The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1917-02-28
War Correspondent Finds One
Trip in Observation "Saus-
age" Is Enough.
PARACHUTE GRIM REMINDER
Icy Blasts of Arctic Gale Chill
Enthusiasm-German Bat
teries Lie Near.
BY WILLIAM PHILIP sIMMs.

WITH THE BRITISH ARMIES IN
THE FIELD. Feb. / (by maiD.-To
find out what it is like up there,
dangling for hours in a tiny basket
swung under an observation balloon,
mile above the snow-and-ice cover
ed earth while forty-mile gale cuts
by, fresh from the pole, was allowed
, to make the ascent today. do not
care to make another. Enough's
enough.
Mid-winter. Four inches of snow.
Thermometer lowering down around
zero. The trees crack and crack in
agony as the ground breeze sways
their stiffened limbs As you climb
out of your motor car, in which you
more than half froze, your nose is
red, your eyes are watering and your
feet twin appendages of pain; hands.
horrible hurting things; fingers
about to snap off.
Your "sausage"-as observation bal
looms are known throughout the
armies-is being held down by the
side of the road, in the edge of a
wheat field. 1t is of the new French
type, shaped like short link of a
pig sausage, and does not need the
kite tail OF its predecessors to keep
II headed into the wind. Despite the
forty-odd troopers holding on to its
tetherfng ropes now, IL swings slow
ly back and forth like a titanic ele-
plant to which a schoolboy has just
fed a plug OF tobacco. 1t looks bale
full, even murderous in a mild, con-
cealed sort of way, and seems to be
glaring angrily at the little basket in
the snow in front of it.
Thirty yards away, in the road, is
its winch-the heavy auto-truck with
its motor-driven drum for letting out
and drawing in the slender wire cable
controlling the height OF the balloon
One needle tells the altitude, another
the exact pull" or wind pressure
against the bag at any given moment
The cable is made TO stand a four
ton strain, and as a fifty-mile wind
exerts a pull of about a ton, the
string seems pretty safe.
One Dons Arctic Clothes.
''Come with me-" says a dapper
young wing-lieutenant, land I'll find
you something to wear. Blessed cold
up there" You follow the boyish-
looking officer to his billet-a gypsy
wagon home brought up to date; a
motor vehicle of the delivery" sort,
in which he lives summer and winter
Later you discover three things about
this young man: First, that he is very
much on to his job; second that he
is fearless; third, that he is really an
American, his father coming from
Cincinnati.
Get into these" he says, handing
you a lot of clothes built for polar
L. H. A
ness from the. cold permits you
stagger out OF your own overcoat and
boots and with the lieutenant's aid,
muddle into the new kit First, you
put on a canvas and rope harness
Q broad band about each leg and one
under the arms, a loop OF stout rope
sticking up past your chin. Next
come the thigh boots, made OF sheep
skin with the wool inside. the bottom
being of rubber and leather in layers.
huge leather ulster is put on now,
this too, being fur-lined and fur-coI-
Jared, the sleeves having elastic at
the wrists to retain the heat .of the
body. Over the head goes a leather
hood, fur lined like the rest This
fits the head snugly down to the eyes.
Grapes down over the fur collar of
the ulster and leaves only eyes, nose
and mouth exposed. At the ears are
perforations-for one must be able to
hear as well as to see. Huge fur
lined gauntIeted gloves complete your
costume, and out OF the vehicle you
climb, nimble as an infant hippota-
mus.
The balloon looks more menacing
than ever now. They have let the |
beast rise a little, and it is swaying
over the basket as though in a ter
rible temper. Soldiers give the young
Lieutenant a leg and into the basket
he goes. You follow.
Here" says the lieutenant handing
you a stout stick about a foot long
EInRMNIAI