New-York tribune., 1915-03-25
FIGHTING IN 4 BLIZZARD
ON THE EASTERN FRONT
American Newspaper Correspondent in the German
Lines Tells of Scenes at Lowcz-Men Find
Time to Smile Occasionally.
Bv JAMES O'DONNELL BENNETT.

zard that has been threatening Tor
hours has come. Night has fallen. IL
is almost as dark indoors as out, Tor
the supply of petroleum has run so low
that IT is served out in cupfuls and only
to high officers and TO cooks. Both must
do their work, and the work of both is
of the first Importance.
The blizzard is sweeping across the
wide square that the soldiers have IA
cetiously renamed "Hindenburg Platz.'
1t is binding men and horses.
AT s o'clock. in getting to the OH
GERS casino from my quarters, where !
live with a Russian Jew, who Prays
! every morning with his face turned
toward Jerusalem, / have to step into
a doorway to catch breath. One cannot
keep his eyes open, so piercing Is the
sleet. The sound of the heavy guns
has absolutely ceased, for the first
time in five nights. Not even the
cannoneers can fight in this kind OF
weather.
scurry along in the shelter of the
dark houses and come full tilt Ito
soldier, who also is ploughing bllndly
ahead, hands thrust deep in pockets
and head bent to the blast. We eX-
change donnerwetters, and he lunges
into his drift and | into mine.
Casino Formerly an Inn.
Soldiers wet to the skin and ravenous
are stamping into the officers casino.
The place is soggy and its menu is
limited. Before it was elevated to mill
tary dignity, through being designated
as an officers dining room, IT was
sufficiently representative Pollsh-Kus.
sian inn-walls two feet and hat
i.
highly colored pictures of Napoleon
and murderous scenes from Slavic his
tory on the greasy walls. and an eK-
tremely sickening concentration OF the
necessaries of human existence.
You approach the den through long
passageways paved with cobblestones
and depressed in the middle to make,
gutter for waste water from the
kitchen. This devils trap is good for
at least two tumbles if you are with
out a pocket lamp.
Narrow passageways, where you en-
counter good natured little Polish
Mattresses, who take their nightly re-
pose on couches made up in the dining
rooms. lead to those dank apartments.
In the one where the correspondents
| foregather an oil lamp that IS burning
more wick than petroleum gives on
| smell out of all proportion TO the hghU
! it sheds. ,L
An officer with arms outstretched mas
4 fattened himself against the high,
norcelain stove. his head outlined by a
/ halo of steam from his wet clothes. II
Won were in a mood for anything face
lions. he might suggest to you mod
ern version of St. Lawrence and his
grldiron.
Rum for the Wounded.
II we are lucky we shall get a
plate Of watery soup, black bread cold
sausage and hot tea, served IN thln
! classes. If we are not lucky we shall
have to omit the soup. Two days ago
there was rum. which. mixed with not
water and sugar, the. Germans call
"Grok." but the rum has elther run
out entirely or been commandeered 1or
the wounded. =,
Tho food is an intolorable time in
coming. One by one officers enter and
drop heavily into their places at the
loog. unclean table. They are too
weary and homesick tonight to keep
up conversation. Last night we were
all CHEEKY enough, but this feartul
weather and that internal lamp, when
seems about TO emit its last splutter'
would take the heart out + even
Bavarian.
Stout. rubicund Zimmerman, wearing
on his right sleeve the broad yellow
md embroidered with the black Is
("Berichterstatter," or correspondent },
and VINO on past days has been the
most genial of our detachment here IN
Lowicz, is utterly done up to--lght.
colleague" he says, turning to me
with watery eyes, 81 am very SICK man
i beg YOU to excuse me-.
He goes stumbling away to his quar-
| ters to fight the influenza.
Some Unspoken Questions.
/ The officers sit in silence; occasional
+ " a man sighs abstractedly and says
/ "Ja! Ja!" slowly and apropos OF noth-
/ ing, for nothing has been SAID Tor ten
minutes. You are not required 10 re-
spond to nor expected to notice TINS
. "Jai Ja!" II means, among other
things, that the speaker is wondering
when the food will come; how long the
war will last; what Japan will do; how
his wife and children are, and how the
operations on the west front are going.
If he is very blue and very meditatlve
he follows "Ja! Ja!" with "Neln!
Nein!" at the expiration of five MIN
utes. That signifies that he Is gong
over the thoughts again, and the Varl-
Gus clauses are identical with those set
down above Nobody is expected TO
take anv notice of "Nein! Nein!' either,
but ANYBODY may add his own "Nen!
Nein": after fitting interval.
If you prefer merely to sigh heavily
that also is understood, and not re-
scnted. But il must be an abstratcd
and not a querulous sigh. ,,
An under officer who speaks a little
English and has the spirit to be friend
ly in spite of the TACT that ne is
wretcbed with cold and fever sits
shuddering by the bleak porrceia;ln am
stove. ! divide my aspirin with nm
ond advise him to pack it into himself
forthwith. ...,..
lie protests that he ought not to take
= berause it is hard TO get IN tins
region. But when one IS among sol
diers "the day is long," as Moliere
TLrosed il. when YOU don't get return
tindnosses doublefold for any friendly
oct Won NAV have done man per
hans not from the same man, but IRON
some of his comrades, certainly.
Feve. Yields TO Aspirin.
suggest as much TO the under. ON
cor who. having cautiously turned the
matter over in his methodical mind ior
some seconds, takes my view of it and
accepts eight Of the tablets of aspirin
II was beautiful to see him again
next morning; his fever was gone and
he was breathing quite freely again:
9.3O O'CLOCK leave the casino
The blizzard has risen in fury. Inc
streets are almost deserted. -Four sol
diers. laughing in rich gutturalS' are
carrying newly arrived mail SACKS 10
the sorting station.