New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-08-19

there, the necessary material is is
sued and loaded back goes the lorry
again, and the job is done.
Perhaps a road is under water.
Well, iron pipes are necessary to take
the surplus from one side Of the
highway to ditch on the other, and
iron pipes have to be found. They do
not grow on the bushes by the side Of
the road. They are stacked perhaps
miles away on dump, and they have
TO be brought up. Then, and not till
then, the work can be done, and the
route released for traffic again.
Humoring the Steam Roller
Even steam rollers have to be con-
sidered, for a steam roller has soul,
and has TO be humored. The first
steam roller | saw in France came
from a London suburb, and she was
resting in a ditch. The next saw was
one from the County Council of a
southern county. She was in a ditch,
too. Both were got out. of course, but
the edge of a road in France has an
uncanny habit of breaking away, and
then the trouble begins.
One roller | knew was the most per-
verse creature ! ever met. She made
a start by blowing out the plug of her
boiler and had to be assisted from a
small river twice by means of a couple
of caterpillar" tractors. Then, sud
denly, she appeared to change her mind,
and when heard of her last was work
ing as though she were at home. She
lad to be kept at work, too, and her
repairs had also to be rushed. When
the plug blew out, for instance, an Of
ficer who happened TO come along took
couple of men round to a French
blacksmith's shop. found some lead,
made the repair there and then, paid
half franc out Of his own pocket and
wasted only few hours over the task
instead Of couple of days. Economy
of time means everything, and an hour
saved means an hour gained.
Real Rush Repair
Somewhere in France" there is lit
tie river about the width Of a canal
and with the water confined between
banks some feet higher than the sur
rounding country. The Hun naturally
shelled these banks, with the intention
of letting all the stream into the fields.
Now and again he got home on his OBJ
jectiye. But in few minutes, with
sheets of corrugated iron, posts, wire
bindings, rolls of brushwood, in fact,
anything that was at hand, the gap was
filled in and the damage repaired.
This was a real rush repair, and 1t
went on at intervals, day and night, for
q week or ten days. Then Tommy
showed the Hun back, and he had
something else to occupy his attention.
Getting up material for these repairs
by means of motor lorries is, too, not
exactly a task for children. When
you walk across field or through a
wood there isn't usually much danger
in H.. But the Hun knows where the
roads are, and he also knows there IS
transport coming up OF down practl-
cally all the time. SO, suddenly, nc
starts Smelling, and then you have to
get a real move on. You are also, !
may ada. just as likely to run into
anything as to run away from IT.
Once lorry was going down TO
fetch some stuff from a dump about
twelve miles back. Then the shells
began to pop over. That meant put
ting on speed. and for FIVE o. six miles
IL was a race between the shells, the
lorry and a motor car The trio trav-
elled Some" but vre car couldn't gain
a yard on the lorry. and eventually
both ran out Of range.
When the lorry came back. loaded, 4
couple of hours later, II was found
that four shell craters had been blown
in the road, but that the engineers had
already been on the spot and repaired
all the damage done.