New-York tribune., 1917-12-23

/ A T THE door Of shack made OF
/ n earth plastered over branches
n and lathing a soldier stood, gaz-
| ing out into the night. He was weight
ed down with ragged woollen clothes
his shoes covered with heavy moquette'
a knitted cap on his head. As he
stood there he looked as thick and
massive as a primitive idol only hall
/ chiselled out of marble block. but
when he lifted his head toward the IN
I exorable moon one could distinguish
a Young mans long yellow beard and
two eyes as blue as the distant sky.
/ at is cold" he whispered to HIM
self "it is very cold ,
Not that he shivered; he eXhaled
the words almost unconsciously ana
watched with amusement his whitened
breath. He listened to the silence just
as if he we're listening TO some unac,,
customed sound-that silence so novel
end so recent, purged inexplicably OF
all the thunder and flashing Of the
guns. Around him were only litter and
rubbish, blocks of stone ground to
powder and rocks crushed to frag-
rnents-tne aftermath of battle, which
leaves nothing imposing behind 1t eN-
cept the dead.
The soldier who stood there gazing
into the night slapped his legs with
| his hands for a moment, and then re-
sumed his motionless pose. Long
freezing days and nights OF cutting
northeast winds had drawn from the
earth all it's brownish, feclnd humid
ity. Only the hoar frost OF cold
without snow covered the hut, the
chopped branches of trees on top Of 1t,
the moquette shoe covers and the
chapped cheeks of the young poilu.
Suddenly something gave little
Jump and then stood still, A little yet
low marten, clothed anew for he rig
orous months Of winter, was out hunt
ing for food. It sat up like squirrel
whisked its tail, scratched itself and
looked at the moon.
"Psssl psssl" called the soldier.
The marten made a comical leap, as
if it were bursting with laughter, an
then disappeared.
Abandoning his shepherdlike vigil
the soldier turned and entered his
shack. There, in the pale light Of
lamp, he contemplated his meagre pos
sessions cover, his arms and some
newspapers spread about.
"For US poilus," he read. Gifts for
US poilus." THE poilus' Christmas"
at is true, tomorrow is Christ
mas" he said. "Poilus-hairy men.
But. alas! not hairy enough. | am
only a timid soldier. Blood fills me
with horror. And the cold petrifies
me. III only had, like the marten, a
pelt-a real pelt. This cold grips my
whole body. | am afraid to go to
sleep. If | only had, like the marten,
fur coat--a fur coat Of my own,
fitted tight over my skinl"
He was half on the way to dreams
already, stretched on his couch, stiff.
inert. deadened.
"But what fleece could ever warm
me now? Maybe it is too late"
He tried to get up, but his legs re-
fused.
at is death, without a doubt. It is
the sleep Of death. And a little
warmth would have saved me. II I
could only have had
"If you could only have had what?'
squeaked the sharp little voice OF the
marten. "A coat of fur? You have
onlv to choose one and it is yours"
The marten, seated on the bed COW
ers, expressed itself with the assurance
Of schoolmaster, moving the end OF
its snout and playing, while it spoke,
with the blond beard of the soldier.
/ at is talking to me-" said the soldie-
to himself. "Am | already in another
world. where MEN and beasts, enemies
and brethren, can really understand
one another"
Don't you know then" continued
L. tnht ,c trrbt
different from all other nights? Well,
let that pass, if you didn't remember
il. But how was it that you didn't
guess when you saw me Just now that
| am marten different from all other
martens? To come to the point, you
want a fur coat, fur coat born on
you, living pelt attached TO your
skin, a coat to run in, TO fight in, 10
sleep warm in?
Warm in" repeated the soldier
"Warm in. All. to be warm I'M"
look around you" commanded the
marten. "and choose"
A shaggy colt appeared from no one
knows where. Gathering softly with
his unshod hoofs. He showed his fiat
teeth in an awkward smile and whiE-
MED to the soldier:
"You want a hide? Take my hide,
my good hide. It is solid. little home
ly, but il will never wear out. II is q
hide
(Which is not as good as mine."
bleated a gray she goat. "Poor man,
born absolutely naked. take my goats
skin and don't listen TO this uncombcd
colt! How about it?"
She squinted in a manner almost de-
moniacal and began TO chew. as If By
inadventence. a piece of newspaper IN
which a handful Of loose tobacco was
wrapped up.
"Tbere are better ones" cried in a
falsetto voice, from distance. wool
lv bear. who passed on a rolling food,
seated comfortably on his little iceberg.
'I say no more. There are better
ones" 81,
The hood receded and the bear sailed
on like an enormous shadow. Before
the soldier was able to answer soft,
dark little animal grazed his leg, and
he bent over toward an otter, which
carried with IL the odor of the mint OF
the marshes, Of Towering rushes and
reeds. Il turned on its side, the better
10 show. the shimmering velvet OF Its
robe. the icy pearls hanging from rs
stiff mustachos, and said. in voice
slightly roughened By the mists Of the
POOLS: -,
"You see me, all dripping, all gilt
tering with ice? Touch me and you
will feel, little by little, my warmth
pass into your fingers, my good steady
warmth, the warmth Of my otter's
blood, we'll protected against the water,
the chill east wind, the streams which
carry the ice cakes. Would you like 20
have my beautiful pelt?"
l. was still talking when its voice
Z vyog drowned out by the scratching