The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-06-05
AMERICAN SONGS
 CHEER FOREIGN TRENCH HOLDERS
Fighting Men in France Dis card Tipperary for 1T
 Want to Get Back Home"

British Army Headquarters in France, June 5-While the grip of the Germans, clinging desperately to line they flung from Switzerland to the sea, slowly but steadily is being broken each backward step means aJd- ded desolation to a beautiful part of France. The coming of spring has emphasized anew how closely the pursuits of peace tread upon the heels of war. Tidy French farms, geomet- ricaHy precise, reach up to the very domain of the guns and it is possi- Dle on many parts of the line, to see old French men and women following ploughs or harrows almost to the very edge of the heavy battery positions.
 Shells are tossed near them now and then but they never seem to mind. The war is nearly three years old now and shells and battle noises have be- come the normal things of life, not the abnormal ones. It is even possible along older bits Of the line in the north to see farmers ploughing both sides of the war zone. At the places less harshly dealt with whence the Germans were driven this spring, many of the trenches already have been filled and the ground is being
 
 newly sown fields, however, recently have beer ~i7ped up by long ranged German guns. Fightins len who are relieved every little while from front duty come for a. brief rest to the spring | tide beauties of the back country and the change of surroundings from the cauldron of war to the peace of blos- soms and birds is no greater than the transformation of these English Tom mics, themselves, and their brothers from overseas. These men who, under the red spell of battle, shoot, bayonet and bomb to death all who stand be- fore them, become gentle as little children again. One can see these soldiers with the battle fatigue still heavy upon them standing for hours in long lines outside divisional cam teens waiting their turn to go n and buy as others stream out laden with cakes and candy.
 l Grim and resolute in battle, Tommy fseems to have a certain simplicity and kindness of heart which makes him react quickly to the normal laws Of manhood as soon as the fighting is over. If he has to make a journey by i train. he sits in the open doors of box Cars with his feet and legs swinging outside. If there is -"movie show anywhere near, he gladly pays 50 cents to go always, especially when war scenes happen to be shown, laughing heartily when a. shell burst 1 ing nearby, appears to have upset the equilibrium of the man working the camera.
 Yesterday, while resting a squadron
 of cavalry was having a water carni-
 val along g. pretty little French river Their band was playing gay airs and all the swomen, children and old men
 of the countryside came to see the swimming raes, diving contests and
 attempts to walk a greasy pole across
 a, swift-running stream. There was a
 soldier clown, too, and a great air of merfiment all about. A German pris-
 oner taken sometime ago said he could always tell when the British
 were not going to attack by the fact that the Tommfes could be heard sing ing, especially ragtime.
 | There are no longer any songs about how long it is from Tipperary lpht at work or play or swinging along the roads to battle. nowadays, the Tom
 mics sing abolt wanting to get back to their homes in Tennessee and about having a Kentucky jubilee, without 1.-the slightest idea where Tennessee or Kentucky are
 I If the American expeditfonary force Icomes into the :. British zone, the Americans will, find the bands playine
 and the men singing many old fanil-
 jar tunes