The Brussels Post, 1915-12-30, Page 2WINNERS OF THE
ions, while other infantry reg meats, l I SMITH I
preview! to this war, had on:y two.
Tho total number iia
VICTORIA CROSS /uards` Brigade since the institution
of the honor in the Crimean Wal: is
Ieighteen,
LANCASHIRE FUSILIERS HEAT) Ten Naval Heroes.
i ed lt- the
LIST OF BRITISH, The ten V.C,'s given during he
past year to naval officers and men
bring the total bestowed on the senior
service to fifty-one. Three of 'these Is Extremely Versatile, and Is Bes
Four
Canadians Rave Gained the crosses were won by the commanders
Little Bronze Cross "For
I In Liverpool his Is a name to eon- WAR STRAIN OF FRENC1I.ROADS
I ,
jure with. He was born the}'e;. and
`he represents one of its divisions an Railways Meet Tremendous Einer -
CLASS BY ISC��i I'arlitiment, In fact, he has mads gency Needs.
Bohner-
CLASSihimself almost as solid with the ( pa,onh mtlitai!y authorities tools
the railway systems authorities
the coun-
try, whether State or privately own-
'
INTERNATIONAL+ LAW.. Asked, not long ago, to what he oil, et midnight on July 31, 1914, Ever
attributed his success, he said that since then the French railways have
it was mainly owing to. two eauses, been subjected to a frightful strain.
First, to the fact that he was for- Publication of the figures for the
timate enough to possess a vary able year August, 1914-15, enables one to
father from whom he inherited what measure and appreciate the rnagiii-
ever abilities he possessed; and see-
overberlain did with the people of Birm
THE FOREIVIOST AUTHORITY ON Ingham, '
of submarines in the Dardanelles add Product of Unionist Party
Sea of Marntora. in Recent Years.
Valor." On Dec. 13, 1914, Lieut. N. D. Hol- onclly to his capacity for hard work-••
rook in command of B11, entered In his speech at the Lord Mayor of not because he was naturally disposed
With the bestowal Book Victoria e brook, London's banquet, Sir F, E. Smith, to like' hard work, he explained, . for
ColCoeds on Sergeant Brooks of con -ho the Dardanelles and, notwithstanding
the difficult current, dived his vessel the newly -appointed Attorney -General, he thought that he had a natural Pre-
ferred
Guards the nt. war rows of Turkish mines and referred to the note sent, by the disposition to pleasure, but because
berred during the present war clasphas under five
torpedoed the. battleship Messiidiyah, United States to Great Britain, rela- he had to like it. His father, it may
eavon brought to 110, ie we„ a return hewas subjected to ter- tive to the interference by the latter be mentioned, died -when he was
given to South oAfri whcamp the arose On his of lir
in the African campaign. The rifle shell fire from land and naval country with the trade of the farmer,quite young, leaving the Smith family
batteries, which compelled him to sub-' during the present war. ' Ile said that —or this branch of it—not a over -
merge for which the little bronze cross mere his tinycraft for upwards of it raised contentions from which Brit- burdened with means. And the
At -
have been bestowed range from sav- g ish lawyers profoundly dissented, torney-General climbed to the bar
ing comrades under heavy shell and nine hours.
rifle fire to destroying a Zeppelin and
tis crew.
Repeated Once More.
Four months later, Lieut. Com-
mander Boyle, in charge of the E14,
and that -he trusted that the latter and later to 'Parliament, and his pre-
were capable of making their case sent position, by means of scholar -
For sheer Paladin valor the palm good. He added that the bar had, ships.
now to play its part. An Americana But of his faculty of concentration
Nust go to Lieut. Michael O'Leary, took his submarine under the mine correspondent cabled of this speech there can be no doubt, Whatever he
orthumberland Fusiliers, who at fields in the Dardanelles and entered that it was as immature as its maker' takes in hand he does thoroughly.
Gumehy on Feb. 1, killed five Ger- the Sea of Mariners. There, or in the looked. He works twice as quickly as do most
mans holding the first barricade, and Straits he sank two Turkish gun But he mistook his man. .Sir Fred -
of his competitors, and more than
tude of the work required of the
transport system under war condi- list what they please,
tions and military control. July 31 Premier Asquith stated in
From the very outset the mobilize- the House of. Commons that during
Von and concentration had exacted' the first year of the war there had
the maximum of effort, and that eon- been over 2,000,000 men killed. He
currently with the departure for the based hie. statement on German as
front of 75 per cent. of the trained wall. as British casualties, and distil -
Men. All the train services had to buted them as follows:
be immediately intensified and in- Great Britain 116,000
400,000
733,000
47,000
64,000
300'
.DEATH'S TOLL..
