HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1916-3-30, Page 6-CER ANS AS HUNGRY
AS THEIR PRISONERS
LANCE -CORPORAL 'WM. EGAN'S
EXPERIENCE. •
"They told is that they had boon
promised tinct they 'would not he sant man!) DUKE
against the lerit;sh or the Fxonclx v:
Mont b NICHOLAS PIIS PL C Y
ut oyatnst, the Russians.
I Am Sorry For That,
for I would dearly, love to put my
bayonet through one of the renegade
Removed Prom
blackguards who disgraced such a
flue regiment Ile mine, • Has Carried the Stage With
"'The sentries occaaionelly referred Hi
Silt IVILL1A11 11, ROBERTSON. RIUTISH HOSPITAL, SHIPS. HISTORIC PUNS.
i
A "Tommy" 41'1:0 'las riccome Vh'tual, 'Kaki' Their Owe Antiseptics By Wer 'Time -Jokes lion Through Con-
J] of British Army. Newly -Invented Device. 1 furies of English I3lstory.
One o@ the meet rentarkaltle person- The Mot that, in this war, hospital The 'English are declared to take
alt•„es that the war has. il15slosed.in ships have. played a great part in the their' pleasures seriously. Perhaps— the ,Britieh army is. that of Sir Wil- trans port of the sick and wounded
theatre of Stage, He
1 1 , they dq,.but, on the. other hand, they.
liar R. Robertson, who is now chief has 'ondowecl the question of the dis- often show an admirably gallant gay -
infection of these ships with special ety in 'the face of danger, difficulty
to the German Irishmen. They said,
r tan Even 'If they are traitors to England it is One,
An Irish Soldier Says Germans
Begged Prisoners for Germany,', and I don't think they are
Bread. •tar wrong
"The pleasantest memory of the
"Being a military prisoner of win' war I have is of La Bassee, where we
in Germany is purgatory,” aeoording made the Germans run like hares, I
to haute -Corporal William Egan . of • said to my mate --poor• fellow, he was
the Ileyal Irish Rifles, who is'a sur- -killed afterward -'We don't come
vivor of the Mons retreat and was from Dublin to be laughed at, do we?'
captured by the Germans at La Bas- 'Indeed we don't,' he replied. "Then
see in October, 1914. The following give them fifteen rounds rapid,' I said,
is Corporal Egan's own story of his and so we did, Bat afterward they
experiences. It contains, as will lee gave us a gruelling. I thought all
noticed, interesting details regarding the cannon, in the German Empire was
-Sir Roger Casement's attempt to in -firing upon us.
duce Irish prisoners of'war to enlist "I mast say this, that all the time
M the German ranks we were in Germany we never lost
"When we 'first arrived- in Ger- hope. We knew that Britain would
many," says Corporal Egan, "we were come out on top and ib was rare good
simply half starved and I remember news to be told that conscription had
my comrades and myself picking out come in."
potato peelings from the swilltub,' __.r _—_•.
where they had been thrown by our FARM 'WORK POR VETERANS.
akin
sentries, washing them and making
a meal of them. We would have $1Q,000,000 to Be Raised to Aid Sol -
eaten anything. ; diers and Sailors.
"When the parcels began to ar Extensiveplans
rive from the Old Country our guards are in preparation
were themselves being put on shgrt, for. the settlement' or the em-iloyment
rations and they begged us to give on the land in England and Wales of
them some of our bread, but we re_sailors and soldiers discharged from
membered the swilltub, and we refus the British army, and if the report
d. We said a•e wanted it all for our- presented by Sir Harry Verney, M.P.;
m u
r Built 0 New
just 00 likely they will be traitors to
e
selves. Sometimes they would take is adopted a preliminary credit of
up our food and look at it eagerly, $10,000,000 will be granted az onto
but they did not dare to touch it. What to those who will be in charge of the.
they did out of spite was to, give us scheme.
our parcels last. Everybody else in Sir Harry Verney is chairman ofa
the camp was served first, the committee appointed by the Pre -
"We often discussed the war with ardent of the Board of Agriculture
the guards. At first they thought it and Fisheries to present a report of
would be a walkover. 'England is the subject and in his recommends
kaput' (finished) they bold us. There tions he suggests the immediate es -
is 'nicht geld' (no gold). and 'nicht tablishment of three colonies and the
essen' (nothing to eat) in England. acquisition of land for other similar
Afterward they changed their opine establishments. The committe sag-
1o0s'and said England has 'viel geld' ,'eats that these colonies should be
(much gold) and 'viel essen' (much managed on co-operated lines, and
to eat). the small holdings should be rather
Worried Over Conscription.
on the basis of tenancy than owner-
ship.
