The Washington times., 1931-10-12

Platoon Is quartered IN q
stretch Of battered trench be-
hind the line, and most Of them
are DOING.
''Funny sort Of she'll" says
Jupp, suddenly.
"What d. you mean?" asks
Ferdinand Kosole, sitting up.
"Use your ears" answers
Jupp.
KoSole puts o hand to his ear
and listens. We also listen
into the darkness. But there Is
nothing audible beyond the dull
rumble of gunfire and the high
piping d he shells. From the
right sounds the rattle Of ma
chine guns and now and then
q cry. But all these we have
known some years now; there
is, nothing new In that to make
q new song about.
Kosole looks at Jupp sus7i-
ciously.
TITS stopped now, Of course"
says Jupp, by way OF defending
himself.
Kosole looks him over once
more, appraisingly. Jupp e
mains unperturbed, and ne
turns away, muttering. IT'S
the rumble in your own hungry
insides, that's all your shells
are. Best thing you can do is
get an eyeful of sleep" He
knocks up a sort Of earthen
headrest and stretches out, s.
posing himself cautiously so
that his boots shall not lip
down into the water. "Lo:d:
and there's the missus and all
the comforts of home!" he MUIR
murs. his eyes already closed.
Sleep Comes Quickly
Somebody else with her by
now, 7 dare say" retorts Jupp,
out Of his corner.
KoSole opens one eye and
gives him a hard look. For a
moment it seems as If he means
to get up again. Don't you be
too funny, you poor fish" And
he is snoring already,
Jupp signs to me to crawl
over to him. I step across Adolf
Bethke's legs and sit down be.
side him. With a sidelong
glance at the snoring figure, he
says, sourly, THE likes of that
don't even know what educa-
tion is."
Jupp was a clerk in a solic-
itor's office before the war.
And, though he has been soldier
ing thrle years now, he still
feels himself superior and in
most curious wise. sets great
store on education out here at
the front. What that means ex-
actly he does not know himself, :,
Of course; but more than all else
that he ever heard tell Of in the
days gone by, the word "educa-
tion" has staye,' with him; and
to that he clings, as if it were a
plank in the sea, that he shall
not go under. Everybody has
something of the sort: This one
e wife, another his business, a
third his boots, Valentine Laher
his Schnapps and Tjaden the
hope Of tasting broad beans and
bacon once more.
He Haues Education
On the other hand, nothing
30 irritates Kosole as that very
word, education" He always
connects it some way or another
with the idea of high collars;
and for him that is enough.
Even now it has its effect. With
out interrupting his sleep, Con
founded pen pusher!" says he,
gruffly.
Jupp shakes his head, re-
signed and pitying. We sit on
in silence a while, side by side,
to warm ourselves. The night is
wet and cold, clouds are driving
overhead, and it rains off and
on. Then we take up the water
proof on which we are sitting
and while the rain lasts hang it
over our heads.
Along the sky line are the
flashes Of gunfire. One feels that
over there must be a region a
little less cold, it looks so cozy.
Like gaily colored and silver
flowers, the flares spring up
above the lightning flashes of
the artillery. Big and red, the
moon SwimS in the wet air above
the ruins Of farm
Think we're going home?'
whispers Jupp
I shrug my shoulders "The
rumor is"
Jupp sighs aloud. "a warm
room and a sofa, and going out
Of nights-can you picture it
still?"
II tried on my civvies last
time was on leave" I say,
meditatively, "but they're ever
SO much too small for me now.
III have to get new things" ."
How marvellous that all sounds
here-civvies, a sofa, the eve
ming; but it brings strange
thoughts - like black coffee,
when sometimes it tastes too