The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-10-02

WdIu w 1IIlOuI OdllScl Uy
 This Means and Relieve
 Outposts Every two Hours in the forest of Argonne, there is a remarkable military tunnel, 45 feet underground. running right up to within 300 yards of the German trenches. It is one of the most hard pressed points around Verdun, but through this tunnel endorsements move forward without danger, reliev- ing every two hours the men on the firing line.
 There was a very American atmo- sphere about this tunnel when The Associated Press correspondent visited it for the curious fact developed that the two officers in command were American residents, one a stock-rais- CT in Alberta, Canada, and the other a bank official of the Franco-Ameri- can Bank at Los Angeles, Cal. Both men were born in France and when the war broke out left their American business to come home and fight, And now they are in full charge of this underground highway, leading up to one of the most desperate positions along the front. They are so Ameri- can that they speak English instead of French, and the Commandant's headquarters a little nest in the clay-has a, big picture of Uncle Sam hanging on the wall.
 Creeping through this tunnel to- ward the front line, the members of the visiting party knocked their steel casques on the roof, and plunged through water ankle deep. Paul Cra- vath, the New York lawyer, a man of large build, feet, inches tall. was bent double in the struggle through the tunnel. Along the way they passed an electric plant, throbbingkwith eper- gy, and pumping the fresh air which keeps the tunnel habitable. Further on, in a large clay hole, a kitchen was in full operation, with soldiers eating bowls of noodles.
 Let me introduce you to our chef" said the Commandant, as a young sol- dier-cook came forward. ''He is now the cook flor this tunnel - and he ought to be a good cook, for before the war he was chef to the French Ambassador at Rome."
 Emerging from the tunnel 1n;o the front line trenches, the German trenches were plainly visible on the crest only 300 yards away. The in- tervening space was swert clear as though by a cyclone. Instead of the beautiful green of the forest, that was left at the other end of the tunnel. here the whole outlook was gray and desolate; the ground jagged and torn as by eccentric ploughs; not a ves- tige of grass or verdure, and the few gaunt trunks of trees stripped of their last leaf and choking like so many scraecrows.
 "This has been a rather quiet dayI only two mine explosions" said the Commandant-''two men injured, one in the shoulder, the other in the leg. That is little, for often we have 40 to 60 men killed or injured in these mine explosions. which go on continually as the Germans try to mine our trenches and we try to mine theirs."
 Even beyond the front line French trenches, the French soldiers had pushed their observation posts into the fire-swept dividing line, 300 yards wide Some of these daring men could be seen almost up to the cret where the German line ran. They were chouched behind heaps of boulders, rifles ready
 '"Those men are only ten yards from the Germans said the Commandant.
 As he spoke, MT. Cravath of New York said:
 q see a German; there he is> on the crest; you can see his uniform with the round cap."
 l.. oi h "a Commandant. "You have been under fire,'' he added as he led MT. Cravath and the others to a more secure posi- tinn.
 "It's good that German didn't fire.'' remarked Cravath. "It might have been an. international incident Think of it-killing an American visitor to the French trenches" -N.-
 Coming back from the front line trenches, one had a view of the many ceaseless activities in carrying on this great battle. At one point soldiers in shirt=sleeves were digging graves in est path. The cemetery was very large, and had been given a name ''Maison Forrstier," of Forest Home. Every grave had a wooden cross above it, with the name and regiment of the dead soldier.
 The shells kept whizzing and burst ing as the party moved along, and it got to be a pleasant pastime to note the long s-z-z-z as the shells flew aver head. One of the struck a few hundred feet away, throwing up trees. earth and clouds of smoke.
 To those whos wanted souvenirs there were big fragments of shrapnel lying at every turn. It was pleasant at first to pick them up, but after three of four of these heavy chunks of steel were carried half a mile, the task was abandoned.
 The ingenuity of some of the trench quarters along the way is shown in the use of empty glass bottles for windows. One officer pointed with pride to the very artistic effect he had secured with these empty wine bottles A triple row extended all across the front of his log shack, giving light within and having rather cathedral window effect without. The bottles are of white glass, used for bottling the white wine of Bordeaux.
 General Neville goes to Verdun and along the trench front frequently. But most of his time is at headquarters, in telegraph and telephone with the whole circle of defenses, and in touch, too, with the othe army corps and masses of supplies ready to be moved forward to fill any gap the Germans al