"They thought we had a very small' The principal recommendations in -
army at freb but toward the end they elude:
'knew that we had grown into a very That the State should find the
big army. The last few weeks I was money for training disabled men.
there they were greatly worried over That a vigorous campaign should
conscription, and I noticed the Ger- be undertaken in favor of land settle -
man papers were full of references to merit at home, the committee believe
it. ing that the scheme has. far better
"At the time Warsaw was capbur- Promises of real success than any
ed the Germans were certain that thing hitherto tried in this country.
they were going to win, and you That the Board of Agriculture
should have heard the singing and the should have power to acquire land
rejoicing and the yelling of 'Deutsch- for the settlement of ex service men
Tho Grand Duke Nicholas Nieho-
laievitch 'is the man that deserves
credit for the capture„ of Erzerum
and the advance of the Russians in
Asiatic Turkey—the greatest success
that has come to the arms of 'the
allies since the capture of Przernysl
and the Carpathitun drive almost a
year ago, which was also engineered
by the Grand Duke.
When the Grand Duke Nicholas
was removed from the supreme com-
mand of Russia's land force and sent
to the Caucasus last September, the
average casual observer said, ''Well,
that is the end of the Grand Duke."
A good many men in the Grand
Dukes position would have gone into
a fit of sulks for the rest of the war.
But Nicholas Nieholaievitch is too
big a man to do that. His brain and
his heart are as proportionately big
as his huge body. Apparently re-
moved from the centre of the stage,
we find that. he has carried the stage
with. him, or has built a new one, if
you like, where the eyes of the world
are now centred.
More than any other member of
the royal family, Nicholas Nicholale-
vitch has devoted himself to the pro-
fession of soldiering..
Grand Duke Nicholas.
As a youth of 21 in the war of 1877 -
land uobor Allis!' 'Wo shall have in State colonies, and that land own- 78 with Turkey he went with his fa -
peace by Christmas,' one of the sen- era should be invited to offer to the ther, who bore the same name, to bhe
tries bold me. board any largo farms which come m Danube and the Balkans, where the
When Christmas tante and there hand before they are relet, elder Nicholas was commander -in-
was no peace our sentries lost their take
no man should be allowed to chief of the Russian forces in Euro -
cocksureness and told us that before ake up holdings of their own unless peen Turkey. He was then ajunior
forming any definite opinion of the they have the necessary experience. officer in a hussar regiment and was
prospects of the war they would like Men without such experience should on the staff of Gen. Radetzky. He
to compare the English and the Ger- be offered employment at wages in took part fir the campaigns of Plev-
man papers. They could see that the first instance. na, Lovcha, and the Shipka Pass, re -
things were not going as well as were' The War Office should hand over carved the Cross of Sb. George for
pictured both from the absence of to the board, free of cost, any of the valor, and established the foundation
coin in the country, the scarcity of military hutments which are not re- of his present high reputation as a
food, the continual stream of wound- quired for military purposes after the horseman and expert on cavalry mat-
ed returning from the front and the war. tors.
never ceasing demand for fresh drafts i Expert guidance should be provide After that war the Grand Duke
for the firing line. ;ed for the settlers in each colony by rose by degrees to be commander of
At, first we saw fine, physically de-• the appointment of a resident dim- a hussar regiment, commander of a
veloped men about the camp, but be- tor and an agricultural or horticul- division of cavalry, and finally in -
fore I came away they had all gone tural instructor. specbor-general of cavalry. In spite
to the front, and in their place had ; A depot should be established in of his immense height and his fond -
come anaemic looking, elerklike fel- each colony for the collection and dis- ness for stirrups rather shorter than
lows with spectacles, so thin that you posal of produce, and a store for the most men of his size would select, he
could blow them over with your sale-of'the requirements. sits a horse as securely and as
gracefully as all but the Very pick of
European cavalrymen.
