The Leader, enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1915-1921, 1918-07-01
REFLECT SPIRIT
OF TRENCHES DURING
AIR RAIDS
by Floyd MacGrif)
international News Service Staff
Correspondent


is one Of the British capitals chief
projections from air raids by the
Huns. II it is a foggy or misty night
the searchlights OF Zeppelins cannot
reach their long fingers of light to
the earth and pick out the English
coast or find their way to London.
Aeroplanes likewise are baff1ed SO
thick fog gives a sense OF security
and one buys a ticket to theatre
with far more cheerfulness than on a
moonlight night when the air is
clear.
The weather has attained a new
sphere as a topic OF conversation.
One Londoner may greet another
with: well, it looks like good
night for raid" if the evening is
fair More than hundred bombings
have taught the Londoner to expect
raid on such nights. He considers
it lucky il none occurs.
blinds must be drawn at 9:30 p.
m. today runs line in the daily
papers. AS Summer approaches the
hour is made later to correspond
with dusk. And the blinds are drawn
Hotel maids are instructed to attend
to this promptly. Hotels also have
placards warning guests that police
will hold them responsible if light
shows from their window Drawing
the blinds is one of the household
chores"
All London does not take to cover
when an air raid is on. During a
recent raid, when bombs were being
dropped and bits of shrapnel fell
fullsomcly. the auto busses, with their
women conductors. operated as usual
And there were passengers. British
crs do not regard the air raids with
fear. People in the street get under
cover, if it is handy, so as not to be
hit by falling shrapnel But they do
not dash madly to shelter or push or
jam their way into safety in the UNI
foreground railway stations The sub
way trains are operated as usual
Only the foreign element, largely en-
ploycd in munition factories, has be-
come frightened. Many of them have
moved into safety zones.
AS an instance of AFRAID boredom
d British officer, on leave, was on his
way to his hotel room when the
warning to take cover was sounded
What are you going to do he was
asked. "Do?" he echoed Hell, In
| going to bed" During the same raiC
! the musicians in hotel which front!
the Thames and is well known il
American played on as usual and the
cafe crowd did not know there wa.
a raid until the ALI clear" was sound
ed.
But the booming of heavy guns ii
and around the city generally reache!
most ears. A crowd of men sat in
smoking room at one club. with Z
glass roof above, and talked OF ont
thing and another during the raid
! Seeking shelter in subway would
appear as impossible to them as goins
down Broadway barefooted Only
very small proportion of London car
| Iva Il, Il,
The crowding OF public buildings dur
ing raids has been discouraged, be
cause it is realized that very few O
them can withstand the heavy bombs
Residents now are officially advised tC
stay at home during raids and take
their chances, which are about one il
100000.
Despite more than one hundred
raids on London one has to hunt FOL
any evidence of damage, although
scores have been killed and wounded
Houses which have been demolished
are in widely scattered districts
London being city which is sprawl.
ed over considerable territory with
| low buildings. Business houses. pub
| lie structures and factories show nc
evidence of attack. But houses which
have been bombed are so much NOR
tar and dust, even houses that were
| four stories high.
The spirit of the trenches, which
makes men face death bravely, is the
spirit of London during Hun at
tack. Mothers are the most nervous
and many babies have been taken in
to the cold night air during a raid.
too thinly clad, each mother believing
she was doing the best thing by going
to subway. And these babies have
died from the exposure.
But there are many overbalancing
cases of bravery The Bishop Of Lon
don is authority for the story that
one girl, aged seven and one-half
years, who was alone during a Gotha
raid, aroused her four younger bro
theirs and sisters, brought them down
stairs, placed them about a table and