The sun., 1918-09-01


Philip Gibbs tells some strange things
In From Bapaame TO Passchendaele. p.
&C., he says of one part of the front,
"a little too far down a road, mistake one
village for another-and it is quite easy,
for they all look alike in the ruin-and
If You are an absent minded man you can
get into the enemys lines without realiz-
ing your danger" f' .
he sees an extraordinary medley of
curious and arresting things: A High
lander playing his pipes in a wild and
merry way atop of a manned and
mutilated statue of Greek goddess;
a coffee stall, a tank and LON
don omnibus bang in the middle of
battlefield; a sentry who when ques-
toned as to the location of the front re-
moves his cigarette to reply with smile,
Il am the 'front.'; the Indian cavalry rid
ing across the fields with their lances high,
1T was a great sight, and as strange as
an Arabian Nights tale in this land of
France to see those streams of brown
bearded men, as handsome as fairy book
princes, with the wind blowing their khaki
turbans'
A queer episode occurred on a night
when No Mans Land was white with
snow-an episode (which began when a
sprightly young Dados startled respect
able old lady behind the counter of a mil
liners shop in French village by de-
manding 100 ladies' tnighties' ('chemises
de mutt he called them) of the largest
size. The village heard the story of this
shopping expedition, listened to the old
lady's shrill eackle of laughter and won
dered what joke was on among the Ca
madam troops. 1t was one of those jokes
which belong to the humors of this war,
mixed with blood and death. Up in the
Canadian trenches there were shouts Of
hoarse laughter, as over their khaki a
hundred brawny young Canadians put on
he nightdresses. They had been tied up
with blue ribbon. The old moon, so watch
full there in the steel blue sky, had never
looked down upon a stranger scene than
these white robed soldiers who went out
into No Mans Land with rifles and bombs.
Some of the nightdresses, so clean and
dainty as they had come out of the mil
liners shop, were stained red before the
end of the adventure. And Germans in
their dugouts caught glimpse of these
fantastic figures before death came
quickly, or a shout of surrender. The
Pierrots went back with some prisoners in
the moonlight, and the Canandian staff
officers chuckled with laughter along tele-
phone wires when the tale was told"
"The greatest strategist in Europe, and
the humblest," is the way in which Joffre
characterized Gen. Ferdinand Foch.
Major R. NJ. Johnston tells in General
Foch: An appreciation, how in the
battle of the Marine Foch sent this laconic
message to Gen. Joffre: my right has
been rolled up. My left has been driven
back. My centre has been smashed. I
have ordered an advance from all direc-
TONS
The Century Company announces a
novel by David Gray made from the play
The Boomerang.
z. P. DuttOn & Co. say that the ''httle
book" is a popular hit of the last few
years, and by the term they mean the
short story or sketch or essay or humorous
trihe bound in gray or other colored
boards with white paper label printed
in blue or some other color. The book is
always small and thin, and dainty seems
to be the word that comes first to mind in
looking at one of these books A "little
book" can be carried in a pocket or n
handbag without bother; it makes handy
gift. OF course, the text mustn't be too
heavy. 1t would be like putting chopped
beef in the sundae instead Of chopped
D. Appleton & Co. are publishing a
now novel nv GEORGE Gibbs entitled The