Like Gen. Sukhomlinoff, who was
h saidour fie wasso Sure Cure for Rat -Plague, and They're -Ministerthsof War during the first
because they r months of the present conflict, the
deadly. They had a perfect horror of Scarce at the Front. Grand Duke did not smell powder in
the Ypres front and declared they A British army officer searched the war with Japan, but was held in
would rather be sent anywhere thanreserve to guard Russia's western
all London recently fora mongoose
breath and hardly as tall as their hay-
onets.
"The sentries used to ash: me whe-
ther all our chaps had Maxim guns,
3
MONGOOSES KILL RATS.
there.border-from possible attacks in that
"We heard that three German sol He had received an urgent letter from direction. He was made commander
some friends in the trenches asking
diers who had been told off for the for one of these valuable little beasts of the St. Petersburg district in 1906,
western front committed suicide. —a sure cure for rat plague. He was a position which he was holding
They had no heart for facing us told that one could only be secured when he was appointed commander-
-
a private individual happened to of Russia's armies at the be-
German Trish Brigade. have one to dispose of, and the price, ginning of this war.,
"You have heard of the abtempt would be about £5 10s, I Nicholas Nieholaievitch was born
that was made to form a German Irish Mie Cecil Isaacs, of the Royal) November 6, 1856, but he is appar-
brigade by SirRoger Casement. Oust Menageries,' Shaftesbury avenue, Lon-
ontly as vigorous and erect as when
of 2,000 Irishmen they got fifty-one don, told a representative of the Daily he was a dashing young giant of a
to consent to join, and afterward, Chronicle that the mongoose is the hussar.
dressed in a gray uniform with gold- only animal that can be depended up-
The Grand Duke himself is a fine
en harps worked on it, they came on to rid a trench of rates. athlete, a keen horseman and he
strutting in to see us, their hands on "A ferret," • he said, "will kill for himself taught the present Czar, his
their bayonets just like officers. the sake of eating. But a mongoose first cousin once removed, how to
"One or two tried their capers on kills for the sake of killing. I guar- straddle a horse. The Grand Duke
me, but they got their answer sharp. antee that any trench with a mon- Was married in 1907 to the Princess
1 said: 'I wouldn't be after being a goose will not suffer from rats. The Anastasia, daughter of the present
traitor for all the money in the world.' difficulty is to get a mongoose. I King of Montenegro, and a sister of
have sent out half a dozen recently the Queen of Italy. I1 was believed
to France, but live stock is not be- to be a love match, and the Grand
ing shipped to England now, and the Duke is said to be devoted to.his wife,
home of the mongoose is Ceylon. I01 1ussia the Grand Duke is not
"The only chance is to seek out held so high as a strategist, as he is
at the land we have taken: I said: private' owners and ask them to sell, in America. His critics say, for one
'What do you mean by we?' There Many enquiries . have reached mo thing, that he should never have gone
they were arrying on as if they were from officer's at the front. Even the to the crest of the Carpathians, as he
real Germans. At times I lost, my ferret isscarce. did about a year ago, knowing that
temper and felt like sbrilcing them,
but: after trying me three Limes they
gave me up as a bad job.
"I Must say that, the fifty-one .fel-
lows they got for the brigade were
about) the biggest rascals that I have
ever seen in any. army, They were
itot soldiers for the love of soldiering
They answered: 'You are nob a real
Irishman, You are an English swine,
one that came from Dublin.' I said:
'What did you do it for?' They an-
swered: 'We are sure to win. Look
The mongoose is a rare animal in
England. But in one hotel in Ire-
land,
reland, plagued with rats for many
months, two mongooses were import-
ed with the very happiest results.
"This may be justice," said the de-
or because of any patriotism, hut be- Mated defendant, "but is strikes me
cause they could not find anything as being a pretty fishy verdict"
else to de, and I dare wager. that if "That shows that it is justice," tee
they give as Much trouble to the Ger- torted the plaintiff. "One of the most
mans as they gave to their own regi- conspicuous features of justico is
menta they will riot be long there, her scales."
he had little ammunition.. On the
other hand, his defenders say that the
Grand Duke did not know of this
shortage, and they aver that but for
corruption and inefficiency in Petro -
geed, which held up long-overdueor-
ders for shells, the long retreat of
last spring and euminer would never
have occurred.
