Evening star., 1921-02-20

" He street level halls OF the new
National Museum building have
taken on the aspect of war
museum. They have been CIV
en- over to the display of articles that
illustrate most of the phases of the
great war. In these halls all visitors
find much that interests them, and
really a very large percentage of the
visitors seem to find their greatest in
terest there.
A large scale model of trench is
oe of the popular and striking ex-
hibits. Most persons study in silence
the bit Of terrain and subterrain and
seem tensely interested in the grim
and tragic suggestiveness OF the pic
ture. There is deep and relatively
narrow ditch with Wooden-slatted
walk-way at the bottom to save. IL
possible men from wading in water.
The nearly il not quite perpendicular
faces of this deep ditch are revetted
with logs-that is, faced with logs
la id some what in log cabin style-and
from the bottom to the top OF the
forward revetment lead broad ladders
nm which it would seem that two men
a
top. Small burlap bags flled with
earth are laid and packed along the
edges of the ditch. 1t is not a straight
ditch, it's length being interrupted by
.'traverses'' or cross sections so that
a shell exploding in the ditch would
affect only one section of it. Out to-
ward the enemy country is green and
yellow earth, tumbled in places and
scattered over with stones. The TAR
ther edge of this tract is marked by
Ia zig-zag barbed-wire barrier:
That feature on which most visit
ors comment is the dugout. At the
bottom of the ditch and through the
forward revetment is cut passage
which Slants down SO sharply that
long. steep flight Of steps is needed to
The depth of these chambers. in rela-
ton to the depth of the ditch and the
width of the strip of land between the
ditch and the wire barrier, is quite
impressive. Little figures OF men are
lying on cots far below the surface OF
wire.
The official description of this ex-
hibit is as follows:
Model Of STANDARD Type Trench and Cave
Shelter Chamber. 'Dugout'.-This madel shows
Of entrances The traverse locslize the effect
Of bombs and shells dropped in any particular
part Of the trench and are also useful IN nank-
of the capture Of one section by the enemy
The ladders placed against the revetment are
called 'sortie ladders and are used In gong
over the top
This model was built or dug by
the Engineer Corps, and many OF the
other exhibits in the hall are engi-
neer exhibits. One Of these Is
parabolic listening device used Tor
directing searchlights and determine
ing the direction of airplanes at night,
enabling the searchlights to pick
them UP. The legend attached to this
remarkable exhibit says that 1t was
IAN important development in the
controlling of air raids by the enemy"
All that the layman sees in this is
circular sheet of metal about ten feet
in diameter. slightly umbrella-shaped.
with the concave side toward the
enemy. The sensitive diaphragm Tor
multiplying the sound and the in
struments for registering direction
and perhaps for indicating distance
are there. but the very average man
will probably grasp only the sketchy
outline Of this interesting device.
The whole thing is mounted on
four-wheel truck and the big concave
disc can be swung on its own axes
in any direction horizontally or verti-
cally. The legend attached to it says
that it was deposited by the Engineer
Corps.
A liberty kitchen has been set up in
the exhibition hall. 1t is porta bic
kitchen. a heavy two-wheeled cart
having a trail" by which it may be
attached and detached to and from Q
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