Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1915-03-10
!. !. !. !. !. ]. J. 'Sa !. !. !. j.
30 LITTLE CORPORAL ITSKY. j.
{. j. % i. j. j" IL y Il !. j. !. ]. j. !.

At any rate that is what his Off
Ger called him. His officer doesn't
particularly care for Itsky. He said
so. He went into particulars about
Itsky's past and probable future that
fully accounted for his frame Of
mind. He cares for ItsKy so little
that he calls him by the nickname
the other soldiers in his Galician reg
iment have given him, rather than
by the name opposite a number on
the books Of the war ofiice-which
same number appears on the little
brass check 1tsky wears around his
neck, and by which he will be iden-
tilted if he dies on the field.
But he will not die" said the Off
Ger pessimistically. "He is too smart.
ltsky could peddle songs to birds"
ltsky is a red-headed Pole, with d
cast in one eye. He is noisy, good
humOred, and lazy. The officer says
he is not to be trusted at any time.
Itsky has the felonous habit Of pre-
ferring his own advantage to that of
the German Empire. But he is not
OFTEN punished, because he is not
often caught. He is brave enough,
but he does not fight rashlv
Another man would have made a
better CORPORAL" said the officer.
IT happened in Russian Poland.
Itsky's Galicians were fighting with
the Russians. The weather was bit
terly cold. The fighting had been Of
the ride and tie order The armies
marched and fought continuously.
They had no chance to dig into
trenches, in which fires might be
built and measure of comfort OBJ
tanned. AT night they slept in the
mud and snow. If they came to the
habitations of peasants the poor
folk were routed out remorselessly.
The frozen soldiers slept under a roof
that night.
Il had to send Itsky out on out
post duty" said the officer 81 knew
/ should not. But he seemed the
strongest in his company"
At this point the officers theory
and Itsky'" account begin to differ.
The officer believes that Itsky hid
himself i'm little hollow and built
a little fire. Now and then he erept
to the top of the hill in the darkness
and looked fearfully about for the
enemy. Itskv SAYS he paced to and
ir"~--tu IN. 'ro..-thc jon, Hjght
tb5ohgh.
'.r'lt was noJ w!t' dawN 1u, nluy
came upon me. o.. .N'a nn@ uGcr-
The officer says he luunu ulie neAL
day the place where a fire had been
built, and around which many men
perhaps a dozen-had toasted their
feet throughout the night. 1T was in
the hollow where Itsky had been. He
wonders that SO faithful sentry did
not see them.
"They fell upon me from behind" ="
ltsky says. 81 had not seen them
nor heard them"
1t was then, he says, that they
built the fire. There were a dozen of
the Russians. Great, beared crea-
lures, in sheepskin coats. Itsky
found they talked his own Polish
dialect. They sat about the Goals
and chatted. The dozen were mar
ticu late peasants. Itsky's tongue
had been whetted by years spent in
Warsaw.
"Why shouM we fight?" he asked.
Are we not brothers?"
The Russians considered this
dumbly. They did not know why
they were fighting. After painful
thought they could not give one good
reason why they were fighting. The
Little Father had told them to fight
that was all. They were his children.
"He did not tell you to fight me-"
said Itsky.
The Russians agreed. There had
been nothing personal in their orders.
1T was simply that they We're to fight.
In the performance Of that duty they
had captured their brother, Itsky.
BY and by he would be sent to Sibe-
ria. That was all.
II aim hungry" said Itsky. LET
us eat"
The Russians produced hunks of
black bread from their knapsacks,
with little cheese When the COM
missary caught up they would have
some cabbage soup, they said. Mean
while it was not for them to murmur.
All their lives they had eaten black