- ,t,
Fortune awaits the inventor of a
lifeboat that will float on a sea of
trouble,
e,
of the imperial general stalk, uud,
as reports from London tell us, the
most influential man in the military
organization. of Great Britain, Lord from the Near East to England would front has recently revealed, mammy Czar Has An Exclusive Paper..—
ItOW ROYALTY
GETS NEWS
S THE NEWS
IMPORTANT READING CUPPED
FOR RULERS.
mtportanee. A ship bringing cases and discouraging circumstances. Ase
of para -typhoid fever or dysentery abundant correspondence from the
Kttehener by no means excepted, Sir
William has long been a valued of-
ficer to whose merits hie superiors
were quite alive, but it is only within
the last year that other lands have
heard his name, His career le espe-
cially interesting, for it shows the
opportuirities that lie open to capacity
and faithfulness even in an organiza-
tion as fundamentally aristocratic as
the British army,
Par Sir William has literally risen
from the ranks with nothing except
his own merit to recommend. him.
' Without any advantage of technical
education he has made himself per-
haps the greatest authority in Eng-
land in the hi her and more difficult
become, were measures of clislnfec. Atkins in the field is far froth being
tion neglected, a public danger, The a serious-minded person much of thea "Literary, Rooms" for. King
difficulty has been to devise adequate time; ho is often OS "Barky" 08 0! George,
measures which shall be, at the snare schoolboy, and his exuberant non-'
tiino, easily applied and relatively sense is frequently touched with The average man is generally antis -
cheap. gleams of real wit as well as humor. feel with the news that is dished up,
This clitficalty has been solved in But it is nob British Tommies only for ]tun in the halfpenny paper he
large measure by means of an aline- who joke in war time. Through- purchases an his way to business;
roue recently installed tin rho Aryni-. out centuries of English history, but a king must know -everything that
tania under the supervision of Dr.jokes, from sources military, literary, is going on in the world, says ti writer
Dakin and at the instance of the noble and even royal, have occasion- in a. London paper.
Medical Research Committee of the ally enlivened momentous events. It is, of course, imppssible for a
National Insurance Act. Puns, the most frivolous and trivial,monarch to read through every news -
The apparatus consists of an ole- sometimes the most disdained, of paper that is published, and, as a con-
trolytic cell, a reversing switch cap- jocular- efforts, attach themselves sequence, he finds it advantageous to
able of carrying 100 amperes, and here and there, like impudent burs, to maintain a department which is not
some ordinary insulated electric cable•rho most serious and careful ehroni-
a butler or a footman; on that point unlike the newsroom of 0daily paper.
g The cost is about $250. The cell„ Iles. The sober historian who writes For a good many years now rho
problems of army organization and stands upon a rubber mat to insulate fully of the disastrous Battle of Cul- German Emperor has maintained a
field abratcgv,
Ile began life, we are told, as either b! its t Prussian Ministry tk Interior.
stories differ. VTichever it was; Sir
William did not long remain content
in that station of life. Ho came up
from Lincol.-shire in his twentieth
year and enlisted as a private in a
I cavalry regiment. For eight years he
remained a trooper, although ho took
every opportunity to improve his mind
I and to study the lore of the profes-
sion he had adopted. He spent al-
most all his money -a British cavalry -
ib, and is raised upon a low table to loden, which decided the finalefall of "liberary department" attached to the
enable r contents o be pouredoutthe royal house of Stuart, when he to- inis ry for e
easily hates that the advance of Genetuls
. It is filled with cold sea wa- This department is under the' manage -
ter, and if a current of 60-75 amperes Cope, Wade and Hawley was delayed rent of a Teuton gentleman well
at 110 volts be then turned on a solu-by the snow -filled glens and icy slopes versed in journalism, and, since the
tion containing bwo parts of sodium of wild Scotland, condescends to re- tear broke out, ho and his assistants
hypochlorite or available chlorine to cord in a footnote that the opposing have been kept exceedingly busy
1,000 parts will be obtained in five forces drew ,mirthful encouragement reading through the .foreign news-
minutes. The cost of this solution from this punning' couplet; Papers which reach Berlin, and cutting
works out at 3d. per 100 gallons. out the remarks made by English,
The solution is also excellent as a Cope could not cope, nor Wade wade I American and other countries' news -
sterilizer of drinking water (one part ; through the snow, I papers upon Germany's- action and
chlorine to one million parts), and - Nor Hawley haw' his cannon to the movements•
as an antiseptic for wounds (used 1 foe. Plenty to Collect.
