Evening star., 1915-06-05

in forty years have the churches been
full. Every day in Paris-I might
ALMOST say upon every street-one pass
es little girls dressed in their confir-
nation robes of filmy white The
French have been called an unrelisIous
people. There are 10000 priests fight
ing in the French ranks. Fighting.
YOU understand. Carrying rifles and
ing between times. The poilus-''the
hairy ones'-the soldiers of whom
France is most proud-welcome their
presence.
Soldiers Desire Prayers.
do they pray with YOU" ! once
asked priest who had hut just re-
turned from the front. He wore the
brown robe of one of the orders.
Under it was his uniform.
No" said he somewhat sadly. But
they desire US to pray for them. And
we close their eyes-
There is another aspect OF the Eng
ltsh spirit as shown at the front that
desire to dwell upon before passing
on to the more material things of
guns and marmalade and transport
Being good fighting man. the Rriton
proba IDLY Kills his enemy in pleasant
spirit of hate. But he doesn't call
him names. Every one ! have talked
with has assured me that the German
IS a brave man and a good soldier
He is not alone in this attitude. The
nearer You get to the front with any
army-and the farther away from the
non batant who yaps on street
corners and writes letters to the pa
nprS-the rt.,in ~ n
the fighting man giving fun praise to
his antagonist. The Englshmau goes
beyond this. He becomes chivalrous.
w hat did YOU think when the Ger
mans first used the poison gas" I have
asked. The answer was very apt to be
couched in these terms:
We did not believe it at first We
thought there must be some mistake.
We did not think they would do it
Soldier Understands War.
If England has not Vet awakened
to what this conflict means. the man
near the trenches has To the last
man. he believes that the fate of the
British empire swings with this war
He believes. too. that it will be long
err war than his people al home realize.
if may judge by the expressions that
reached me. 1t is hard for him to
understand the apathy of those safe
ones on the little island. Sometimes
he is aneered by it. Mostly he has
sort of comfortable certainty that in
time-after they at the front have suf-
do their full part. That is why the
man on the lines is always as friendly
to reporters as his officers permit him
to be.
You can tell them at home what this
war is" said one. I'VE can't. you
know"
1 motored from Calais to Dunkirk.
from Dunkirk to st. Omer. from st.
Omer to Bailleul. and from Bailleul to
Boulogne, when the fighting at Ypres
was at it's very height. / ended that
trip with the distinct impression that
the English have a very fine army. in
deed. along their thirty miles of front
well found. well fed and we'll disci-
plined-but that its weakness is in the
officers. Do not understand by this
that the basic quality of the officers
is not all that it should be. The trou
BILE is that six months ago they were
practicing law or the tango. A six
month apprenticeship for making
as any men can be. But they do not
always know their business.
Were Training "Embryos."
Coming from the 'front.'" I asked
nodding toward a London bus laden
with private soldiers.
NO, SIR said he. They've been
out training embryos.'
"Embryos?'
Yes, sir. Boy officers. sir
At Boulogne a man of one of the
Highland regiments stopped to talk to
friend. His left arm was in sling.
The friend asked how he had received
his wound.
Our young officers got us into it
again." said he with some bitterness.
Got cut up awful. We did"
Even the passerby can see evidences
that the English officer hasn't quite
grasped the size of his individual job.
At least that some of him has not. Our
train stopped at one of the way sta
tions on the road from Paris. man
with black beard-a Frenchman.
from all appearances-addreSs an
English officer on the platform. The
were obviously strangers to each
other, but the Frenchman asked many
very pertinent questions of the officer.
to which that gentleman most ingenu-
ously replied. Not that he told any
thing of great value while l listened
Merely that he had been trying to get
cider in France. because it was diff
fcult to get it over from England, and
that fresh horses were coming on a
steamer which he named, and that
more troops had been ordered to the
Dardanelles. But his childlike trust
made one gasp.
Under Own Fire, Is Claim.
The story has persisted that at Neuve
Chapelle the English artillery was
turned on English troops for one hor-
rible moment and that somewhat
similar mistake was once made at Ypres
The truth may never be known until
the war is over. Even If true, how
ever. such stories merely become an ar