THE "FIDDLER'S TRUCE” AT ARRAS.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLII, Issue 11448, 30 January 1918, Page 2

THE "FIDDLER'S TRUCE” AT ARRAS.

CONCERT IN “NO MAN’S LAND.” Twenty miles 'away the Prussians ami the Canadians were struggling in the dust and mud for the battered suburbs of Lens, but the trenches which wer,e enjoying the “Fiddler’s Truce” were not marked to bo taken by the staff officers of either army, and the only sign of war was the growling of the-'big guns far away. Here, too, Canadian opposed Prussian, but they did not, light until the death of Henry Sehulmau, killed by a most regrettable accident. He ■was only u private and not sufficiently famous as a violinist to have his death recorded in the musical journal of the world, but along the trenches his taking off is still being discussed as one oHthe real tragedies of the war.

Late last fall, after the Somme offensive was "over, three Canadian regiments arrived on tho Arras front and dug themselves into the brown mud to wait until spring made another advance practicable. Two hundred-feet away were three Prussian regiments. There was littie real fighting. When tho routine of trench life became too monotonous a company would blaze away at the other treucli for a few minutes. At night it was so quiet that conversation in one trench carried over to the other, and there was a good deal of good-natured banter back and forth. The Canadians were especially pleased by the nightly concerts of the Germans, and applauded heartily the spirited fiddling of one .hidden musician. Tho rest of the stpry can best be told by Corporal Harry Seaton, in tho Now York Evening Mail;— “One night wo held up a piece of white cloth as a sign of truce,” lie said. “With permission of our colonel, I called out and asked the Bocho if we couldn’t have a bit of a concert. It was agreed, and Scbnlman —tint was the fiddler’s name crawled out from his trench. One or two of our Johnnies crawled out, too, just as a sign of good faith. I ‘Believe me, everyone enjoyed the rest of that evening, and when things were quiet nxt day somebody yelled for tho fiddler to strike up a tune. Ho was a cobbler in Quebec before the war, and two of our Johuuiess knew him and his wife and kids. It didn’t take much coaxing after that, mid he came out on the strip of ‘No Mm’s Laud’ and played every night. “On February 215 wo were ordered on to another part of the field, and another regiment took our trenches. Of course, in the hurry of departure, nobody thought of Schulmau. “That night he brought his stool out as usual, hut, before ho could draw bow across the strings, the strangers filled him with lead. Of course, they didn’t know. “Tho chaplain told us tho story next day, and we took up a collection to send back to the family in Berlin. I wonder if thev ever got it!”