Five Million Men Said to Have Been
Killed in the War.
Col. Heusslea', a Swiss military
statistician, calculates carefully that �
0,000,000 men have been killed since
the war began, AU these estimates
are largely guesses. Neither France'
nor Russia issues totals of en:malty
Hate, while Germany either combines'
heiie forces with those of the Austro-
Hungary, or gives the Prusefan losses
alone, leaving the other States to pub.
creased in order to cope with thepeanee '
imperious necessity of carrying with- Russia
in the shortest time the greatest num- Belgium
ber of troops to the frontier, This Serbia
sudden change had to be accomplish- ! Japan
ed without a second's hesitation, the Total allies ..... 1,360,300
safety of the country depending upon Germany 482,000
its smoothness and rapidity. Mean- Austria 841,000
while, reduced traffic for passengers Turkey 45,000
and freight had to be continued. I Total Teutons 868,000
then dashed on and slew three more, boats sand one transport. A little crick Smith is certainly guilty of double as hard. In nearly all that Until August 5 the mobilization
lasted. In three days (August 2-5) � Grand total 2,228
From the Middle rest
NOTES OF INTEREST FROM HER
BANKS AND BRAES.
•
What Is Going On in the Highlands
and Lowlands of Auld
Scotia.
Winnipeg has a Women's Volun-
teer Reserve Corps.
Calgary Council has reduced team
owners' pay from 60 to 55 cents.
Authorization for the formation of
a "Kittle" battalion in Lethbridge'
has been received by Mr, W. S. Ball,
The financial statement regarding
Calgary Fair shows a surplus of
$2,706; receipts were much less than
in 1914.
Licenses of eight Edmonton hotels -
have been suspended pending enquiry ,
by: the Attorney -General's Depart-
ment. -
Dr.. Hans Muller, a relative of Von
ICluck, is now interned in Lethbridge
camp. He was a chemist at Stony
Plain, Alta.
Elevators at Battenburg, Sask., are
reported to be filled to utmost cepa-,
taking another two Prisoners. He. 300 'city although many farmers have not
later Commander M. E. Nesmith re- what Pitt styled "the atrocious crime, he does -there is a sound and solidsold their grain.
actually captured the entire position' sated this heroic feat, destroying of being a young man"—he is only substraetion of sense—and even his more than 3,000 trains ran over on the Since then Col. Heussler's calculi
- without theaidof his comrades, and; p privately owned P.L.M. (Paris -Lyons -Leo Powell, a Russian, plunged in
one gunboat, two transports, one am- forty-three, and that is an early age nonsense is usually but the froth of P' tions are the first that have given' Bow River, Calgary, and rescued Sam
the whole world—outside of the Teu-munition ship and three store ships. at which to have reached the head- wisdom. Mediterranean). On August 5, the appearance of authority. But' on the
mobilization continuing the concen- b they is a monthly average Kitchen, a carpenter, who fell from
ton empires—rang with the praises of mobilization
Of the four airmen who have won ship of the entire English bur. But same 666 a Centre street bridge.
the gallant Irishman. O'Leary was the little bronze cross, two have not he is very far from being "immature," ed unn (the transporting of the form- of 185;000 killed; which, omitting Ja-
Sas-
then plain sergeant in the Irish ed units to specified points on theMuch snow is anticipated in Sas-
pan -would make 3,877,834 killed from
Guards, but following the bestowal of lived to wear it. Flight -Lieutenant Not merely as an advocate, but as a frontier) 'began. The .State-owned Aug. 1, 1914,.to Nov. 15, 1915. To-katehewan this winter, as the musk -
the
g Warneford gained his by performing lawyer, in the very widest sense ofrats are 'building their houses much
the cross, he was appointed to a sec -'the unparalleled feat of destroying that term he has few equals in his eastern system during a fortnight this may added the unofficial esti-
q Soldier ran an average of 400 military trains higher than they did last season.
pn feu e e an a a s crew, y mates of those killed on the Italian
THE INTRENCHING TOOL.
