Evening star., 1918-03-24

EIHE aviator was reluctant to talk
about himself. That. l imagine.
was not due solely to modesty.
q He is young, still delightfully."-
young; and the enthusiasm and ardor Of
youth bubble over in condolences
But I suppose that we were the thir-
teenth or fourteenth group Of civilians to
ask him to relate his exploits, and he
had more than enough of that sort OF
thing That is why the conversation
dropped into generalities about the war
and then drifted to that pseudo heroic
literature, manufactured far from the
front which is so exasperating to the
men in the fighting line.
These stories" said the aviator. with
an air OF severity. have every possible
fault They are stupid they are not
true: they tend to make people believe
that the soldier in this war fights in a
state of joy and mental intoXicaton-
that he is romantic and inflamed with a
sort Of dyonisiac fervor.
This is the very opposite of the truth
Such transports were possible, perhaps
in days which are now long out of date
Now the fighting is continuous; it lasts
for months in certain sectors. All that
one can do is to hold on, without gayety,
with grim discrimination. To risk death
for some minutes may bring kind OF
exaltaton. But to expect it each minute
for whole weeks at a stretch,
In the course of an attack one may
experience a few infants OF furious en-
tfusiasn, of forgetfulness of self. But
they are offset by long hours OF misery,
in which it is necessary to organize po-
sitions which have been wrecked and con-
ness of the night The truth is that then
the soldier longs for one thing only-to
be relieved. And the moment of relief, SO
much desired, may often be postponed for
dave frtzf fha 1trxkff tive Nrrt,o
one is forbidden to sleep. the nervous
expenditure has been such that one thinks
only of sleeping. L have seen officers
obliged to keep their exhausted men awake
by throwing pebbles at them.
1t is a fact, moreover. that when
the facilities for supplying food and wine
begin to operate a little more normally.
when one can sleep by turns, in spite
there come singular reactions sort.of
callousness, Of obtuse Indifference to
danger. which then appears to be a
necessary and inevitable condition OF ex
istence. This sort OF indifference may
assume in certain cases the aspect Of
an incomprehensive gayety. | had one
day an unexpected proof of this.
You must not think that we aviators
have no other mission than the destruc-
ton of enemy aeroplanes. the lombard
ammunition depots and moving trains,
and accommodating within the enemy's
lines. We serve also as agencies of
communication, SO to speak. So, one
day | received order TO go to get
news of a certain group OF batteries,
which had been placed on ground a little
too high and on which, the fire OF the
enemy's superior artillery could not fail
to have q destructive effect
when | had made out the batteries
on the terrain began to descend. vol
planning at from l.5G0 to l.S6o meters.
And while / was planning | saw hand
!lerchiefs waving ard officers brandish-
ing their arms Evidently thev We're
signaling to me. Not knowing that my
instructions obliged me to MAKE i land
ing. the mmander Of this group seemed
to be insisting that | should stop and
have some seconds of conversation with
him.
II said to myself: Things are going
badly with them They have something
TO tell me. probably, and that something
will not be very cheerful | re-nem-
bered that ] had brought with me four
bottles of coguac to offer to people in
distress-the old story of finding a way
to ones heart through his stomach.
But when I landed on the ground I
scarcely dared to offer them the brandy.
The spectacle before my eyes proved
that both the guns and the men had
suffered severely. The gun shelters were
beaten down: the observation post was
riddled with shells. And there were
fresh g-aves-many fresh graves. Yet