The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1918-07-11
Staring Into BIaekness of No-man's
Land Makes One Feel Uncanny
Soldier Says-After First Or
deal, Life In Trenches ls
an Easy Matter


London, July 11.-What will the
first night in the trenches be like is
a question that thousands Of Ameri'
can soldiers have faced perhaps with
some misgivings, certainly with live.
ly anticipation. The experience OF
many oft hem must be like that Of a
Birth ploughboy soldier described by
Lord Dunsany, captain of the Innis.
killing fusiliers.
"a mans first night int he front
line is an epoch-making experience"
he writes 1T is like a mans first
vote, or his twenty-frst birthday-it
is a milestone in his life, marking the
change from the mimic warfare be-
hind the lines to the grim realities Of
actual conflict.
Perhaps | can best explain how
this experience affects a soldier by
telling you the story Of recruits
first night in the trenches. Dick
Cheeser, one of my men, was a
ploughboy just past IS when he en-
listed, and not yet 10 when he went
on his first sentry "go" in the front
line.
ait was quiet night, and dawn
was only an hour or so distant when
Cheeser took his post The corporal
told him where to stand, warned him
to keep a good lookout, and left him.
There was Dick Cheescr, alone in
the dark, with an army in front of
him, eighty yards away, a resource
full, crafty and desperate enemy. The
stiffness Of the night only added to
Cheeser's feeling of responsibility,
The stiffness awed him. There had
not been a shell all night. He put
his head over the parapet gingerly
and waited. Nobody fired at him. He
felt somehow that the night was wait.
ing for him, that something uncanny
and unexpected would happen soon.
He heard voices in a communication
trench somewhere behind him; there
were few sentences Of gruff, unin.
telligible conversation; the voices
died away. There was a long silence.
Chesser fell to wondering whether
the night was black or grey; he
stared hard at the night to study its
exact color; the night stared back at
him and seemed to be threatening
him; 1t was gray, gray and artful,
like cat or a fox.
Stiffness Gives Uncanny Feeling
1T was uncanny, thought Cheeser.
II shells would come, or Germans, or
anything at all, you would know how
to take 1t; but this deadly quiet, like
a mist over huge valleys! Anything
might happen. Cheeser waited and
waited, and the night waited too. He
felt that they were watching each
other, the night and he, both crouch.
Ing, both ready to spring.
His mind grew so active that his
head throbbed with the physical ex-
ertion OF thinking. He was
watching with eyes and ears and
imagination, hoping to anticipate by
second or two the dread. Some.
thing that he felt was sure to happen
soon in the ominous mist of No Mans
Land. He thought of throwing a
stone out into the blackness, Just to
see what would happen. Then he
began to wish for his boyhood's sling.
shot, so that he could catapult a nice
round stone right across the black.
ness into the German line.
"A little wind blew in the night, ,
too cold for the time of year. 1t
made for moment a lane in the
mist over No Mans Land. Cheeser
peered into it, but the mist closed
round again. No, Night seemed to
say, You can't guess nv secret !.
And the awesome hush intensified
what are they up to now? thought
the sentry. What are those crafty
enemies planning in all those miles
OF silence?
Even the very lights were few and
far between. When one went IN. far
hills of shadow seemed to sit and