Values It Next to His Rifle,
sena law, , a da. while transporting 00 Austrians
barristers in Parliament, quite in, a Next to his rifle everysoldier at civilians who were fleeing the inva- and 30;000 Italians, making' a grand
1 himself. This is fortunate ' Sion: On the privately owned Ohas succeeded in
rleans total of,4,017 834 since the war be- falhaveraging 56 bushels to the acre.
the front values most of all his in- Ten' the concentration transport _ One 10 -acre plot yielded 72 bushels.
just now. For the United States' trenching tool, which consists of a P gin. Col. Heussler "
note to Great Britain rates many small wooden handle not quite two . amounted to 2,000 military trains, ag- this is too small.
re sting 67000 cars, which trans -
d lieutenancy in the old "Fighting single handed a Zeppelin 1' nd 't , own land And in matters of interna 6. 000 James Paterson a farmer of Fox -
Fifth." only to lose his life six days later tonal 1 W he is among practising For It Means Safety. Y, front Of these 10, 0 were tier, Man hada crop of wheat this
Gallant Lancashire Lad. while makinga "practice flight" near
class by
Another gallant feat was performed;•' Paris.
by a boy private in the Lancashire ! _ Saved Machine, Lost Life.
Fusiliers, "The Minden Boys." It Lieut. Rhodes-Moorehouse was mor -
was at Ypres, when the Germans were 3 tally wounded after successfully
d behind 11 f poisonous
f e John L nn of t at,
technical and complex points of in- recruiting the 25 menNto be stationed
feet long and a detachable iron cross- g g there in accordance with the plan laid
ternational law. And though the piece with a pick at one sad and a Ported 600,000 officers and soldiers, „BIRCH BREAD" FOR GERMANS
194;000 horses and 40,000 vehicles.
a vancing a wall o bombing the German communications British reply will be signed b Su
gas, that Pr vat y , h g y sharp, narrow Spada at the other.
a Minister it •tools
down by the militia department.
In certain central stations a train In spite of the brave efforts of his
his serious Edward Grey, as Forelgc M Men •
cling to their intrenching passed ever five minutes on an aver= Scientists Say Loaves Made From mother; the eighteen -months -old son
famous regiment, although almost j , P Y
bythef worked his injuries however, he retained control is undoubted that its cgmpilation will when they have had to discard nearly age for more than a oa mg
at Courtrai. In spite of
f t ht Wood Are Nourishing. of Mr. H. K. Langston of Plunkett,
overcome fumes, wor to i '
ire wase gun with great effect. When of the machine and flew a distance be mainly the work of the Law Of- every other article of equipment. A In addition to the transport provid- Germany's "war is in a fair Sask., perished when their house
he no longer able to see the ap- i of 35 miles back to the British lines, fi f the Crown, and particularly man without an intrenching tool feels ed for the French army, the northern way, it seems to bread" supplemented by was burned h the ground
e where he made a successful land ,
preaching enemy he stood on the par-
•apet and continued to pour a devastat- ! and handed in his report. Five days
Ing holocaust of bullets from this van- later he died in a hospital. In recent -
lege point. He saved the trench, ! mending the gallant officer for the
but at the expense of his life, for he I cross, the commander-in-chief plainly
intimated that if he had thought more
of Himself and less of his machine
and finishing his work, he might have
descended earlier and saved his life.
cern o rentto
ing of Sir Frederick Smith, as the Senior that he is of rather less value as a line had to take care of the British "birch bread," or some other weed John Coates, of Leask, Sask., broke
Expeditionary Corps, 260,000 strong, fibre product, which will lend a new four acres of land this fall. He
t 1 and stores nnt and the d literal significance nificance to the hack -sowed it to wheat in the spring and
plus its material
succumbed next day to the poison
fumes he had inhaled.
Four Canadian V.C: s.
A feat of gallantry similar to this Hard to Win.
was performed by Lieut. Campbell, a IThat the coveted honor has not
gallant Mount Forest man, who ' been awarded with a lavish hand in
though severely wounded, continued; this campaign of campaigns is evi
to operate his machine gun until he i denced by comparison with the Indian
succumbed to his injuries. Mutiny, in which 182 crosses were
In addition to Lieut. Campbell, bestowed. In the Crimean War 111
trace other Canadians have won the sailors and soldiers won the decora-
Victoria Cross at Ypres on April , tion.
