Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-09-01
SHRAPNEL
Sidelights on the War
-BY-
OLIVER OWEN KUHN.

The silver spruce OF British Column
bia is in such demand for atrplane
construction because the trees grow
extremely tall, sometimes $50 feet.
and they taper but little toward the
top. From them can be obtained long
wing beams for flying machines.
which run from fifteen to thirty five
feet in length
The most striking feature OF The
Hague, where men of all nations have
been wont to foregather to arrange
treaties and commercial agreements,
is it's cleanliness. 1t looks always
as if it had just been taken from a
bandbox.
British folk are fast catching on to
the rules of the American game OF
base ball,
Indicating some of the thrilling fea-
lures of a battle in the air and to the
death between belligerent diers, one
British pilot said:
when, with an accompanying roar.
German plane goes whirling down.
dizzilyi cropping for the"crater-s studded
earth, it's engine out OF order, its
mechanism out of action or one Of Its
complement hors de combat, it is fol-
Sometimes the game is for one ma
chine to make a sudden dive at an
other; sometimes it is to suddenly
commence climbing out of an assail-
ants reach; sometimes it is a case OF
trying to get the foe into the OBJ
servers field of fire; but whatever
the idea may be for the moment,
hunter and hunted is each in deadly
earnest.
"The slightest error of judgment
may at any moment send him like
stone spinning to the earth. with
velocity that can only be described
as terrible In the mad excitement
of the moment, time and again Hun
plane has encountered Hun, British,
British, with results that need hardly
be dwe1t upon"
Though many of the most noted
crooks of the underworld Of London
are serving in the army. the metrop-
oils nevertheless still is ridden by
elements prone to vice of all de-
scriptions. According to English In
yestigators, these modern day crooks
are mostly aliens who have come to
England since the war started Amer
lea is said to have furnished many
Of them.
been forced to give up their golden
images and precious stones for war
purposes.
The purchase of ~air raid gowns
by the women of London recalls the
earthquake period of the British
metropolis in 1850, when the stores
sold earthquake gowns. These were
designed to protect the wearer from
exposure.
One of the most difficult things re-
uuired of a war horse is to get IA
miliarized with the sword in fighting
from his back. Here the greatest
care is taken or.he may be frightened
at first and never recover his nerve
In real warfare It is a common trick
for cava1ryman to aim his first blow
at his opponent's horse. This is
especially the case with lancers, for
no horse will stand after being prick
ed on the nostril or lip. He will
wheel round If he has room to turn,
and the fight becomes a chase
1t is peculiar fact, however. that
when horse knows his rider well he
will face blows If properly handled
such as would not usually be expected
of him. A brigade has been known,
for instance, to go through three lines
of bayonets and then through barb
ed-wire ENHANCEMENT, trampling
everything under foot as il it were
straw.
Official statements issued by the war
Offices of England and Germany are
declared indicative of the character
and temperament Of the two peoples.
The British communicates are crisp
and terse, the Germans flamboyant
and fallacious.