Evening star., 1918-02-25
BY Il. G. BYRD.

intercollegiate basket ball honors for
the District will be decided Saturday
night, the championship of the District
intercollegiate League being at stake in
the contest scheduled between Catholic
University and George Washington. These
quints now are tied for first place, each
having won four games and lost one.
Gallaudet and Maryland State. which
stand third and fourth, are to meet in the
other game.
First attempt to run an intercollegiate
basket ball league has met with success.
The season has been all that was looked
for financially and from a standpoint Of
interest it has proved greater than other
sports. No better outcome to a year Of
basket ball in a league could be desired
game tied for the championship. Also
this season is probably the first in a
mighty long while in which basket ball
games have paid for themselves.
Had Maryland State been stronger the
schedule would have been even more in
teresting. While State has furnished some
fair opposition to the other quints. lack
Of facilities for practice has prevented
real development. II Galfaudet had meas
ured up to it's standard Of last year, and
II Maryland State had been possessed OF
a place for practice. basket ball follow
ers might have been treated to one OF
the closest races in the history of local
sport organizations.
Lieut. Nelson Poe, former Princeton
athlete, with the 2Sth United States In
fantry in France. has an intimate letter
in the current issue of the Princeton
Alumni Weekly which gives another inti-
mate description Of actual work "at the
front" The letter:
1--WE have been on maneuvers for the
last week, hiking between fifty and sixty
miles in three days, and it was some go
ing for the old boy. My. particular job
was to bring up the rear Of the column
and keep men from falling out just be-
cause they were footsore. leg weary. etc.
You have to be pretty rough at times and
excuses don't go. It was case of making
a man walk until he dropped and then
put him in an ambulance. l don't know
how long we will be here. There are all
kinds Of rumors floating around, but in
the Army we live on rumors and I don't
believe anything until I see the order
commanding US to move. We are having
a lot of snow and it is hard to do much
training.
"I have been pretty lucky in being or
dered to British schools and getting
around to the different fronts. am stuck
on the British and like to be with them.
Everything is so thorough with them. and
they certainly have one great fighting
has ever seen Discipline is the founda-
what it means. have just come back
from another British school about ten
miles from Ypres, where took course
in Stokes 3-inch mortara It is great
little gun. but its use is limited. as it only
has a range Of $50 yards The shell
weighs eleven pounds and you can fire
drop the shell down the muzzle and at
the bottom is the striker which explodes
the cartridge and sends the shell on its
way.
aIn firing fast you want to be care
full not to put one shell in the barrel
before the other comes out. You can
follow the course of the shell in the
air and at times there are seven OF
eight in the air at one time. After the
course was over 1 went up to the Brit
ish front near sWipers' and spent tive
days going around the front-line
trenches. Mon Dieu! what a devastated
land it is! You can still see outlines
Of woods. but now only Jagged splin-
tered trunks split off by shell fire, and
not a sign of a living thing. The
ground is ploughed up, and every foot