man gets fourteen pence a day—in undiluted as produced by the electro- , When, aft 1707, the fleet of Admiral (• It has been said that the War Lord
books, and thereis a story that when lyzer, Le., two paits hypochlorite of 'Duncan was about to engage that of has ordered his literary assistants to
lie was busy grooming his horse or soda to 1,000 parts). Further, in the the Dutch Admiral de Winter, the supply him with every article dealing
cleaning his equipment he would get butcher's department its value was British captains came aboard the with the great struggle written out-
a cent edo to read to him from some soon evident, and also in the laundry flagship for instructions. They re- side hisdomains, as well as the car -
classic English author or from a text- for soaking undyed cotton and linen ceived them in an address of mentor--; toons in 'which he and his son, the
book on war. 1 goods. It was added to the water in able brevity and point. Crown Prince, are depicted.
Almost all British officers are men the swimming bath of the ship in the "Gentlemen," said Admiral Duncan, For years back his Majesty of Pots-
df family Who have been educated ab proportion of one part 111 two million "you see a severe Winter approach- dam has made a collection of car -
the military college at Sandhurst, but Parts, with the result that bacteria ing; I have only to advise you to teens which "poke fun" at himself
a private who has the knowledge. and which had -formerly been present in]coop up a good fixe." land his country. In this respect he
the character can occasionally get, a tate water to the number of 2,000 per Their enthusiastic compliance with follows the example of his grand -
commission by passing a stiff examine 0.0. were reduced to 200 ac., a 90 his advice resulted in a brilliant vice father, William L, who collected the
tory. most ridiculous caricatures of himself
Perhaps the briefest and wittiest of printed in the French illustrated
historic English puns was the Latin : press from 1866 onward.
announcement in a single word of the 1 It was reported a little while ago
conquest of Scinde, attributed to the that a newspaper is printed in Ruse
conqueror, Sir Charles . Napier:
"Peccavi " (I have sinned.)
ation. Young Robertson got such a per cent. reduction.
commission in the Third Dragoon ; These excellent results have delight.
Guards at the age of twenty-eight, ed all who have observed them. In
and he soon showed so much fitness the case of the Aquitania the economy
for the highest sort of staff work that in largely replacing expensive coal -
he was attached to the intelligence de- tar disinfectants, such as carbolic
pertinent of the Indian establishment. acid, cresol, etc., by electrolytic hpyo-
He spent the spare moments of his chlorite will approximately pay for
busy days learning every Indian iia- the cost of the cell in the course of a
letthe could master, and made him- i single trip of three weeks.
self thereby one of .the most useful F
officers in the service.
He came out of the Chitral cam- LAND FOR THE DISABLED.
paign with a severe wound, the Dis- ,
tinguished Service Order and the rank Australian Wounded to be Taken
of staff captain. After a tour of duty Care of by the State.
ab home he went out in the Boer War,
where. he won fresh distinction, both' al and
statetaes of Australianmtfide
in the field and in staff duty. Mean- oral and governments have
while he had learned French and Ger- adopted a scheme for the settling of
returned soldiers on the land.
