The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1915-01-10

ioned out of biscuit tins can be used
adyantageously at many points.
Generally. however, the front
trenches are about two hundred yards
apart in this section. That gives the
sharp-shooters plenty of chance to get
in their fine work, aud it is dangerous
to push ones head above trench,
even to sight a rifle. Many of the
sharp shooters are using periscopes,
much like those Of the submarine. and
with these they can sight and shoot
accurately without coming anywhere
near the top of the trench. The oppos-
efforts to hit the tube of the peri
scope, and frequently succeed.
Since the rains and floods came,
the COMMUNICATION trenches have large
ly oozed away Some of them are like
rivers; others are knee-deep with pas
ty mud of exactly the same consisten
cy as bakers dough. A regiment
which passed through one such trench
day or two ago, left three men be-
hind and had to send relief party
back to dig them out
Under such circumstances, the la
| Dor of bringing up ammunition and
! rations from the rear is terrific, and
the men assigned to this labor reach
| their destination in state of utter
! fatigue; nevertheless they have TO
take their turn at sentry duty later
in the night,
The enemy is very business like
and misses no chance to shoot any
man who exposes himself Today for
instance, an English soldier was up in
willow tree cutting withes. a shot
passed him, and he sportively signal
ed "a miss; left A second shot came.
and he signaled a miss; right. The
enemy profited by his advice, and the
third shot passed straight through his
head.
There are the strictest orders
against men exposing themselves; but
some of the careless ones are surpris-
| ingly dsregardful Of their safety, Yes
terday private who was dragging a
sack of coal, walked slowly along the
top of communicating trench for "A
considerable distance, in full view
of the enemy, merely because the bot
tom of the trench was muddy and
travel down there in safety would
have been 50 much more laborious
i than on the firm soil above. a hail
of bullets missed him. but he even
stopped to light his pipe behind an
eighteen-inch willow before he delib
erately climbed back down into the
trench with his load.
THE whole army is very tired of
willow trees and poplars. II would be
a relief to know that we would never
have to see them again. Willow
stumps are particularly annoying be
cause in the dark they look exactly
like crouching soldier, with perhaps
a stray limb resembling levelcd gun.
81 was out scouting two nights ago,
and went farther ahead than ! had in
tended. | had no rifle with me. About
forty yards from the enemys trench
suddenly saw what ] thought was
"a German crouchng down with lev.
elled gun. My heart stopped and
hastily signaled for the rifle of man
behind me, only to find ii not loaded
Then looked again and found the
German was only a willow stump.
"On my way back crawling eau
tiously through turnip feld--one
must move cautiously, for these tur-
nips crackle most aIarmingly under
foot-suddenly up went one of their
star rockets, which make the neighbor-
hood light as day for mile around
| dropped down. To my horror | dis
covered that my face was close along
side a German corpse, that had lain
there since their last unsuccessful in
fantry attack six weeks ago. Another
and another rocket went up, and It
was many minutes before | could get
away from that grisly object
brought back his helmet and rifle as
souvenirs.
There is great supply of news
in the trenches, but much OF it, re-
gret to say, is unreliable Today, for
Instance, we heard of a great naval
victory for the English, a great Cali
clan victory for the Russians and for
the twentieth time, that the kaiser
| Is sick unto death"
Some people imagine they are good
hnnD1,Gn