WAR JOTTINGS

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 162, 13 March 1915, Page 2

WAR JOTTINGS

ATTACKED BY CHICKENS! Here is a naive passage on tbe ways of the forager:—"On my way I met a couple of our servants, who had. I gathered, been attacked by a flock of those savage stray chickens. In selfdefence they had apparently been forced to kill a couple of them. I fear we will have to eat the poor things for dinner to-night. Extraordinary how savage these chickens are when the farmhouses have been destroyed or abandoned where they have formerly dwelt in peace and harmony with all mankind. One often sees odd men straight from the desperate tussle returning with the corpses of these dangerous birds."

GERMANS' MANY INVENTIONS. A dispatch to the London Daily News says:—"Most of the German newspapers to arrive here contain screaming headlines about a Zeppelin attack against London. Flung across the front page of the Berliner Allgemeine Zeitung are announcemnts in big type of a German air attack against London and the flight of a Zeppelin and a squadron of aircraft over the Thames. Underneath this is printed a message from Copenhagen which does not bear out half what the headlines assort. Indeed, it is a clear admission that the raid, if it was attempted, was a gigantic, failure." SHOT DEAD BY GERMANS. According to the Madrid correspondent of the Temps, several Germanwere amusing themselves on the quay at Madrid shooting fish with revolvers when a Frenchman passed by. It is not known what actually happened. Al 3 that has transpired, however, is that the Frenchman fell dead, with a bullet in the head. The Germans claim that the victim was shot accidentally. BEDOUIN WARFARE. The Bedouins, to be really troublesome, must have changed their 'charar ter since William Pagrave visited them. "The Bedouin (he wrote). though a terrible braggart, has at heart, little inclination for killing <■■ being killed, . . . The Bedouin does not fight for his home—he has m no:

nor his country —that is anywhere; nor his honour —he never heard of it; noi his religion—he owns and cares for none. His only object in war is a little thieving." A characteristic of the Bedouin soldier is a dislike for fighting at night.

HERO WITHOUT ARMS. A soldier who lost his two arms early in the campaign was strolling the other day near the Inyalidcs, at Paris. Passers-by stopped to look back at him with pity, but the soldier smiled bravely until chance brought his face to face with General Gallieni. With tears in his eyes, the armless hhero stood at attention, and said. "I beg your pardon, general, but the Germans have left me nothing to salute you with.' "It is I who beg your pardon," responded the general, saluting the soldier. "The honours are due to yon and your brave comrades." WHY MEN DESERT. It is quite true that there have bee a few desertions from the new armies and the territorials now ami ag.'i. 1 But yon must not: run away with i!>impression that a soldier deserts i: these fateful times because his heart fails him (adds the London corrector; dent, of the Daily Dispatch)- Far from it. The general character of some desertions that have taken place i> very well illustrated by the following story of an officer whose battalion will now soon be going over. One of the men in his company joined in August and deserted in September. High and low we hunted for him, but without success. Then one day recently they had :> letter from him. He wr»te from the front. He explained that, sceinf no chance of getting out to the front till the New Year, he had deserted in order to join a regular battalion, which gave him the opportunity of getting at the Germans without any loss of time.

TRAINING WAR DOGS. A further proof of the'patriotism of the non-combatant classes in Russia is offered by the assiduUy and enthusiasm with which the proprietors uf kennels in the capital, in Moscow and in chev large cities have -f late begun to devote themselves to the training of dogs intended to be sent to the front as dumb but noble "brothers and sister 3 of mercy.'' ' It has become a favourite occupation of the upper classes there to indulge in this highly serviceable and humanitarian work. The dogs are being trained not only to search for the wounded on the deserted battlefields and to deliver bandage material and first-aid medicaments, but also to warm them and revive them in the case of unconsciousness. THE DUTY TO MAKE WAR. It is interesting at the. present time to recall wliat Martin Luther had to say on the subject of war. He realised its horors. r But saw more in it than mere butchery. Here are his words:— '■'■lt is very true that men write and say often what a curse war is. But they ought to consider how much greater 3s that curse which is averted

bv war. Briefly, in the business of war men must not regard the massacres, the burnings, the battles, and the marches, etc.—that is what the petty and simple do who only look with the eyes of children at the surgeon, how he cuts off the hand or saws off the leg, but do not see or notice that lie does it in order to save the whole body. Thus we must look at the business of war or the sword with the eyes of men. asking, Why these murders and horros? It will be shown that it is a business, divine in itself, and as needful and necesary to the world as easing and drinking, or any other work."

"MAY THE TEUTON DEVIL THROTTLE!" Maximilian Harden, the trenchant editor af the Berlin Zukunft, who said some things about the men around the Kaiser which got him into prison, comes out unflinchingly against those who give Germany a clean bill of health. Here are some of his satirical utterances: —"Cease the pitiful attempts to excuse Germany's action. No longer wail to strangers, who do not care to hear you, telling them how dear to us were the smiles of peace we had smeared like rouge upon our lips, and how deeply we regret in our hearts that the treachery of conspirators dragged us, unwilling, into a forced war/ Because our statesmen failed to discover and foil shrewd plans of deception is no reason why we may hoist the flag of pious morality. Not as weak-willed blunderers have we undertaken the fearful risk of this war. We wanted it. May the Teuton Devil throttle those winners whose pleas for excuses make us ludicrous in these hours of lofty experience."

KILLUS IN ACTION. WELLINGTON, March 11. Advice was received in Wellington to-day that Private William Bainbridge, son of Mr. H. B. Baiubridge secretary of the St. John's Ambulance Association, Wellington, was killed \r action in North France in January. He was a member of the King's Royal Rifles.