Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1917-10-29
(By Frederic William Vile of The
Vigilantes)

N1Sl1dnbeSl
SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE -Sher
man was wrong. War is not He'll. 1t il
Mud! l have arrived in it up to my
knees on one of the periodical Joy-rides
which the British Foreign Office and
General Staff between them organize
from time to time for civilian visitors
from abroad. 1t is my second excursion
into the adventurous country where mil
lions of armed Britons and Frenchmen
are battling to the death, that the world
may continue to remain safe for Democ.
racy.
have said that war is Mud. 1t is al
so rain. AT least on the occasion of both
of my intrusions upon Armageddon, ]
have seen far more rain spilled than
blood, and such battlefields as 1 have
navigated were seas of slime and slush.
These were the conditions when 1 was
here in October, 1916, and l have run
into precisely the same sort of atmos-
pheric and Typographical i'll luck this
time. My emotions of disappointment
and disgust are nothing compared to
the wrath that fills the souls of Haig s
men at the mercilessness of the Wealth
er God in churning the western front
into mud at this particular juncture.
Though we hear that Haig has achieved
every single immediate objective his
staff had set itself, there is wailing
and gnashing of teeth that operations
have been checked which might well
have been carried forward to vastly
more farreaehing strategic advantage.
3" Rottenluck" is the only complaint
these dogged wrappers of Britain, mud
caked and rain-soaked, can be persuad-
ed to utter, but it gals them to the mar
row that "show EVERY battle is a
"showR in British army parlance-so
successfully inaugurated should have
been brought to a standstill by second
rate things like the elements. They have
beaten Tommy Atkins before during the
past three years-many time. Since
the retreat from Mons, indeed, they are
about the only thing that has beaten
him. He hates them almost as cordially
as he does the Boche.
Yet l am glad to have arrived at the
war to find it once again more muddy
than bloody; for it provides an excellent
ad unexamplified opportunity of seeing
the hardships in which the British sol
dier has to live and fight, compared to
the outright luxury in which the best Of
us-I don It care how humble his lot
lives by comparison. am in tonight
from a day in the trenches beyond -,
network of lines till they were knock
ed to pieces and annexed by Haig in the
great April offensive. 1t rained all the |
time. The trenches were gluey and very
sticky and the "ducl1 boards" along
which we Travelled were afloat good
chare Of the day. But the only people |
who used really strong language about
having to eat, sleep and navigate IN
such soggy territory was our party OF
civilian tenderfoots. The caVe-dwellers
in khaki whom we encountered in enl- |
less numbers were as happy as school
children on picnic. Clay -spattered fro
head to foot, their clothes often wiring |
ing wet, they looked up from whatever
happened to be their tasks and grinned
as we passed. b.
Our chief and always dominating i'm
preston was of their grins and smiles.
/ am firmly convinced that soldiers who |
can laugh in such weather cannot be
overcome by anything, not even the
Prussian military machine. Perhaps |
Tommy smiled more broadly than usual
today at our expense, for during our
hike from a certain quarry to a certain
front line "Fritz" sent over whlzz-
bangs which caused us armchair warm
ers from home to duck and dodge an
the most un-Napoleonic manner, even
though our gyrati MS were in obedience
10 Nature IS first law-self- preservation
When you re in a trench and shell
,creeches through the heavens--you al
yavs hear it and never see 1.-THE tenn
otation to side-step is the last word IN
You have been provided
With a steel helmet before starting out
m the expedition, in view Of the possi-
,ility that stray piece of German
,hrapnel may come your way. These he'll !
nets have saved many gallant Tommy
rom sudden death, but holes have been 6
,ored through the anatomies of others, !
elmets to the contrary notwithstand- I
NO. After you have hear whizz- /
,angp and. find that you are still intact
ON ask: NWas that a Boehe of oursg' t
,ou experience an indefinable sense OF g
elief when you are told that it was /
one Of ours" but you keep on duck L
ng in the same old way whenever the
ir is rent.
Yes, it is the invincible grin OF Tom U
Nv Atkins in abnominal atmospheric
and in the omnipresent P
hadow of death that has photographed a
self most indelibly on my memory to- Il
ay. But next to that l am struck by e
is amazing good health as nirrored by v
is ruddy cheeks and bright eyes. Ger a
ainly the strapping young fellows 7
yhom l have seen are vastly inner, Z
turdier lot, physically viewed, than any f
II of men now running around the b
treets of London in citizens clothes. u
is manifestly "the life'', this end e
,ss soiourn of theirs on the edge OF o
To- Man IS Land with the enemy a rifle Ii
not away. You ask their Officers what a.
xplains this hygenic phenomena-thls II
bility to keep at the top-notch OF : mt X
ess'; amid privations almost unimagin- a
Bile. You viii be told that it IS the
Irregular life" the men b
ad for one thing, and the liberal sup e
" of fresh air, for another. Then 1t IS h
.e simple food they get for their legs II
ID arms and muscles. They sleep when az
ID where they can, in their clothes for Of
eeks on end, never saying How-do-you i
, TO a bath-tub sometimes for many el
lys, though they shave each morning it