23rd, Lance Corporal Fred Fisher From 1856 to the outbreak of the
brought a machine gun and made present world struggle, a period of 58
it possiblele for a threatened field bat -:years, less than 550 British fighting
tory to retire. In doing this he lost men have been singled out to wear
four of his men, but having obtained the honor, despite the fact that dur-
four more, he returned to the firinging that time our sailors and soldiers
line to cover the advance of a support- have been fighting in every quarter
ing force. In doing so, the gallant of the world. Little wonder that the
corporal was killed, but the little cross is highly esteemed.
bronze cross was forwarded with an Its award stands not only as the
expression of the King's sympathy to hallmark of soldierly valor, but
his parents in Montreal. stamps the recipient as a spirit kins-
Gave Life For Friend. man of the three hundred Spartan im-
Sergeant-Major Fred Hall also won mortals who fell at Thermopylae.
the cross on this occasion, when he
tried to rescue a wounded comrade
ander a terrific fire delivered at short VODKALESS RUSSIA.
range. The task cost him his life,
for he was riddled by the enemy's Wonderful Change in Villages Which
devastating volleys. The fourth re-
cipient was Captain Scrimger, medi-
cal officer attached to the 14th Mont-
real battalion, who dressed the bar, he is known as a voluminous and
wounded under a holocaust of shells. some further impression of his recent
He alone of the four Canadian heroes visit to Russia. His description of profound writer in • legal subjects,
lives to wear the coveted decoration.; the change in the life of the masses, particularly on international law, on
Nine Are Australians. j brought about by the prohibition of which he has written two standard
In addition to the Canadians, other the sale of vodka merits attention. works. Thus, if the British case is
overseas Dominions are represented' In the towns there has never been, not well put when the reply to the
on the V.C. honor roll. The Austra- he notes from personal observation, United States' note is compiled, it
!fans head the list with nine, while the so much prosperity as at present.' should net be the fault of the man
Indian army has won eight, and the Beggars have disappeared from the who will have the chief share in corn -
New Zealanders one. The remaining streets, and the masses are better fed Piling it. -
r„ Versatile as Churchill.
It was once said of another famous
gineers, 5; Royal Artillery, 9; Guards' apparent. The hundreds of millions lawyer-statesman—the great Brough-
Briaade, 7;- Infantry of the Line, 51; formerly spent in the spirit shops am—that if only he knew a little law,
eerriturials, 6; Royal Army Medical now remain in the pockets of the he would know a little of everything.
Corps, including clasp awarded to peasants. Millions of working days, Sir Frederick Smith knows a great
officer who won the cross in South formerly wasted in drinking bouts deal of law. But he knows a great
Africa, 2; Headquarters Staff, 1. and their after-effect, help to line the deal of many other things, too. In -
Infantryman's War. pockets,
The net result is that the Russian
The figures show the great part , villages, so to say, roll in money.
played by the infantry soldier in mod- Meat, formerly eaten once or twice
ern warfare, for of the 105 crosses a year, is becoming part of the daily But"'Fred" is far and away, a better -
bestowed on members of the land . fare, and dwellings and farming uten- read man that "Winnie"—at once
forces, 85 have been gained by men, sits and decent clothes are being pure more deeply and more widely read.
of "foot -slogging" carps. To the Lan- chased out of savings by the agrieul- Like Mr, Churchill, he is an officer in
the King's Own Oxfordshire Hussars.
And he was, for several months, at
the front, whither the other is un-
derstood to be going.
Sir Frederick Smith is the one
brilliant young man produced by the
Unionist party in recent years. He
is a long way the best platform
speaker in his party, and one of the
three best in the country. In his
maiden speech in Parliament he
caught the ear of the House of Com-
mons, and there are few speakers
more gratefully heard in the House,
The Unionists like him for his first-
class fighting qualities, the Liberals
because ho bears no malice. Always in
the thick of the Tight—in the deem
before coalition caused the Liberal
lion to lie down with . the Unionist
lamb—and invariably characterized by
a splendid audacity, he has known'
how to take, as well .as to •give, hard
biows.
Law Officer.
