The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-10-13

Shtlng now raging on the west 4
is story of tanks triumph over.
Could you blame him = There we
were in khaki and fri1led and spot
less shirts, dressed for war, and even
ing dinner at the same time! i. Solo
mon in alIshis. glory was never like']
us! -. nv 50 ~,
But the I, officers surprise was
speedily forgotten. Just as he was
about to rap out some orders a bomb
whirleds overhead fanad crashed be-
yond us. It, had been thrown from
behind, but. luckily for u.s., the throw
er had miscalculated and nobody was
hurt. Es Vi
There was someuproar then, be-
We've me. We all seemed to know by.
instinct how it, had come about and
what exactly to do. A few. of us div.
ed into the dugout again. The rest
scattered along and beyond the
trench, and, to make long story
short. in a few moments we had as
nice a bunch of Huns roped in as ever
you saw. s
Where. did they come from?
Ah!9 There was more than one en-
trance TO that dugout, or, rather,
there were exits from It away to the
rear. r A~number of gFritzies had made
good their escape by these when we
entered. They had returned when
| we tumbled up at the word of COM
mand:: Then, finding the place emp
ty they had made Investigations,
comes.to the surface again, and see
J ing us all standing with our backs to
them a bomb had been hurled! That
was the whole thing ina nutshell.
| But. as say, the thrower had mis-
calculated, and the Huns had been
caught. A precious lot they were,
too, real die-hards. They had not
given In without bit of a shindy, but
we were on them like police amongst
a few rowdies, and we soon had them
all disaEmed and helpless and ready
to be- sent back to the cages with
kday
| The'lfeast? s1>.,.
| Oh, there's not much to add about
that. The officer was a good sort, He
recovered from his double surprise of
\ the shirt parade and the bomb cpl
sode. He was delighted too, that we
i had got such a nice bunch of die
hards, and so... Yes, it was a nice
little function!
Thes.Hun- has no sense of humor
He never laughs at anyone else's
Ijokes.-thes only joke he really appre-
cfates is the cruel one which he plays
on his undefended victims, and but
for our sense of humor the war
might have been lost 1eng ago.
Look at 1t this way. At the very
outset, and for many, many weary
months after. we were getting it in
the neck nearly all the time Now,
supposing that our boys had only
IfhnnDhf nf fHo
position, what would have happened?
Why, they'd have given in, sure. But
thank heavens, they not only took
Things as they found them, but al
ways, at5ssome! critical moment "a
other, some humorist would come stc
the rescue, and with a joke would in.
fuse new life into them. So there
lyou are! g
4 Here's a typical incident from the
/ days of Mons. Mons is an old stor,
tnow, but this part OF 1t is worth re-
calling. During that mad and hur,
I ried drive, when the boys, dazee
with constant fighting, and crazy fol
I want of sleep, were tearing back up
, on, some village or other to escaps
. encirclement by the Huns, they wer,
all sure that the 6enda Of I everythinn,
, had come, and had practically give1
d up hope
A squad OF them were maxim,
across some open fields when a far
mer's dog-F1anders was fairer II
: those days than it is now and Their,
were habitable dwellings about-cam,
rampaging out upon them. thinkin,
: no doubt that this was carryin,
poaching a little too far, and that
really, he must do something to pro
: tect his masters property.
II It was bad enough being barrie,
by Huns, but to be set upon by tn
dogs or the very people who's
! ground we. were fighting for-no
that these honest people let loose tn
dog; far from twas bit too thick
So one of our chaps seemed to re
gard the matter, anyway. for Ieavin
the scurrytng company, he fmmedi
{ ately made off after that dog, an
gave It the chase Of its life.
=, Funny? You never saw anythin
? so funny in your natural Here w
t were, racing for dear life, shells fly
: ing everywhere round us, and thi
, chap. forgetting all about the i'm
: minent tragedy of it. tearing roun
y iarter that wretched animal as If j
mad been disturbing picnic party
instead Of doing its innocent bit az
u thought on behalf of its master.
: But, funny though, 1t was. sit acta
: like a tonic upon every one, the boy
v began to laugh, the laughter droy
# all thoughts of fear and tragedy, fro,
their heads. they steadied up wor
Is derfully, and when the place wher
: they were to make their next stan
IS was reached. tell you they were dil
e ferent beings, and put up as goo
u and steady a fight assever you saw.
/ So you see, trivial and seeming]
II ridiculous though it was. it had il
1T good results.
~ What became Of the dog when til
real poachers-the Huns, 7 mean
n came along. I don't know, but. an,
% way the poor brute had done us
10 service. The thought of that ras
le around the fields. when grinme
st work was on hand, would always r,
e, lcur to someone or other in subs.
d, lquent days. and we were always til
better. and, somehow, always tt
/ more resolute, because of the reco
ID lection.
d. But much funnier incident can
II our way long, long after it's a f:
70 cry from Mons to the Somme. o.
lot had had many a humorous ar
n alas! many tragic experience
III. JAf