The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1915-05-16

when the military Communicated It'll
they painted "C4os' in red ink on its
greenside.s The other transport carts |
also have &C." which is their class
in the etappe organization and num-
Der They have no springs The shafts
are two skinny, implanted pine trunks.
and the harness is a rope. The driver
sits on a ridge of wood in front and
curses quietly. The "vestovoi rides
alongside still standing in his stir
rups, and curses quietly. In the cart
are four very cold sacks of something.
sit on one sack and rest my legs on
another. Moisture oozes out of both
sacks and oozes into me. When the
cart tumbles into ruts the top sack
wobhles and ! hold on by the ridge OF
wood on which thesdrivcr sits.
More wondrous than the sinsl trans
port carts is the transport train. The
'.viestovoi" says il is small train
and when ! ask him how many carts
there are he says perhaps a tnou
sand. | can see neither the beginning
nor the end. In front of us is another
one wheeled cart with a peasant driver
in a short sheepskin coat and round
black la1nbskin cap. Before 1t is an ar
tillery cart with two uniformed sol
| ders- It is an Intruder and the driver
| in front of us curses at II quietly.
| Behind us are carts without end Be-
side us is second train of carts. All
marked SIS with number. When
we get to Grojec they branch off and
| Instead we are Joined by two more
| trains of carts, so that three rows of
carts rumble over the road. Near Gro
| jec there is little hill. When we reach
the top l stand dizziiy on the oozing
sacks and raise my field glass in the
hope of seeing the end of the train.
| l see only carts stretching for miles.
All goes wonderfully well. The carts
never lose the road Usually there Is
nothing to show it. Sometimes there
| is a plain, implanted signboard with
the words "Doroga ma Etappe" which
! means "Etappe Road" The train seems
to find its own way When we enter
| small villages the "viestoyoi takes out
j a turnip-lilSe watch and makes notes
] on a blue form. When We come to n
1 big village he makes for the etappe
i commandant. The etappe commandment
| is usually a grizzled warrior. On see
ling the "viestovoi' he swears, looks
| at the blue form and rings UP some
| one on the telephone. He sends a man
| who wears army breeches and a civil
ian coat into the road and this man
checks the carts.
Some are always missing. When tho
etappe commandment hears this he
swears and rings up again. The fault
is the fault of the skinny Polish
horses. These horses are new to mo-
tor cars. Once every half hour along
the road comes a motor car with staff
officers. 1t is hard to pass. Half the
horses shy, plunge and rear. The start
officers and the chauffeurs awl to the
transport drivers cover his eyes and
+, the transport driver covers the eyes
| when 1t is too late The horses lash
out, dash violently into the roadside
drainage ditch, smash the shafts. over
turn the carts. Everyone swears but
nobody worries.
cross the new built Piluitsa bridge the
"viestovoi" ceases cursing. The bridge
is made of logs and is the fourth on
this spot. The former three were blown
up by Russians or Germans The Vie
stovoi" says his name is Luka Mat
veitch Drozhdin. that he comes from
the village of Lody. near Dwinsk, and
has wife and seven children. He men
| tions that half the transport drivers
are not army men but ordinary peas
ants. especially the fellows in the
|, lam bskin caps" who are Poles He
. himself belongs to the regular army
service corps. He points as proof to
the letters on his shoulder starps and
says: There YOU are" | ask why he
wears ordinary civilian, not service
trousers, and he answers: God knows
, why; I have never worn army trousers
since September" l ask him about his
native village, Lody. and he says It's
: peaceful now. but there Is nothing to
drink and that makes people quarrel
some" He shows me the blue form and
/ discover that he writes a beautiful
copperplate hand. The driver of my cart
turns round and says: Yes, he car
write and he can talk; I am g. dark
II Ggnorant) man, but / can write my
name"
Plcasantest of all in this journey is
the ca1mness of the transport drivers
They never get Hurried. When you ask
where the war is they answer: III
is miles away" In the villages people
tell them alarmist stories; The Ger
mans have taken Radom!'' The Aus
TRANS are Smelling Warsaw Eng
land has declared war on Russia The
transport drivers say: ut is not true
and il II is true, 1t doesn't matter. Rus
sia is big" "Rossiya shiroka!" There
is only one excited driver and his com
plant is that he lost a petroleum car
on Thursday week. He curses violently
The other drivers curse in an unem
phatic, somnolulent way: If you didni
understand their cuss words (Which
are the grimmest on earth) you would
think they were citing Keats.
All the drivers are hospitable A
Saborow the 'viestovoi'' fishes some
grey bread out of saddlebag and of
fered me half. My driver looks at hin
quizzically; takes some grey brea'
from under the oozy sack and offer!
me half, but looks relieved when
decline. There is a ninn at Saborow
Some transport drivers want to enter
but the Inn 10 full of noncom mis- sionet
officers who bawl at them. The drivers
curse quietly and retreat. They lose
nothing as the drink prohibition EN-
braces all Poland. The Poles former
ly drank furniture polish now the fur
niture polish is all drunk up. go
:, tea in the inn and offered some Il
the 'viestovoi' and the driver. The
r l"viestovoi drank 1t. The driver refused
He said: '1n war time there is no dig
. noty in tea"
At in the evening we got to tn,
: town of Tartschin. famous because II
> Octobe r one German she'll laid low nine
y houses. Tartschin Is 26 miles from
Bjalobrzegi and 1t took US 10 hours Il
5 reach 1t. All the time the transport
i. train goes at walking pace and witt
: the stoppages due to breakdowns an.
| to narrow bridges you oover only twt
: miles an hour When we stop the vie
etovoi" gets communicative about the
war. Especially at Tartschin where
you can hear the German guns HI
tells me that most transport drivers d.
not want the war to end. They carr
. roubles day-which Is 81, and twice
the peace wage This they manage b,
driving day and night The drivel
never goes home; never sees wife and
| children; never goes to- bed; nevel
u.A y L. =.