Sir F. E. Smith.
The son of a lawyer, Sir Frederick
Smith took to law with the ease with
which a duck takes to swimming.
Twenty-one years ago he took a first-
class in the final honor school of
jurisprudence at Oxford, and gained
the Vinerian law scholarship the fol-
lowing year. Four years later he
Are Now Prosperous. was ono of the examiners in the law
Herr Anton Karlgren, sub -editor of final schools at Oxford University.
"Dagens Nyheter" (Sweden) gives Apart from his brilliant career at the
soldier than if he had no uniform.
Without this little pick and spade he,
must lie out in the open after an ad-
vance
dvance instead of scraping for himself
a little mound for cover.
When there is any movement in the
lines most of the intrenching work is
done with these little tools. It is only
when a position has been solidly won
and is to be occupied more or less per-
manently that large picks are brought
up and put into use.
The infantryman needs no urging to
dig. It becomes the merest instinct
to realize that his life depends on pro-
viding himself with proper cover. And
this instinct is strong enough to con-
quer even the overpowering desire for
sleep which comes at the close of a
long day's hard fighting, and which
at nightfall often makes even the
consumption of food seem superfluous.
Frequently the tired infantryman, af-
ter 10 or 12 hours of fighting, must
struggle from dusk to midnight with
his intrenching tools; not till his co-
ver is snug and sound does the sol-
dier dare to curl himself up in his pit
and take the coveted 40 winks in pre-
paration for his counter-attack, which
is almost certain to come before dusk.
A soldier's letter tells about a Bri-
tish regiment that boasted they did
not dig. "It was a very gallant regi-
ment," he writes, "with a large share
in the battle honors of Britain's past
wars. They had charged at Bala-
clava; they had fought in every cor-
ner of the globe. But they had not
been taught to dig; it was beneath
them. They were nominally a cavalry
regiment, with a cavalry regiment's
foolish ideas of caste.
"And here is what happened to
them not far from Mons. The regi-
ment had been rushed into a gap to
cover the flank of an infantry bri-
gade. Because they were dismounted,
an infantry officer offered them some
friendly advice, urging them to pro-
vide themselves with some kind of
cover. But they laughed, took their
position and lay down in the open.
'We don't dig,' they boasted proudly.
Poor gallant fellows! Ten minutes
later a battery found them and spray-
ed them off the face of the earth as
the little bugs are cleaned off a rose
bush by the gardener's spray."
97 have been distributed as follows: I and better clad than ever before.
Royal Navy, 101 Flying Corps, 4; It is, however, in the village that
Cavalry, 2; Yeomanry, 1; Royal En- the blessings of teetotalism are most
deed, the only man in British public
life who can approach him for versa-
tility is Mr. Winston Churchill, who,
as it happens, is his closest friend.
cashire Fusiliers falls the honor of , tural population.
having secured the greatest number The one danger with the increase
of crosses awarded to a single unit, of economic strength is the possibil-
that gallant corps having four during ity of a decrease of moral strength.
the present war. The Manchesters Vodka filled a void in the empty and
have also won four, but this number lustreless life of the peasant.
includes one cross which was bestow -He wonders now how he shall
ed' on a Member of one of its Terri-
torial battalions.
The "Sweeps" Head List.
As the Rifle Brigade had previously
received fifteen crosses, this famous
spend his free time and his superflu-
ous money. Stories are told of cases
of suicide due to the dullness of life
now that the "dear little water" has
been put out of reach.
The teetotallers are alive to this
corps now heads the list of line regi- danger, and already, in certain die-
rents with .eighteen, and is followed triets of Russia, "people's houses"
by the Ring's Royal Riffles and the are being provided, equipped with
South Wales Borderers, each with libraries,tca, lecture, aired reading -
sixteen. The Gordon Highlanders rooms and cinematographs.
rank fourth: with fifteen, three of Alt this is to the good, writes Karl-
which were won during the Durgai'; gran, het a big effort is essential in
campaign,. eighteen years ago. It order to raise the fnteileetuai and
should be pointed out in fairness, how- moral level of the nation if Russia s
over, that both the Rifle Brfgnd.e and teetotal year is to be more than a
Rifle Corps had four regular betel- little episode in her history.
