Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-07
.. s. bOYSAT FRONT
APPEAR YOUTHFUL
One Week IN Trenches, How
ever, Enough to Work Great
Transformation 2t
BEANS, BOMBS, BOOBIES
BIZ HERBERT COREY


day We watched the American soldiers
who were to 60 to the front that night
wandering about the streets Of the
little village from which the start was
to be made. Other soldiers were there,
mostly men OF the French line and
Moroccans and Algerians.
What is the difference between ths
Americans and the French soldiers
we asked each other. By and by the
answer came
They look so young"
Yet they were not unduly young.
Take the Americans one by one anc
matured. decidedly intelligent youns.
men. Their faces were fun OF char
acter and decision. 1t is doubtful II
they are younger collectively by =
Moroccan shock troops. who have been
watching them with interest. Some OF
these latter are mere kids. One had
not yet raised a beard
Not Older, But More Matured
The explanation came to us eventu-
ally. The French troops are veterans
Even though they may be no oldtf
they have matured in war. 1t Often,
happens that the veteran is merA
child in the affairs of civil life. These
French may not be the equals in -
forethought OF the Americans in mat
ters that have not to do with war.
But in fighting they are centuries older
A few hours later we saw the Ameri--
can troops marching out to take their
places in the trenches. That illusion
Of boyishness persisted. Even their
gait seemed to be that of boys. al
though they wore a soldiers fun ac-
coutrement and carried sixty pound
pack. Yet we know that a week in the
trenches-granted that they are called
on 20 do real fighting-will transform
them from amateurs of war into nerve,
needed to teach them the tricks OF
their new trade. but in single week
they will have altered their personali-
ties to meet the new demands
Old Women Weary of War. :
sands of tiny towns which are scat .
tered along the French front Shells
had fallen in it from time to time, and
roofs here and there Were crashed in
and holes dug in the roadway. Some
thing had happened to the church L
do not now remember what 1t was, and
yet my memory preserves a distinct
impression that the church was not as
it should be. 1t seemed disheveled and
ragged Now and then German aviators
flew over it to see what was going on.
The French fiiers always challenged
them. -
hardly looked up to watch the air
fights. They were old stories to them.
pair of old women who made
scanty living out of a little shop in
which one might buy wine, but could
not consume it on the premises, dis
played a certain motherly interest in
the newcomers. One of them shook
her head in pity:
They like it now. is it notz- she
asked.
We told her they did
Poor boys" said she. AFTER four
years 1 am weary. Every day for four
years 1 have been in fear. 1 wish il
were over. SO they might go home"
When Towns Are Shelled.
Sometimes the batteries shelIed the =
hostile fiiers, and then shrapnel clinked
in the village streets. AT such times
the inhabitants stayed indoors. A tile
roof is usually a sufficient protection
against Shrapnel fragments. But when
the German fiiers bonn bed the town
as they sometimes did-or big guns
played on it, they retired to their
bombproofs. There they waited until
the storm had passed. V
Not many of the houses were large
enough or rich enough to boast cell
lars. For the protection of the viii
layers dugouts had been placed at fire..
quent intervals along the mean streets
They were perhaps four feet deep.
these dugouts. and a stout structure
above the surface of the street. The
holes were full of water. Yet the old
men and old women and children, who
alone remained in the little town. Owed
down into them with the nonchalance
Of habit when the bombs began to fall.
The men have gone to fight" they
told us. and all the young women
have gone to town TO work in the
munition factories. Only We useless
ones are left" q,
Try to Talk French to Natives. :.
The Americans wandered about. Gu
rfously. trying their scanty fragments
of French on the people and accustom-
ing themselves TO the village life So
near the front. Their billets have been !,
the most part. The Germans are but
seven miles away here. The front line !.
of trenches into which they Will move
tonight are in places only five miles !
away. A German drachen is discern
ible above the low line of hills which
mark the German positions.
At the outskirts of the town group
of Americans are gathered. Half Of
them, perhaps. carry the cheap double
field glasses which are on sale every-''s
where. They put in hours searching
the details of the horizon where the
German is hiding. Later on they viii
trade these cheap glasses to comrades
newly over. They will be useless to
them when they are in the position.
They are heaVy and they will weigh
even more heavily in the sixty-pound
pack at the end of a days march -
Every half hour or so boche f1ier"
tries to get over the town. Perhaps he
wants to bomb the village. What is
more likely is that the Germans are
merely putting over the daily recon-
naissance. They may suspect that some
thing is going on and are trying TO con-
firm the impression. Each time a
French fier materialiZes in some nys-
FERROUS fashion. One never sees where
they come from. One is watching thu
German. and suddenly one sees him.
veer toward the safety of his own lines
a vicious looking Spade is on his heels .
The streets are covered with an inch. .
or two of gravelly siush, for it has been.
raining for days. 1t always rains for
days at a time in France in the winter
time. Overhead the sky is a wet gray.
Now and then the sun shines through. 20
for this is what passes for fine day.
Ones feet suck in the mud when one
leaves the metaled roads Water drops
slowly from the caves. After all, it is
warm and the cold wind has ceased =.
blowing. a~,
Real American Coffee; Beans. -
Toward the latter part of the after
noon smoke begins to pour from the
short chimneys of the rolling Kitchen,
Coffee is being cooked-real American
coffee-well "doped' with condensed
milk and plentifully sweetened- The