The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1916-12-29
Lieutenant Zanghieri Calmly Re-
cords His Impressions of
the Moment.
BOMB IS LITERARY ASSET
Most Exciting Adventure In Officers
Career Occurs While He lie Quietly
Seated In His Home Engaged
in Literary Pursuit.
BY TANcRED ZANGHIERI,
Lieutenant in the italian Army.

Goritz, Austria.-Heine tells in one
of his poems how he sought happiness
all over the world without ever find
ing 1t returning home disconsolate, he
met it seated on the hearth of his own
house. 1t is an adventure which may
happen even to a newspaper corre-
spondent. A city like Goritz is an Ell
dorado for the sensation seeker. Yet
| had the most interesting adventure of
my sojourn today, without moving from
my table.
Permit me to tell you about 1t in de-
tail and with precision, divided into
three chapters of varying length, and
admit that even when one is the prin-
cipal parsonage of story one. still has
the right to consider oneself from more
than one viewpoint.
Chapter 1.-The Setting.
Up till September Fl the weather
was bad. 1t was not rain; it was
deluge. The italian trenches, like those
of the Austrians, are all cut into the
slopes of mountains and hills; despite
the shelters, the rain pours in, forms
bitches and flows through them; the
trenches become small noisy torrents.
To fight in these conditions is not pos
sible. The official bulletins express the
situation In the words: bad weather
binders the operations"
Hence forced truce to the work Of
destruction. Nature takes care Of the
destruction by a sudden cold wave,
dampness that penetrates ones bones
and slows up the vital functions.
But ON the 22d the weather deter
mines to better itself. The clouds, con-
founded In gray veil, take on forms,
| thin out, show bits of sky. The day
becomes divinely beautiful; the air Is
limpid as crystal. One can distinguish
every tree, every bush of Podgora, a
green mass. The Sabotino, more bare,
wells its reddish scars made by hun
dreds of thousands of shells, In the
violety vapor Of cloud, vast but tenu-
Gus, interposed between 1t and the sun.
Monte Santo, San Gabrielle, San Dan
lele, gathered up beneath the crest of
| the Selva di Tarnova, seem to smile at
their unhappy brother, the Carso,
which innocently stretches its low arid
knolls to the sun, as though to intoxi-
cate itself with warmth and quiet.
| No sound of cannon is heard; no
rifle crack disturbs the silence Of this
| spring, like florescence.
The 23rd-not a cloud in the. spot
less sky; the solar warmth raises light
mists which tint the distant mountains,
palest azure.
| And not a conclusion, not a shot
only above, the airplanes are flying and
| little cloudlets of white smoke follow
them. But 1t is not "our" war; we are
down on the earth, breathing the vivi-
flying air In great gulps. Like the little
| dog of Maeterlinck we do not deign to
cast a glance at that sky which is not
deemed "eatable" by our desires. The
province of the air, the theater of war
5000 feet above, does not interest us.
The bursting shrapnel is so far away
that one has to pay attention to hear
1t.
This "truce of God" is strange, SO
strange that It seems the armies have
forgotten the war. / have never felt
my soul more peaceably inclined, more
bourgeois, less warlike. forbid my
orderly to wake me early tomorrow.
And In truth this morning got up al
8, full Of crazy ideas, with the desire
to climb up, up over the wooded slopes
Of mountain, to throw myself on the
ground upon carpet of moss, to looB
at the trees, hear the chlrping Of
birds, enjoy all the beauty of this en-
chanted region. And the Austrians'
But do the Austrians still exist?
Some books lying on my table temp
my fancy. / half close the curtains Of
the two windows, WHICH are filling tn,
chamber with light, raise the shutter:
and sit down, taking up the readin,
of study of Alphonse Daudet by Doc
tor Bake. And read, read until
curious statement strikes me:
Whereas, Daudet as a bachelo
wrote only when the inspiration strucl
him, after his marriage he acquired tn
habit of daily work."
This fact interests me. l go over Il
the table and make a note of Docto
Balke's statement.
Chapter lI-From Another Angle.
Lieutenant Puviani, an officer In tn
same battalion to which your CORE
spondent has the honor of belonging, /
attached to the local command at &C
ritz. He is strong man, rather heavy
getting on in years Che completed tn
fortieth few days ago), good fathe
and brave soldier, who has been q
the front and in the immediate neigf
borhood since the beginning of I'll
/, war. AT present he has a rather quie
post and takes advantage of 1t to max
horrible photographs for which he goe
|, about begging compliments, and copit
Of which he distributes to all b
friends.