The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1915-03-04

We go there. Soldiers on bicycles
meet us. They tell us that nobody ex-
pected one of us to come out alive
from that hellhole. My orderly runs
to me, with wet eyes:
Captain, my captain
| shake many hands. warm my
self at the campfire. Light rain Is
falling Someone brings me half
bottle OF champagne. The men get red
wine from the baggage train :.
and rice soup.
My lips are still black with earth. !
gulp 1t down with the first swallow OF
| foaming wine.
Greetings, life! Greetings, earth"
After a period of comparative peace
and luxury In the conquered city OF
| Lille, Captain Hooker marched his
company out to the vicinity of Mes
snes, where some of the most des-
perate fighting OF the war has taken
| place. and there he and his men got
their first taste of life In the trenches.
Day after day they lay in subterran-
can cells, under orders from head
| quarters ito hold the position at all
costs, even if your trenches are blown
up" Rockers commanding skill as
writer is shown here again:
Our trench is not three meters long,
a full meter deep, with frontage Az
oentimeters high. 1t is so centimeters
wide. The entrance consists of three
narrow steps. AS the trench has
r~os "ou must crawl into 1t backward
You cannot stand inside, scarcely
kneel even, without striking your head
against the roof. All there is to do Is
to lie down, first bit on the left side,
then a bit on the right, then on your
back-but before each change you
must warn your trenchmate.
You lie and walt
Yor lie and listen.
You lie and think
Is 1t fear Of death that creeps upon
us? Is it encouragement? oh, If only
we could rush forward to the attack,
that would be quite another matter.
That would be just up and at EN-, and
In a couple of hours fate would de-
eide. ..
His Hair Grown Write.
When we were young men. we
learned nothing Of this new form OF
war. History, it seems, kept 1t for
this most difficult and bitterest Of cam
paigns. To stick it out under the
earth until ones time comes-until
the enemy dares advance and we must
throw him back or until the command
reaches US from the rear: Forward!
Attack"
Meanwhile there We lie. And, over
our heads, horror shrieks.
The roaring, cracking, spattering,
laundering, growing, crashing goes on
unendingly. Always, always. Every
shot may bring the end; the end of one
of those who wait.
Oh. If | could only accompany my
slender little daughter just little bit
further into life. And my wife,
who has struggled and fought by my
side for the length of human life
could | but look again into her eyes
and speak loving farewell to her.
1t IS that way with all of us oh, do
| not believe that any one OF US is
crouching here under the earth callous
and without feelings, that through the
narrow slit he sees merely the same
stretch of clayish soil, Callousness is
not courage.
You lie and walt.
You lie and listen.
| You lie and think
Then, after days and days and days
of this comes the order: You are re-
lieved. You have two days for rest A
| South German detachment relieves
| Rockers men He writes:
could not ride found | had to
| learn over again how to use my limbs.
| On foot led my company away.
| looked into mirror, | had to
smile. The bit of hair which | still
possess has, during these last ten days,
| turned white!