Orleans system ran 400 trains at six- nem], staff of wee, Scientists it Yielded at threshing time, 120
minute intervals, bringing up the In-' have been renewing the experiments bushels, at the rate of 30 bushels
dian troops. I initiated nearly a hundred years ago.
The battles of the Marne and of the by a Tilbingen professor, and an-
Yser increased the strain. To prevent nounce that they are able to turn
the Germans reaching Calais 6,000 ordinary wood into a nourishing sub -
trains moved 70 divisions of infantry; ,stitute for flour.
to defeat the enemy it being necessary I Birch seems to be the wood prefer -
to exceed in rapidity and capacity his red for this purpose, and the process
railway transport and counter -con-
centrate in time.
Meanwhile sanitary trains had to
be provided for the wounded, and both
the armies and the civilian popula- inch thick, which are in turn reduced
tion had to be fed. For the Paris in- to splinters and soaked in hot water.
trenched camp alone the Orleans line Then they are dried in the sun, and
brought up in a month 117,000 Mond of afterward in a heater similar to those
foodstuffs, 66,000 tons of fodder, 107, -used in drying fruit. This clone, the
000 oxen, 211,000 sheep and pigs. fragments are ground' to a very fine'
powder. This wood flour is then
MANY MEN, MANY MINDS. treated with water, to which has been
_ added some form of gluten; for ex -
Various Interesting Views as to ample, linseed oil. It is kneaded and
baked in rolls or loaves sbout,as big
"Solid Comfort." as a man's fist, the balling giving at
Ideas of "solid comfort" vary. A a yellowish brown color.
pipe and a jug and a fish .pole is a The birch bread is said to have the
suggestive combination in the mind of same taste and . smell as • ordinary
many a man; a book of verses under- bread and to be perfectly digestible;
neath a bough, etc., was the poet's but it is gravely remarked—perhaps
dream (though to be sure, there was a in unconscious plagiarism from the
jug in that vision. too). But let your
mind grasp this paragraph from the
Manchester (England) Guardian;
"The wants of the men in the
trenches are curious and varied, but
this request from a university youth
nt is •a user combination of
THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY.
per acre.
Blackleg, one of the most dreaded
scourges among cattle, has broken
out at Langham, Sask., and the De-
partment of Agriculture is taking
strenuous measures to prevent its
further spread.
to which it is subjected is described The Medicine Hat German who
as follows: publicly declared that the Kaiser
The logs are first stripped of bark ,would est his Christmas dinner in
and cut into small pieces about an Buckingham Palace will have two
years in Edmonton penitentiary to
Wonder why he made such a fool of
himself.
Joe Querin, Winnipeg, who was ac-
cepted as a recruit in the 901h Regi-
ment, was interned after the evidence
of other members of his corps had
been heard. He had boasted of his
German parentage and cheered when
the Germans made a gain.
According to Partial returns, hail
losses of Saskatchewan during the
past season will exceed $1,000,000, the
heaviest losses being reported -front
Belle Plaine,, Pease, Young, Nokomis,
Simpson, Rodville and Warman.
'A merely fallen enemy may rise
again, but the reconciled one is truly
vanquished.—Schiller.
Hope awakens courage. He who
can implant courage in the human
soul is its best physician.—Von Kue-
bei.
And the Kingdom of Heaven is of wind.
the child -like, of those who are easy The cricket is described as a paw -
to please, who love and who give plea- erful singer, its shrill note some-
sure.—R. L. Stevenson. times being heard a mile away. The
When one is tempted to write a cle- males alone are musical, and the fe-
ver but harsh thing, though it may be males listen to their melodious wooing
difficult to restrain it, it is always bet- with ears which are on -their forelegs.
ter to leave it in the inkstand,— Being so musical, it would hardly be
Smiles. expected that they would be such
The longer I live the•reore highly do fighters among themselves as they
I estimate the Christian Sabbath, and
the mere grateful do I feel toward
those who impress its importance on
the community.—Daniel Webster.
Life is not made out of money, and
friendship, and talents, and patron-
age, and family influences, and good
chances, and good positions, and good
health and good nature; it is made
out of faith, virtue, knowledge, tem-
perance, patience, godliness, mid bo-
therly kindness and love.—Inninger.
at the fro q
the intellectual and the .practical:
'Could you post me each week the
Spectator and a small tin of insect
powder ?' "
It takes so few creature comforts
to make a man contented! One pic-
tures this educated young soldier
waiting eagerly for each week's mail,.
seizing his precious packages with
trembling, anticipatory glee, and,
with his powder tin in one hand and
his magazine in the other, running to
his cozy little nook for an hour of
mental and physical bliss!
