The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-04-24
SOCIETY


rContinued from Preceding Page.1
The following guests were enter
tanned Friday night by Mr.. and Mrs.
r. p. oliver, in honor of Miss Portia
Penwell. who will be married in June
to Mr.. John Stapel of Rockport, Mo:
Miss PenwelI. Mr.. and Mrs. n. J. Pc
tro Mr. and Mrs. w. o. Rigby, Mr.
and Mrs. H. B. Hogeboom, Mr.. and
Mrs. Ben Diment, Mr.. and Mrs. j. r.
johnson, Mr.. and Mrs Oliver, Miss
Julia Whitmer, Miss Lugrace Unit
mes Walsh, Mr.. l.. M Penwell, MI
Tom Whitmer, Mr.. Roy Shoaf, Mr..
Harry Snyder.
The following are extracts from a
letter received by a Topeka woman,
from an officer in the English army
in France, giving something of per-
sonaI glimpse of the life on the firing
line:
I'VE are established in comfortable
chateau We expected from accounts
we heard to find the place heap OF
ruins, but except for a few trees
Knocked down. some windows broken
and a hole in an unoccupled room,
the recent bOmbardment has done lit
tie harm. At the present moment
am sitting in comfortable arm chair
in front of a good fire, and one of the
other officers is playing the pianola-
Curious people these natives are,
and incidentally a beastly nuisance.
They simply won't clear out, however
heavy the Smelling is. Last time we
were up here a woman and a couple
of kids were killed; two days ago a
farmer at the back of the village got
five pieces of shell into him, and his
wife has her head all bound up. They
refuse to bulge. although a farm
FORTY wards from them was blown into
smithereens this morning; although
when one of our men went to get some
fresh eggs from her, a shell came
along and blew the roof off her barn
But she says the farm is all she has,
and if she left she would not know
where to go, and moreover, she doesn't
want to leave. This morning noticed
a change in the landscape and found
that d house had disappeared. Appar-
emily an eleven inch shell had hit it
plumb and RACED it. A woman and
three or four children were living next
door and had come back, to their
house. This corner is rather favor
lite target for the Huns artillery.
Cunning devils, these Germans,
German prisoner came in early the
morning of a recent attack and gave
warning that an attack was impend-
ing. This was probably done with a
purpose, as, unknown to our people.
they had laid a mine underneath our
trenches, and when we had got this
information and had obligingly fitted
up our trenches in anticipation of the
attack, they sprung the mine, and
hence the heavy casualties you prob
ably read about.
81 spent a day in the trenches re-
Gently. The Smelling was worse than
usual. One shell that burst in the
trench blew our dug-out and the para
pet of the trench away. There were
nine full boxes of ammunition, five of
which were blown away. One of them
was picked up yards off. unbroken
and the ammunition inside intact.
One of the men was buried in the de-
bris up to his chest. and when they
began to dig him out he was only a
foot away from the edge of the crater.
The most extra thing was the
case of one of the TommieS who hap
pened to be at the moment in the
communicating trench behind the
dug-Out. He was blown about six feet
into the air right over the trench and
fell on the German side over the para
pet. His only remark was, I'm on
the wrong side of the d trench
His leg was broken so that he couldn't
get up The Germans either played
the game and did not shoot, or what