Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-03-03

| i'Ciihh hCll, oClIl luC ,
 and then remembering that he was ad
 dressing one His Majesty's officers,
 if it is. sir, it's too hot to warm your , hands by''
 Aside from the intermittent shelling
 of the village I referred to and some
 eight or ten chances to practice mark
 manship on Boche planes, the serenity
 Of the Sabbath has been undisturbed
 1t has been quiet, peaceful day.
 But every day, whether it be quiet
 or noisy, has come to have the same
 ness of it's predecessor. Days are
 memely brief intervals in eternity.
 when the "big-guns" roar and the
 shock of their discharge puts out my ! acetylene lamps they seem to say: Don't take yourself too damned ser iously, you might be snuffed out as
 easily One feels his insignificance
 and becomes a thumbnail philiso-
 pher. He Carrier on," as the British
 say, with a matter-of- f-factness that is | all but automatic. Speaking for my self, l have not yet experienced any decided restlessness as I had fully
 prepared myself for stay of at least three years. When that term is at an end it will be time enough for me to
 begin to worry. Anyway, they have a
 saying over here that the first five years are the hardest.
 So much for the philosophy war teaches. Pleasant days are few and far between at this season of the year shortly after noon a warm breeze sprung up and melted the snow on the high ground, leaving that in tho val leys and draWs-such a breeze as is called chinook in Montana. It will likely freeze again tonight Sufficient unto the day are the beauties thereof. It may snow and blow tomorrow. but tomorrow can take care of itself.
 l rather fancy l make you immeas- urably weary with my description of nothings and all the trivial trumper- ies talk about. This is like unto the newspaper game-a big story does not break every day Just now there is really nothing of importance I can write about. Big things are in the making and even when they have be- come history I can not write freely of them, enough they may happen under my very nose. I am not a correspond ] ent-only soldier 1t is possible however, that that which to me seems to be so commonplace as not to be worthy of mention may be of some in terest to you-for example, the bring ] ing in of prisoners, the handling of casualties, an aeroplane or observa- fion balloon brought down in flames. l Recently I saw the observer from one of the later make a rather hurried descent in his parachute after a ! Biche plane had darted from behind ! cloud above the balloon and set the | gas bag on fire with incendiary bull l lets. The German escaped after a l stern chase but few days elater had the pleasure of seeing the Royal 1 Flying Corps even the score. One of theirnumber forced a Taube to de- scend within British lines. 1 was too busy at the time to walk over and l take a look at the pilot who was made 1 a prisoner and the machine which was only slightly damaged.
 It was not long ago that I heard ] one of our chaps announce with a shout that an American plane was in sight, that he could see star. I looked and saw it was not star, but a Maltese cross-the distinguishing mark of a German. He was flying very low and as he passed directly over our heads turned his machine gun on a group of men short dis tance down the track, but without ef- feet. I heard his motor before l stepped out of the hut and remarked to the Captain that it was strange some of the low flying Boches did not use their machine guns on us. Our luck held good on the following day when six German scouts and a bombing machine came sail ing over. When directly overhead the squadron turned at right angles, ap- parently to follow the line of the rail- detonation of bombs-tons of them it The railroad two and one half miles distant was catching hell. Result-about thirty casualties, seven or eight killed and the remainder But these are mere inci- dents. The war keeps grinding on. The big "do" is coming soon to break the monotony. Then, perhaps I'll nave chance to get into the muss as some of our chaps were near enough to lo at the Cambrai battle.
 For dinner today had chocolate pud ding. It tasted better than any have ever eaten notwithstanding the crud- ties of it's manufacture. A stew pan, } cap of condensed milk, little SUI gar and corn starch and some of the Bakers choclate you sent me. The vanilla extract was lacking, but for the chocolate was slightly favored The cream was improvised yb watering some of the condensed milk. Can't you picture me concocting salads and deserts over here in my shrapnel-proof shack?
 As I write tremendous argument $ going on at my rear. A train crew awaiting orders are amusing them selves by heatedly discussing the mer- it's of Arkansas The defenders of her air name have been more than holding their own-a native and a gentle nan from Kentucky being arrayed against a pair of puny minded blokes { rom Missouri. I think, however, I shall have to saw off and deliver a few crushing blows for the old home ,