Evening star., 1917-12-02

Special Correspondence Of The Star.
CoMPIEGNE, Zone Of the Armies. France,
November IL, 1917.
F1HE war has brought strange char
acters to light.
IL One of the most remarkable Is
4 Achille, the canal boatman, who,
with his millionaire partner, Lewis
Claimed to be an American), reinstated
carrier pigeons, supposed to have been
superseded by wireless telegraph. and
proved their vital superiority in the fur
mace of battle.
At a certain moment at Verdun the
wireless went down in a tempest Of bonn
bardment and the French front, blinded
and voiceless.'' was saved by delicate
little living creatures being thrown into
the breach-the tender. cooling pigeons
whose tired wings are being heliother-
apeutically massaged by grateful gov
ernment, while military decree published
and placarded over all France warns good
citizens to rescue the paralyZed.
They were aided by war dogs, whose
virtues had been recognized, but up to
Verdun pigeons had been militarily neg
lected in favor of the boasted wireless,
and it took born mature fabers" (as the
French say, getting the word twisted) to
rehabilitate.
X X
He is the bird man Of Verdun.
He is a man with the animal instinct"
to such q degree that he can take a pack
of hounds. they say. and make them
howl and weep by merely talking to
them" He sits solemnly at the kennels
amid the dogs. Picking out some sad
eyed old leader, Achille addresses the con-
t,, ffa1
.tIt's sad: It's very sad; We are un-
happy Everything is against us. What's
the use? Nobody loves u.s."
The old hounds chops culver. as he
looks attentively, with utter sympathy
and credulity. into the mature takers"
eyes. And the low voice continues: No
body understands US. Nobody appreciates
us. We are all alone. neglected! Oh,
are unhappy, so unhappy"
The old hound lifts his nose and voice.
Great tears roll down his jowls.
Once. in quiet sector. nightingales
sang in the forest hills. between opposing
trenches. Achille, then an ordinary
poilu, roamed at night: and, once. he
made bet he would bring in German
prisoner before daylight. Taking two
friends (whom he had taught to move
like shadows through the forest). he hid
them in a dangerous spot. close to the
German trenches.
Soon a nightingale was heard. Its
LIQUID notes died on the air, and all was
silent. Once again the sweet voice of the
bird was heard, and all again was silence.
A third time the note aScended. The wit
nesses grew impatient. Had they been
brought for a concert-the nightngale's s
hymn in the dark?
There was a rustling in the forest. Be
yond they beheld human figure. A
German officer was standing, listening In
rapt attention to the nightingale. The
bird seemed to move little distance
backward in the trees. The German fol-
lowed The two witnesses held their
breath as he passed them. Again the
sweet notes came, more family, on to-
i ward the French trenches. The German
there was a noise Of wrestling and the
voice of Achille, whispering hoarsely:
Bring those ropes. you fellows!
, That night Achille brought his prisoner
and won his bet
He was a canal boatman, they say
, before the war.
Floating lazily through the French
countryside. month after month, by the
network of canals which cover the land
Achille had time and solitude to de.
velop his gifts of mature taking"
He can initiate every bird and cal
them from the trees" to hop about him
It seems that he was bee boy" from
a his childhood-bees would never sting
Il garden. Later. he would capture
swarms for villagers without net ol
q headgear. Seated on the banks of G
0 canal, he could "call the frogs" wht
would come Topping to his lap. Once
s in the quiet, sector. men complained
about the trench rats. Invasions Of
great field rats have been pest OF thu
t trenches.