Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1918-07-16

when up against q Prussian regi
ment 1t is a case Of keep your nappel
below the parapet and duck. A bang
bang all the time and Q war Is on. The
Bavarians are little better. but the
Saxons are fairly good sports and are
willing occasionally to behave as gen
tlemen and take 1t easy, but you can
not trust any Of them overlong.
At one point Of the line the trenches
were about thirty-two yards apart
This sounds horrible, but In fact IT was
easy, because neither side could shell
the enemy's front-line trench Tor fear
shells would drop into their own. This
eliminated artillery fire.
In these trenches when up against
the Prussians and Bavarians, Tommy
had hot time of 1t, but when the Sax.
ons "took over" 1t was a picnic; they
would yell across that they were Sax.
ons and would not fire. Both sides
would sit on the parapet and carry on
a conversation. This generally consist.
ed Of Tommy telling them how much
he loved the kaiser, while the Saxons
informed Tommy that King George
was q particular friend Of theirs and
hoped that he was doing nicely.
When the Saxons were to be relieved
by Prussians or Bavarians. they would
yell this information across No Mans
Land and Tommy would Immediately
tumble into his trench and keep his
head down.
If an English regiment was to be re-
lieved by the wild Irish, Tommy would
tell the SaxOns, and Immediately a vol
ley Of "Donner und Blitzens" could
be heard and it was Fritz's turn to get
a crick in his back from STOPPING, and
the people In Berlin would close their
windows.
Usually when an Irishman takes over
a trench, just before "stand down" In
the morning, he sticks his rifle over
the top, aimed in the direction Of Ber.
lin. and engages In what Is known as
the mad minute" This consists of
firing fifteen shots In minute. He
Is not aiming at anything in particular
just sends over each shot with y
prayer, hoping that one of his strays
will get some poor unsuspecting Fritz
In the napper hundreds Of yards be-
hind the lines. 1t generally does; that's
the reason the Boches hate the man
from Erin's isle.
The Saxons, though better than the
Prussians and Bavarians, have q nasty
trait of treachery in their makeup.
At. one point Of the line where the
trenches S7ere very close, a stake was
driven into the ground midway be-
tween the hostile lines. At night when
1t was his turn. Tommy would crawl
to this Jtake and attach some London
papers to 1t, while at the foot he would
place tins Of bully beef. fags, sweets,
and other delicacies that he had re-
ceived from Blighty in the ever looked
for parcel. Later on Fritz would come
out and get these luxuries.
The next night Tommy would 90 out
to see what Fritz put into his stocking.
The donation generally consisted Of q
paper from Berlin, telling who was
winning the war, some timed sausages,
cigars, and occasionally a little beer.
but a funny thing, Tommy never re-
turned with the beer unless 1t was In
side of him. His platoon got Whit OF
his breath one night and the offending
Tommy lost his Job.
One night a young English sergeant
crawled to the stake and as he tried to
detach the German paper bomb ex-
ploded and mangled him horribly. Fritz
had set a trap and gained another VIC
tim which was only one more black
mark against him In the book Of this
war. From that time on diplomatic re-
lations were severed.
Returning to Tommy, think his
spirit Is best shown in the questions he
asks. It Is never "who Is going to win"
hut always show long will 1t takeT
Continued next week