man and studied carefully the army
systems of the Continental nations; The bases of the scheme are, first,
and in 1910 this self-taught, self- the provision of land by the States,
trained officer, who had no ground- which is to be available' for. the de -
work of re¢ular academic ed pendants of deceased soldiers and for
ucatton, returned soldiers; second, the pro -
was put at the head of the Army Staff vision of the federal government of
College, an institubion that gathers funds and loans to the States for the
the ablest ;officers in the army for purpose of making advances through
instruction in the higher branches of agricultural banks or other govern
war. He distinguished himself therements, stock and implements; third,
again, and was in charge of outfit- the advance by State institutions to
ting and supplying the expeditionary soldiers and settlers of money at cost
force that went over to France in '
1914. Sir John French made him his -plus reasonable working charges;
chief of, staff, and he was in time pro- touthe in ep'ti tr of subucripti with
meted from that post to the head of toh a specialcrepatriation fund trth
sub -
the general staff in London. the object of providing for the !sidiary requirements of returned sol -
A remarkable man, only fifty-five (Hers, the fund to be vested in
years of age now, and good for many trustees, who are to make loans with-
years to come, if one may judge by out interest; and fifth, the immediate
the air of vigor and of:plrysical flt- Iestablishmentof State training farms,
ness thab distinguishes him. It is ten which inexperienced men are to
that power of endurance which has serve a probationary period in order
enabled him to give sixteen hours' etc) determine whether they possess
work to, the day, as he has done more aptitude for the work, in addition to
than once for long periods in his life. which arrangements are to be made
Like most successful generals, he for training men on approved private
talks little and listens patiently, and farm,
is nob at all impressed with the sac-: It is estimated that—assuming the
redness of red tape. Ho is modest war' ends this year 'and that the n-
and retiring, and is indifferent to op- cessary money is raised in the Com-
portunities of self -advertisement. He monwealth within three years—by
is, they say, proud of ono thing only— the end of June, 1919, it will be pos-
and that is that he was once a bloom- sible to settle upward of 42,000 suit-
ing Tommy," and that within thirty able persons on the soil.
years he made himself the virtual
*----- .
head of the British army. And of
that he has an unquestionable right
to be proud. •
CANNON IS KNIFE SIZE.
New Weapon is Invented for Pocket
Use.
The smallest breech loading can-
non in the world is now being made
for pocket use. It is not a toy, but
takes a 22 -calibre rim fire cartridge
and fires a bullet that would inflict
a nasty wound at close range, The most remarkable tide in the world. It has even been caught as far Men who are looking for the refine -
It is in the form of a pocket knife world is that of the Bay of Fundy. It north as St. John in New Brunswick:' ment of precaution recommend that
no larger than the usual knife, and rises at, bhe rate of a foot every five The whale shark is a slow creature 'gunners :wear shoes with rubber -
has two blades of fine steel' 13ut at minutes, the water sometimes attain- and does not frequent great depths. cushioned soles and heels to lessen
one end is a hole, Anyone asked ing the height of seventy-five feet. Its food consists of the minute crusta- I the jar on the deck.
to examine the article and say what It is believed that forests some-ceans and mollusks that live near thiel Tho air vibration, duo either to fir-
it is will most likely guess that it is times bake fire through the branches surface of the ocean. In spite of its Ing in one's own or someother tor -
some new fan led nencil sharpeher of trees being rubbed together bythe
huge size, the whale shark is iucap-I ret, hiss caused many cases of gun
oe cigar cutter. violence of the wind, thus producing able of swallowing a mal, It differs deafness. To stuff the ears with cob -
In the end of fire knife is a steel the friction necessary to ignite them. from the true shark, which has enorm- tofiwool is of course the commo est
block that turns out on a swivel, be- In Japan devilfish weighing up to ous triangular teeth that cut like expedient followed e to f.
e bymnanh o
ing held by a spring that is released 200 pounds.. aro sometimes caught. knives, in having very small teeth and fleets alike. There is also what is
with the thumbnail and reveals a These fish are amphibious: they wide gill openings with'peculier Bomb- called the Cheatham device consist-
hale straight through the block: Tire. aro often seen wabbling on their ten- like gills that, like the whalebone in
cartridge is inserted at the base of taches, like giant spiders, in search of whales, serve to retain its minute Kea
this hole, the block is swung back patches of sweet potatoes. The ria- food. No one knows certainly how
into place, the trigger on the lido is tives kill them with clubs. In the wa- long these huge sharks live, but, judge
open, thus cocking the pieta!, which ter they are caught in jars lowered ing fron their slow growth the
Is now reedy to fire. It is held in to the bottom, which the octopus 011- rtobrtbl live to a ver old age, Their
the hand and the trigger ,pressed tors, thinking them a good retreat size probably increases slowly tuntii
down with the thumb. r from which to catch his food, , the enol of their lives.
SCIENTIFIC FACTS.
„
It is estimated that an acre of good
fishing hi the sea will yield more food
in a week than . an acre of the best
land will yield in a year.
