New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-04-16
Safety and Comfort Both
in New German Trenches
Porcelain Stoves and Lamps Make Bombproofs Cheefy
Along Nllawa Fronts-Notor Boats Ready
for Use in Spring Floods.


stones i'm front of the trenches.
All the barb wire OF the orlgin",
German defences Of Mlawa was carried
off by the Russians one night IN ma
December. when four Russian corps
having been sent against one oil the
invader. the Germans withdrew IN q
hurry TO Soldau. seven and one nan
miles on the other side of the front'er;
When the Germans got back seVerhl
DAYS later they retaliated by stripping
ALI the boards off the unbaked bricks
in the Mlawa brickyard and using them
IN line trenches. The windows OF the
brickyard's Office they took TO the nos
pital to replace the ones the RUSSIANS
had Knocked out when they departed
There is a frightful waste in war, but
there is n good deal Of salvage. too.
Have Motor Boats Hidden.
The holows below the positions
have been connected with impounded
waters so that the land can be hooded
in case of general attack. NOT -
this all A hidden fleet OF motor
boats can instantly be brought into
action for the navigation OF THIS IN
undated area.
All this means bitter, hard WORK,
and it is done, naturally, under very
irving conditions conditions involving
apprehension, exposure
DELAYS and makeshifts. But in the
thick of the heavy toll | met the
manifest man | have encountered IN
England. France, Belgium, Germany or
Russia since the war began-a radiant
young lieutenant who spoke EngllSh
with a pretty hesitancy, but with
nice precision. He looked like n well
trained American high school boy
and would have been handsome but
for the cruel cold sores with which the
damp days of trench building had tenn
porarily married his features.
But his smile and his enthusiasm
and his gentle manners were just ir-
resistible. and he and | exchanged
cigarettes and went into one of the
cosey bon tproofs to have talk. He
was so glad TO be soldier that his
voice shook when he tried to tell how
happy he was, and he talked about his
work like a lover speaking of his
mistress.
When in the sentences | am going TO
quote from his talk he used the word
"humor | think he meant enthusiasm
or sympathy, for sometimes his English
sounded as if he had learned it out Of
eighteenth century classics, say "Ras-
selas" or The Vicar of Wakefield"
The work was hard, yes. "Ah, but II
one has humor all is well, for then one
has the feeling for the task. That is
everything, is it not? SO sometimes
when it storms we rest the men. One
plays on his harmOnica. The others
sing. and we all are very happy. Then
it is clear again and we go gladly back
to the work.
"Ah, yes, the humor is everything
and if one has that nothing is too
hard!"-
lie sprang up TO 20 back to his men.
When two hundred weight of earth
caved in on him he only shook the dirt
out of his collar, lit a fresh cigarette
and beamed on the sodden landscape.
Along the highways leading out Of
Mlawa 10 the south and east the trees
have been cut down so that the gunners
may readily get the range. The con-
sequence is a new complication in
travel by auto, for after heavy
fall of snow the highway is quite lost,
there being no trees left to distinguish
it from the white fields. Hence foun-
dering and loss of time.
Under the best conditions the roads
around Mlawa are dire. Ruin an auto
in two months said Mr.. Won Rieben.
Even in peace times they are so bad
that nobody in these parts keeps car,
with the result that the horses in Rus
sian Poland snort with terror when
German military auto comes within
fifty feet Of them.
With much clucking and whistling
from the officers, who put their heads
out as the car passes, the panic stricken
brutes are little sOothed and one
manages to get by without having them
plant their forelegs in his lap.
As for the German column horses,
they behave about as a German human
does, going methodically about their
work and asking no odds. The stablng
of them gives hint of the endless
problems of campaigning problems
that never occur to civilian until he
sees soldiers wrestling with them.
Yet the problem is rudimentary
enough. A man can look for his own
quarters. A horse cannot. A man can
climb q flight of rckety stairs TO an
attic if all the lower floors are crowded
A horse cannot. Nevertheless they are
learning to climb stairs.
"Of course" said Won Rieben, eve
must play fair by the horses. So when
ground floor stabling is no more to be
had in these Russian towns we are
occupying we say frankly TO the horses,
Now, will you climb those stairs or
would you rather sleep out OF doors p
After they have had a little time 10
think about it they climb the stairs.
Natiirlichi"
After we had spent half the morning
muddling through the sleet and over
the oozlng fields and had got as far
south as the hamlet of Wyszung, four
miles from Mlawa, without seeing any
thing more exciting than forlorn faces
peering from huts by the wsyside, Won
Rieben asked, Now, haven't you had
enough of this"
q suppose So" said I, though the
whole mournful panorama always
fascinates me. II means so much"
Every WELL" he sighed, "let us 20
over to the other approaches of the
town and do our mourning"
Then he broke a square from big
slab Of chocolate that had mocha in 1t
to take away the sckish taste, and
gave the men their orders to turn
back.
1--WE must do the other side of the
Mlawa," said he, because if the gen.
eral found out l haven't taken you
there he woIld scold."
The panorama unrolled again-ths
sad, fat, battered country with the
white church towers Of Mlawa looming
against the gray horizon on the north,
the swarthy children who squawked
with excitement when the car hove
into view, and the old, old peasan. men
who uncovered and seemed almost to
bend double, so low did they bow when
they beheld the gray uniform and its
fash Of gold on the back seat.
Peasants AFFECT in Salute.
That crouching posture was very