Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-03-03
A Winter Day Behind the Lines
 As Told by Pine Bluff Man
Paul D. Reybu1n Writes from Somewhere in the War torn "Land of France on the ''Trivial" Incidents
 of His Daily LifeAir Battles Smelling, Etc.

the War-TOrn Land of France to a
 friend in Pine Bluff, Paul D. Reyburn
 tells Interestingly of life behind the
 battle lines, of bombardments and of
 being under fire of German aviatOrs. MT. Rayburn is with the Railroad en- eincers His letter, dated January 15,
 erads:
 The day is a perfect specimen of a
 pleasant winter day. Yesterdays
 thaW was followed by light snowfall
 which lay upon the unsight1y terrain
 like a bright clean rug on ohor lit
 tered with dirt and trash. The air is
 crisp. but not depressingly chilling.
 The cutting wind is absent-probably
 playing it's shabby tricks on the de- 1 lenders of less favored area
 Since this is Sunday I permitted ! myself the luxury of sleeping until s
 o'clock. When finally I did roll out steepcd in soul-satisfying laziness found the sun shining brightly and
 cheerily. The mark and semi-dark
 which usually attends my rising and l makes lamps more useful than orna- mental had no place in such morn ing IS this.
 The airmen were out in force, some of our planes returning from ighfits
 which had started long before dawn and others coming out to relieve the
 patrols. The air was athrob with the hum o ftheir motors. Straght ahead of us the machine guns were splitting fitfully, evidently the dying out of an earlier staccato roll which l had not heard. Machine-gun fire you know, is always described as staccatO roll; that is 6 recognized convention in
 writing or speaking of this variety of Warlikc noises.) The heavies and their brethren of lighter caliber and shriller voices were gradually subsid- ing into silence as if reluctant to cease their din, each one seemingly intent upon having the last word. I after wards learned that German attack of some local importance had been turned back by our barrage whilst I took my beauty sleep. Even while shaved and let my breakfast sizz!c tits odors tickling my nose agreeably meantine) the "Archies' were search ing high among the fleecy clouds for hostile observers. When l had vul- Early snacked my lips over the last morsel of crisply fried potatoes, and speared the last piece of bacon in the pan, leisurly disposed of a brimming cup of teal coffee and stood in the open doorway to enjoy an after break fast cigar the small round balls of white smoke from high explosive shells showed that the game of hide and seek was still going on. Fritz is ever an artful dodger and, although l could not pick him out among the clouds without the aid of a glass, the trail of smoke balls in various stages of dissolution marked his devious course. He was at that moment head ed toward Germany, flying very high, having paralleled our lines for some distance, but at no time having pene- tratcd to any great depth, if the evi dence of the smoke puffs might be taken as charting his entire progress ever allied territory.
 Fritz is likewise persistent beggar, Later, when the light clouds had van i ished, leaving the sky boundless blue sea with not an island visible, he re- turned. This time there were two of travelling high and at great ! speed. l rather looked for some of the British planes to ascend to his level and give us the thrill of an air battle , in plain view, but their pilots seemed i content to leave the job of turning tritz back to his own bailiwick to the antiaircraft batteries which, present. W, succeeded in making it so warm for the invaders that they turned tail ' and headed for home.
 The morning was unusually clear Standing in front of the office I could see the enemys shells bursting in ruined village which lies between two hills mile away Now and again a tree or the remnant of standing wall would fall For a time these shells came over in twos at intervals of four minutes, falling in a restricted radius, which showed that Fritz was firing by the watch and from the map. This shelling ceases as suddenly as it be- gun to be taken up agai nlater in the day and without and more appreciable result. Such wastefulness does not in dicate any shortage of ammunition on the other side.
 The rails of one of our branches pass within a stones throw of the spot where these slight tokens of Heine's regard were dropped. Our tractors operate a considerable distance be- yond, carrying rations, rock and en- stores by day and by night. So far operations on this particular branch have not met with serious in- reference,
 On some of the other branches of this division it is an almost nightly occurrence for several lengths of track to be torn up. Headlights are not used at any point on our lines, which lie entirely within the forward area. Upon reaching certain points in the so-called hot" districts (traversed only in the dark of tue moon) the shaded lamps are put out and not even a cigarette end permitted to glow. Conductors walk ahead of their trains locking for shell holes in the track. A night or so ago an English corporal walking alongwith one of our conduc- tors suddenly pitched into shell hole "Ah. there's one,' he said as he drag ; ged himself out, "and there's another" before he had taken half dozen steps.
 n,, !