watched the
majestic, ghostly pageant moving on
the rim of the plain and then slowly
dropping from sight.
The river at my feet makes no sound.
The sentry at my side, like me, is si-
lent before the wonder and the heart
ache of the picture. Faint cries Of
command come TO us across the wide
fields. Then all is still, and the light
reflected from the snow plays curious
tricks with the vision and makes ..e
column seem TO stand motionless. every
wagon wheel and horses head and
Uhlan lance etched sharply against the
sky; the only sign of life the steam
rising from the sweating column
horses.
Thrill in Every Minute.
These are the pictures the war
crowds upon the brain by day and by
night, and it seems to me now that
n hing can ever make them grow dim
in my mind or deaden me to their
thrill. There is eXhilaration in every
instant of existence.
Here is a quarter of mile Of freight
cars emitting cannon and automobiles
and tons Of food under the swaying
searchlights, while the frosty air rings
with shouts for Hans, and Otto, and
Johann, and Emil.
Here is a lowing, plunging herd OF
cattle driven up the narrow streets
amid the strange cries of peasants clad
in garments of red, and green, and
purple. and orange and wearing caps OF
astrakhan.
Here. during three hours of exultant
clamor one afternoon, there were pass
ing into the abbey square through four
entrances and passing out on the, OPP
posite side, infantry, cavalry, artillery,
ammunition carts and provision trains.
Rcchts! Links! Rechts!
Tinks!" shouted the under officers,
who sat on horseback at the entrances
OF the square, and the various detach-
ments moved swiftly and in perfect
order 10 be fed, or quartered, or shod.
or nursed, or shot at, as the scheme OF
things might demand
Soldiers Daily Chores.
They say it requires one-fifth OF an
army to take care of the other four
Gfths. and what I am seeing in Lowlcz
shows me why. FORCES are blazing ana
pots are boiling. Bodies are being
bandaged and horses are being shod.
Roads are being mended and prisoners
are being marched out to do the mend
ing.
Shattered autos are being repaired
and new ones are being swung from
fat cars. Minute maps of the town are
being printed and issued TO officers and
underoficers. and the decker, or port
/ able barracks of asbestos that costs
/ S7l4 each. are being set up.
Every pay day, which means three
times a month, hundreds OF soldier:
are sending off thousands of marks
Bridges and railway tracks are being
| guarded, cattle arc being slaughtered
and so is the copy Of injudicious CORE
+ spondents.
Yes, the 10000 who are taking care
Of the $4,000 lying within few square
/ miles TO the east of Lowicz have plen'
/ ~ to do Even when it Is not the
most perilous work in the world, sol
/ ciering is the hardest.
A soldier, looking very complacent
I is coming along the street with a
candle coyly tucked in his bootleg, a
/ fitting place for booty, surely. A com
rade steps up behind him, extracts the
candle as deftly as conjurer might
/ hurries ten PAGES ahead of his victim
I looking very businesslike the while
/ then gives a yell of triumph, waves his
prize aloft and runs.
A column horse, with lunge and q
prodigious showing of teeth, lurches
/ forward and nips half truss OF straw
from a solder'wh is darting across
the street with il. Half a regiment