The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-06-10
"COMFORTS OF HOME" FOUND IN MODEL TRENCHES WHICH
 PROTECT BAvARlAN TROOPS
Everything From Shaving Mirrors Up Bedsteads May Be Found in the Field Pits, Which Inspection Shows To Models-Bells Are Used To Gall Officers To Point of Attack

Northern France, June 1o.-With no little display of pride in the ac- complishment of his boys the colonial of Bavarian regiment re- gently made the rounds of some five kilometers of trenches in this region with an Associated Press correspond ent. He was intent on showing two things-first, that life at the front is not without it's compensations, and second, that Germany's opponents may expect to have a difficult time in driving them out of their com fortable quarters.
 It is certain that the trenches which he exhibited have not their equal of any of the many fighting fronts. Every conceivable t'comfort of home" that is available for a trench has been suppIied-from shaw ing mirrors to four post beds. These trenches may in winter time have been the mires of mud and water that have been described, but sit seems hard to believe when one sees the even, s1oping brick pavements, with drains at> regular intervals, and the numerous sanitary arrangement that have been installed.
 Almost a mile back of the real firing line the way dipped into a ''laufgraben' or connecting trench a narrow, winding slit in the ground almost seven feet deep and perhaps three feet wide. The soil in that part of France is of clay, in which the deep excavations had been made with difficulty but which never caves in. The walls were as smooth as planed pine board,
 At intervals along the route lit- tie steps had been chise1ed in the clay, enabling one to climb up and get a view of the whole landscape, including the French trenches hun dreds of yards away. Little lines of brown co1ored dirt were the only in dications that the whole gigantic field was rutted and cut by trenches that later appeared to be interminable.
 After a, walk of Is or 20 minutes the real trenches, those at the very front. were reached, and one began to see at one and the same time real warfare and the comforts of home combined. Just to make the contrast striking, the cracking noise of rifle fire was broken by the strains of a harmonica~
 The fighting trenches differ from the connecting runway only in that they are wider, and are reinforced in front with bags of sand or plates of steel through opening in which the soldiers can use their telescopes without being seen.
 Built into the clay walls were lit tie wooden compartments filled with bullets, and alongside of the bullets were little ingenious1y-fa ed
  sons. These flowers, together with any quantity of other decorations, were a feature of almost every yard of the trenches.
 To the rear of the trenches, for underground, and sometimes under the front walls, are the so-ca1Ied 'FUnterstande'' or shelters, where the soldiers live when not on duty. The approach to those in the rear is usually by a connecting trench vary | Q IL and almost invariably decorated with flowers.
 The interiors are, under the cir cumstances, surprisingly comfortable. ] Those of the non-com missioned off cers and division leaders are fitted up for the most part with big four poster l beds. Many have clocks and carpets 1 on the floors and nearly all have a crucifix or little altar at which the terrible Bavarians'' conduct their | deVotions.
 | Ingeniously arranged bells have been installed in each of these shelters so that the officer can be | summoned instantly in case of at i tack without the necessity of going clear down into his little house. Sin1i- lar .tbells''-often nothing but a piece I of iron with nail for a c1apper, are l placed everywhere in the trenches for warning or summoning the sol 1 diers not on duty. 1 The shelters in most cases have
 been given fantastic and familiar names=Vi11a Muenchener Ktndl, Villa Astoria and the like. Every
 trench in addition has the name of l a street, usually that of some gen
 era1 or popular commander. The | runways leading to the officers | shelters in many instances are called | after the men themselves.
 At intervals along the front line
 of trenches are stee1-sheltered open ings where machine guns can be sci
 up. The guns are kept, however, in wooden cases built into the clay, so as to protect them from dampness,
 and are only brought out when the
 enemy is attacking