Evening star., 1918-04-17
.SHRAPNEL
Sidelights on the War
-BT4
OLIVER OWEN KUHE.

London has awakened TO . peculiar
fact. The city is less rnanneriy than it
was q few years back. The strain Of
war IL blamed for the general attitude
Of go to blazes" assumed By the aver
age person IN his daily intercourse with
his fellows. The storekeeper 10 less ac-
commodatng. the bus driver less
courteous, the waiter boorish, while.
/ in general. the people seem to wish
only to attend strictly to their own
affairs without the slightest Interrupt
ton from others. These are the things
London has found out about herself N
recent weeks. In the rnaterialism OF
oaras boar shs says 1eeses one writer ne cites the
instance OF q crowd OF women smash.
ing their way through group OF
wounded soldiers in order to OBTAIN
seats on O. bus.
Two Zepps in q cloud" That's the
way many Englishmen now call for
their sausages and mashed potatoes In
public eating houses these days.
The submarine chaser seldom brings
back q scalp" after duty at sea 70
show its prowess. More often than not
the chaser is not sure Of Its '1cill." Fer
to a chaser a doubtful kill La no kill
In the French navy only volunteers
are used on the submerstbles. There
never is any lack of men.
All people of London are being urged
not to use taxicabs unless they are
physically incapacitated or their busi.
| ness is absolutely urgent. It Is hoped
| to husband the petrol supplies for the
| use of the army.
| Sir Edward Carson. who resigned
from the British cabinet and who has
| resumed the practice Of law, never &C
cepts a fee under 1000 guineas. HIS
annual income is said to rank next to
Lord Reading. now British ambassador
| to the United States.
Tact is one of the essential require
ments of the chaplain at the front. He
| never must appear to be desirous OF
| converting the men. but sooner or later
in his daily association with the troops
he gives them a glimpse OF the higher
things.
Many sailors have escaped German
torpedoes as high as I'VE or six times.
their ships being veritably blown from
| under them. A movement has been
started In England to decorate these
men, who. despite their previous mar
row escapes from death. continue to
| of it's grave perils.
When, in 1852. an Englishman offered
| a gas bomb to the military authori-
ties they turned from it in horror. ut
/ would be as bad as poisoning the
enemy's wells" they said. The Ger
mans not only started the use OF the
1 gas bomb in the present war, but have
| poisoned enemy wells also.
| An Australian soldier who had lost
| a party of Germans killed one Of his
| ANTAGONISTS with his steel hat.
| tin of tongue, a tin of sardines, q
| tin of condensed milk and a box Of
matches were prizes at recent London
whist party attended by society women.
Australia has spent $500, ,ooo. 900 dur
| ing the course Of the war.
| Dora" the defense of the realm act
| of England plays many queer pranks
| One London householder was surprised
| one morning when an army ofhcer no.
| titled him that he must vacate his house
! Immediately.
holder.
startling response.
Sure enough the government did that
very thing. not vestige Of the house
remaining by nightfall. 1t was removed
to give an anti-aircraft gun greater
| range.
| Water Is scarce in Macedonia. that is,
suficient quantities to meet the needs
| of troops fighting in out-of-the-way
places. An interesting description of the
water man. who is called queer fish
| by the fighters, is given by q returned
! soldier, who says:
His daily-or nightly-quest of the
| element takes him into strange places.
With his panniers hung on pack
mules. he follows tortuous ravine paths
among these Macedonian hills. some
l &E, I, =, 1ana rrygf1 ytr1-
| derbrush. lit with wild flowers and but
| terf1ies. drowsy with the buzzing of in
| sects: sometimes through dugout VII
! lagos amid a fury of battery-flre and
| the whine of falling shells. If the day
| be tropically overbearing you may see
| him dusty and tagged and reminiscent
| under a sun-helmet: il 1t be torrential,
| as only it can be in the Balkans. he will
| be melancholy and wrathful, sliding
| about in viscous clay. almost under the
| mules Understanding, wading, slip
ping, stumbling, disappearing as sol
dier should-the war, the mules. the
water, the Balkans, the sodden water
proof the squelching boots. the slash
ing rain. everything!
''Or you will find him in some wilder
messed hollow where fig trees grow
fountain while the panneirs I'LL musical
ly and the mules MUNICH at tether. It will
be imm memorably old that fountain, and
for centuries the haunt of hill-travel-
erS, goatnerQS, Eypsles ana pAnQltB. But
now, by one of those astonishing freaks
of destiny, it evidences the busy handi-
work of a stolid home-loving British
r. e.
Hesitating in their arrafgnment of
English bachelors who have refused to
marry the social workers of England
have just awakened to the fact that
they have a new problem. one of serious
proportions-the bachelor girl. Since
the war started the women have taken