STOIC FRANCE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11730, 21 June 1916, Page 1

STOIC FRANCE.

GLIMPSES ON THE FIRING LINE. A short, section where I stood was roofed and bomb-proofed, writes R. JAillitzer in the >,ew York " AYorld.'" I'hrough a row of narrow rifio slits oamo little beams of daylight that rested i*'i flecks cm the white, chalky back of • the tioixches and were thrown up /cry faintly-against the logs of tlie a'cnch roof. Very dimly, I could gradually make out a narrow plank standing-platform running along' below the slits. A card .fas tacKea' to the wooden Iramo of each opening bearing the name of the partial la.r soldier to whom that opening be.onged. Above each slit hung (or could nang) its owner's rifle in slings from the Every-few yards, set in little recesses; dug out' from the back of the trenchj otood fa.t bottles. They contained chemicals with which to soak the soldiers' mouth coverings if attacked by poisoned gas. The trench was,nearly empty of men. Dut at the loophole nearest me stood ihe rigid figure of a soldier. His legs >vere invisible in tho darkness. His body showed up vaguely. His face was brilliantly lighted by the thin blade of light through the rifle slit. He stood silent and motionless, his eyes intently foeussed out into the sunlight. I looked through tho next slit, through a spider's web of barbed wire, between stunted black posts, across two hundred yards of green grass and wild flowers, at another tangle of posts and barbed wiro with a narrow furrow of white chalky soil running along just behind it—tho_ German trenches. Xot a, living thing was in sight in the sunny loneliness. There was silence except for the crack, crack, crack of i striking bullets from invisible German rifles. I looked back at; the face of the "guettenr," the watcher. His eyes fixed on the narrow white line, were puckered with inteniuess, but his lips were parted in an easy, good-humoured'smile, brightening a r fuce young, clean-cut, alert, calm and very patient. He seemed to symbolise the spirit of tho new France, the France of endurance, of determination, of buoyancy, of patience, the stoic Franco that can keep . silent and motionless, the France thkt ■ can stand in the darkness undismayed, watching And waiting till the moment, comes to leap up and out into the light. Through powerful glasses the officer showed irie little puffs of smoke floating tip from tic sunny, silent, peaceful landscape. They were from the exploding shells. To the right T saw high clouds of smoke rising lazily info the air out of some woods. It was a house in the German lines fired by French shells. And, though the little puffs of smoke were only here and there on the landscape, everywhere .[ could see through the glasses the microscopic, figures of peasants working busily in .their fields, bringing in the harvest.. Many were soldiers helping out, but very many Merc old men, boys and women. Again the scene seemed symbolical. Behind' the soldier watching in" the bomb-proof were tho innumerable tiny plodding figures, undaunted by the abrupt little pulls of smoke, doing their ; patient share towards bringing in the ; har—xt, j We had not- gone far when I heard a j sound like a boy cracking a toy whip, j "A bullet striking near us." explained j an officer ahead of me. ; I found it; almost, impossible to tell ; the difference between the report of the French guns and* tho explosions of Gorman shells. An officer told me that i their time-table nickname for French ;• gun reports was "departs'' (deparj tures). while that for the German shell I explosions was "arrivees " (arrivals). ! Of course, if cither gun or shell exj plosion or both are very near to you, j you can easily tell the difference., if j there is enough of you left to tell any- ; thing. ■! We walked on with the toy whip . cracking at every other step and " departs '' and " a.rrivees " inviting guesswork as to which was which. "We passed soldiers in shirt sleeves, deepening and widening a communication trench. It was rather difficult to squeeze past them, but til is very definitely emphasised the wonderful terms of discipline, | yet the democratic friendliness existing i between the French ofikers and the. ! men. Tee officers talked to the men i intimately and placed their hands on the men's shoulders affectionately in ; squeezing by. The men answered the officers easily, without restraint, hut all stood at attention and smartly gave the salute, which they regarded as a | dignity and not a degradation—a marI vellous combination of discipline and j ' democracy.