SOME INSECT WONDERS. i
Cricket Sings a Mile, Grasshopper
Sails One Thousand.
famous recipe for "stone soup"—that RUSSIA MAKES MEN SERVE.
it is considerably improved by mixing :Millions to be Mobilized for Industrial
with the wood flour about half its Service.
The Petrograd correspondent of the
London Morning Post says:—
"Russia before long will have a
New Arm With Safety Device for vast number of men available for ser-
Trench Work. ',vice—they will not, I understand, act-
ually bear arms, Russia has wider
A rifle that shoots over the parapetviews than merely the provision of
while the user sits in comparative soldiers, and the•calling up of millions
safety in the trench without necessity is in no wise necessitated by the con-
e
for exposing himself to the fire of the ditions of the fighting.
enemy is a late invention brought out I "Of the millions who will now be
by a well-known sportsman and big -!summoned, while all will be under
game hunter of England. The feature strict military Iaw, the majority are
of this invention is that the rifle is intended for perfecting service on
held vertically while the projectile is which the success of the fighting
fired hovizontally This is accoiii- forces at the front depends. Within
pliahed by a curved deflecting tube, a brief period of time all Russia will
fixed to the muzzle of the gun, that be turned into a military camp. Fac -
changes the course of the projectile tories, iron works and engineering
from the vertical to the horizontal as' shops have already been appropriated
it leaves the gun. 'for the ,manufacture of everything
In spite of the enormous friction needed for the success of the armies
that must accompany this change of in the fleld, and also, in all probe -
direction the tube, as shown by actual bility, the railways will be served by
tests, is not subject to excessive wear,' men under military discipline,
while the effective range of a rifle1 "In other words, Russia is about to
equipped with this device is between do what Germany wisely did at the
100 and 150 yards. The rifle is aimed outset of the ' war. All able-bodied
by means of a periscope consisthig of men 'of the nation must serve, some
two mirrors; one fixed to the upper with the rifle and bayonet, gun or •.
end and the other to the lower end of maxim, pick and spade, but with the
a tube that is mounted on the rifle equally necessary tools of peace."
Just the Job For Him.
He was the slowest boy on earth
and had been sacked at three places
weight of the real article.
RIFLE HAS CURVED BARREL.
Daviel Fairchild, who has hunted
the world over for plants of economic
value and introduced them into . this
country, has communicated some in-
teresting facts about insects. He
says the champion aeronaut is the
king grasshopper, which has the ajril
ity to jump 100 times its length and
can sail for 1,000 miles before the,
are, or cannibals, eating each other
When there is not enough food at hand.
The. ants are described„ as cern-
monists, because the individual inter-
est is merged in the community.
Theirs is a female rights colony.
The workers arc -females, the soldiers
are females, the nurses are females,
arid them fs ane queen mother foe
them all, who lays all the eggs for the
colony; The melee are but mates for
the young queen.
barrel.
Compelled to be Useful.
'Does your wife allow you to
smoke around the house?"' in two weeks, so his parents had ap-
! "She requires me to do so," replied prentieed him to a naturalist,
But even he found him slow. It
Mr..Meekton. "I' don't like tobacco
myself; but Henriettarequires me to took him two hours to .give the
blow smoke on the house plants twice canaries their seed, three to stick a
a day to keep the insects off."
Sailed on the Websterian.
The bank cashier disguised, was
boarding the steamer with his loot
when he noticed a man standing by
the rail .who looked like a detective.
"Do yon think that when he saes
me on the seas ho will seize me?"
he asked of his aecompl,ice,not h h his' locks,
"I approlaend you need spire "Well, Robert," he replied at
hend that he will, apprehend you, length, "I thiels you might tat a the
responded the other comfortingly. i tortoise out for a run."
pin'. through a dead butterfly and
four to pick a convolvulus. The only
point about him was that he was
willing.
"And what;" he asked, having
spoilt a whole afternoon changing the
gold fishes' water,. "shall I do now,
air`!
The naturalist ran his fingers
t roug ns oc s,