East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1915-04-13
RY wILRuRN :. FoRREsT.


Omitted Press Staff CorrespondentD
LONDON, March 24.-(By Mail to
New York; The human side of the
trenches and firing lines with their
pathos and laughter combined is no
better told than by the 'Tommiesr at
the front, thousands OF whose letters
are received weekly by the folks back
home"
Though interest Is intense in the
big news developments, second to this
comes the soldier letter" sections In
the daily newspapers and columns
appear daily. The British censor
scrupelously eliminates all mention Of
troop locations in the soldiers mail
but this fails to detract from the in
terest in the subject matter.
How an old Belgian woman refused
to leave her home though German
shells has cut great holes in her
dooryard, was related by a private In
the First Wiltshire regiment. He
called her mother Cavelier" and ad'
ded:
I'VE tried to get her to go but II
was no good 1t is her home and she
means to stay at all costs. She looks
upon us all as sons and does every
thing for us--gives up food, dries our
clothing and even washes our under
wear"
How terrific battle of words
ra,.aa t,ot,,,.ov, n t1aIOiau ond Garman
trench along the User was told by a
Belgian infantryman who wrote a
London newspaper about 1t. The
trenches were fifty yards apart. The
opposing soldiers contented them
selves with hurting abusive language
until the battle" became so violent
that the Belgian colonel forbade his
men further verbal exchanges with
the Germans. The soldier concluded;
1t was a pity too, as 1t was a great
pleasure to tell ones enemy ones con-
tempt and hate"
Tell of Trenches.
A private Of the seafortn Highland
ers wrote "home" how he had labored
to scratch out few lines on a piece
Of paper with pencil when he slip
ped and fell into the watery mud in
/ the bottom Of the trench. He crawl
ed out, spent half an hour finding his
pencil and cleaning the paper then
resumed the letter
The fearful condition of the tren-
ches is best revealed" he wrote, "by
the part Of them l am sending home
in this letter."
A wounded London Territorial
wrote:
Picture yourself in all your
clothes. clotted with blood and mud
as dry as blotting paper, aching all
over and breathing forty to the min
ute, taken from Red Cross cart and
carried into a clean dressing room,
Then the first -Englishwoman you
have seen for four months cuts your
clothes off and sends you to bed. 1t
Is like crawling from hell to heaven"
A Lance Corporal who was wound
ed at Ypres and Is again in the fight
ing line wrote.
The more men we get here the
sooner the game will be at an end.
The Germans are almost sold out. We
captured few the other day and they
told us they didn't want to fight
They we're mere boys We only want
nice dry weather and then am quite
sure we can finish up with a brilliant
Victory"
An Australian trooper in Egypt
said
I'VE are camped just below the
Pyramids, not the best place in the
world although the great Napoleon
chose 1t once. The great drawback ls
sand; we drill on II, sleep In 1t. even
eat It. II causes sore eyes and bad
language and would eventually break
your heart'
Women Show Bravery.
Commenting on the British fur
coats furnished the troops, a London
private wrote
"l have been provided with q fur
iacket, quite a ''nutty' model re-.
semble something between a monkey