The taste for frog eating is in-
creasing in America.- Last year 6,-
000,000 frogs were placed on the mar-
kets of Sb. Paul and Minneapolis.
The new bridge across the Tiber at
Rome, having a span of 828 feet, is
the longest re -enforced concrete arch
in the world.
1'
PRIEST MINISTERED TO ENEMY.
German Halted Comrades While He use of Ins secretary. This unique
newspaper contains various para.
Prayed for Dying British. graphs and articles taken from
The British press, bitter though it foreign newspapers and translated
is toward Germany and most things into Russian.
German, is never slow to pay tribute Several European Rulers.
to an act of heroism even though that subscribe to the Press -cutting agen-
act be performed by an enemy. An cies in order to obtain possession of
instance of this is found in the,public- the principal items of the world's
ation of a letter written to the Daily news. At one time the Emperor of
News by a soldier who tolls how a Austria relied on the agencies for the
German priest ministered to British better part of the cuttings, but he fin -
soldiers in their dying moments. ally employed a literary man to "cut"
In the course of a spirited action the various newspapers.
in and between trenches two young To -day this gentleman slips the cut -
British officers and five men were se- tings into a special leather casepre-
verely wounded. "Their position was pared for the purpose, and places it
helpless," writes the soldier, "for it before the Emperor first thing in the
was impossible to rescue them. De- -morning.
spite our tremendous fire the. Ger-I At the Royal residences in our Ow11
mans with fixed bayonets tried to country there aro 'literary rooms"
reach the party, and their intention where men are employed to cub from
was obvious. They got withitr'a few the newspapers and rbviews, publish.
yards of the wounded, when one of ed in all parts of the world, items of
their number sprang in front of them news dealing with foreign affairs,
and flashed a .crucifix. 'Stop!' he politics, and other topics which are of
shouted, and then .he knelt by the direcb interest to King George and
side of our men and blessed them. The his advisers.
other Germans. immediately withdrew.1 In addition to their specially select -
"Then we managed bo reach the ed cuttings, King George, the Czar of
wounded, end our officer thanked the Russia, and the German. Emperor
priest for the brave way in which he peruse many newspapers just as they
had behaved in the face of his own are ,received at their respective pal-
men. `Take me,' said the priest, 'I . aces.
am your prisoner.' The officer said l
that he returned to the German lines WHEN GUNNERS GO DEAF.
unharmed. The promise was kept,
and before they parted the priest, fall- Effect of the Tremendous Vibration of
ing on his knees, thanked our officer the Big Guns.
warmly, adding: 'God bless you, and
good luck!"The average civilian has a very
vague idea as to the conditions inside
a turret on a war -vessel while heavy
firing is going on.
The greatest force of the vibration
from the firing of a gun is naturally
Fact Longa just outside the muzzle, and: that is
outside the turret. So terrific is this
The largest living shark (Rhiaodon vibration that, if severe precautions
typicus), more commonly known as were not taken, the deck under the
the whale shark, is a near relative of muzzle would bo ripped to pieces,
the dogfish, and has none of the, sheet iron doors would be wrenched
bloodthirsty attributes of a true man from their hangings, and skylights
eating shark. It is often forty, and shattered. To guard against these
sometimes sixty, feet long, and is � effects the deck under the gun -muzzle:
probably the largest of all living 'frsh,'is re -enforced with steel plates about
for the great basking shark, its near -;an inch thick, and skylights are tak-
est rival, is not known to. exceed a en off and replaced with coverings of
length of thirty-six feet, Like the armor -plate.
basking shark, it is a pelagic fish and Of coarse, there is considerable
roams the seas of nearly the whole roar anti jar felt inside' the turret..sia for the exclusive use of the Czar,
and that only two copies are taken
from the machine.
' One is handed to the Russian mon-
arch, and the other is resegved for the
he would not do that but he would see
THE GREATEST FISH.
Whale Shark Is Sometimes Sixty
ing of a mixture of clay and wool. It
le very flexible, can be moulded to any
car, and still allows its wearer bo hear
orders.
Gun -deafness niay 00105 immediate-
ly as a result of a ruptured ear drum,
o1 gradually, owing to an injury 10
the auditory nerve,
t
4.