Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-02-08
Shaffer's Last
FLIGHT

storms of bullets and archie barrage,
I wasn't going to give the Boche the
pleasure of killing me that way.
However, the Boche commander
thought better of it, and hunted up
a place in the town nearby. AT that,
1t was an open question whether We
had gained by the change, for they
stuck us in a small barracks about
as big as your parlor, shut the door
and locked us in, putting several
guards around outside to prevent
anyone accidentally" f al II n g
through the wall-it was only
board. 1t was cold in there, we had
nothing to eat and there were lots
of heavy planks scattered about.
The obvious thing happened. Every
body got out his supply of beans,
started a small fire and began din
ner. With no place for the smoke
to go except up the ceiling and
down again, that small room was
soon black with smoke. One could
hardly breathe and the suffering it
caused ones eyes was terrible, but
we were hungry, and did nots mind
such small trifles as smoke. Too
bad we didn't have our gas masks,
for surely we needed them. oh
yes, I had my little fire going also,
two Frenchmen and ], and our beans
were cooking merrily away as we
piled on more wood. 1t took near
ly an hour to cook them, but they
were worth waiting for, as the flavor
was indeed good. And besides beans,
you know, are filling. 1 know, be-
cause 1 lay down that night fairly
filled up.
Roaring AirpIanes
There must have been a Boche
aviation camp near, as planes came
roaring overhead quite frequently.
These frequent visits of the Boche
blackbirds certainly had the Rus
slams scared, and they were like to
start a race riot in that smoke
filled room, by turning out the light
every time one came over. (Yes,
there was an electric light in the
room.) 1t was a good idea, of
course, if the planes were allied, but
that these were Boche there could
be no doubt, for we peeked out
crack. and all the village lights were
Going full blast. Besides, the planes
flew very low and nobody shot at
them. The Russians could not be
made to understand this though, all
they knew was that there were
planes buzzing around overhead, and
after four years of prison life that
spelled bombs to them, with big
"B" too. One of them spoke
little French. and it was he that the
Frenchmen began to chaff about his
further and called all the Russian
ire of the Russian and hurt his pa
triotic pride, for he came back with
demand of what they (the Rus
sians) did to Napoleon at Moscow.
This knowledge of history and its
principal figure caused quite a little
surprise among the Frenchmen, for
the Russian was of the lowest peas
ant type. Yet he knew what had
happened to Napoleon on his mem
orable raid into Russia and he also
knew what worldwide reputation
Napoleon had at that time as a con-
queror. So the chatting died down
little as the Russian continued in
his painful French to ask them what
happened to Napoleon at Moscow.
Still, they continued to run down
the Russian army and particularly
the morale of it's soldiers; the Rus
sian getting wilder and wilder at his
inability to make them understand
how good his army was.
One Ear Always Open
But he never got too interested
IN the conversation to forget the
danger sailing around overhead.
One ear was always open for that
sputtering roar so peculiar to
Boche motors. The minute he
heard it there was a wild dive for
the button to turn off the light.
Several Frenchmen would start in
that direction about the same time.
If the Russian got there first he
turned 1t out, but the Frenchmen
coming up several seconds later
promptly turned it on again. Hon
estly, we had those Russians so
scared that night they nearly went.
Once when a plane was right over
our barracks, it's motor suddenly
sputtered and stopped. OF course.
the Russians, knowing nothing Of
airplanes. thought that the aviator
had merely shut off the motor to
drop a bomb, and nearly had a fit
and like to knock down the bar
racks getting TO the electric button.
The next morning we saw what was
left of that plane which the Rus
slams had swore was lowering over
the barracks. It's motor had stop-
ped all right, and the aviator had
come down in the middle of the
town. Hope it killed them both.
You needn't look so shocked
mother, at such wish, for if YOU
had suffered what had you would
feel the same way about it.
DeSDito the sm0ka apd tbo .ao..s
Russians though, I spent a fairly
comfortable night. At least, it was
solid sleeo, for had several inch
planks for my downy couch. Next
morning we cooked up a potato and
turnip stew, each of us three fur
nishing one of these vegetables. II
wasn't a big feed, but it sure had a
good taste. Cha! HaD I can see
Aunt Anne laughing at that last
comment, for surely she had not
forgotten how I used to turn up INV
nose at "old-fashioned New England
dinner"
Marching I'm the Rain
During that days march it rained
all the time, and it rained hard.
To make 1t worse a heavy wind
storm accompanied it, and as I only
had thin uniform on covered only
by my one blanket in lien of an
overcoat. was soon wet through.
We marched rs miles in that flood
and we were compelled to march
that distance without a rest. You
cannot imagine how hard that was