WAR NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 198, 29 January 1915, Page 3

WAR NOTES.

SUPERFICIAL FRIENDLINESS. It is remarkable to find among the ruthlcssness of war a spirit of superficial friendliness manifesting itself between the enemies. For instance, when ' the opposing trenches are so near to one another that a man dare not show his head above ground for fear of being killed, the occupants indulge in shoot- : ing practice. A German will raise the stuffed figure of a man above the trench, thereby inviting the British soldiers in the' opposite trench to prove 1 their markmanship. Another German signals by means of a spade waved above the trench the result of the shooting as if they were all taking part in a match at ride butts. The display of humor between the trenches has often a satiric touch. Where the trenches have been dug out in beet fields, the French fashion out of the beet busts of the Kaiser, and and after inserting in them accounts of German defeats as given in the official bulletins, hurl the busts into the German trenches. The Germans reply by dispatching to the French trenches a goat, rabbit or other animal, after trying to it a tin containing insulting messages. Temporary truces are practically arranged between the occupants of the trenches. Near Suippes, in Northern France, both sides obtained supplies of fresh water from a well which lay between the opposing trenches. There was a daily truce of an hour to enable the water to be obtained. A whistle I blew, and the men trooped out of the trenches with bucekts. The enemies met at the well, and filled their buckets. Five minutes before the hour was up, the warning whistle blew, and all the soldiers sought shelter. A story is told of the division of a herd of cows between entrenched Belgians and Germans. Each side allowed each other's cows to be milked in peace, for both Belgians and Germans like milk in their coffee. M. Maurice Barrs, j writing in the Echo de Paris, on the life j of tile French troops in the trendies, says:—"The Germans never fire on our J food waggons nor we on theirs, al- ' though we hear them well enough when j they arrive in the silence of evening, for on both sides we respect them, i Similarly at night the French and German sentinels posted well in front of > the trenches and quite close to each] other, refrain from firing at each other." j

BARRISTERS AS SOLDIERS. "In the long and splendid history of the Bar of England, there is nothing finer than the rally to the flag wh'ch has caused over five hundred hamsters to he now serving with his Majesty's forces," sayß the Pall Mall. "Admirable, however, as the spectacle is, it need, happily, not be speoken of as 'an example,' for all over the country, and among all ranks, the supreme gift a man can make to his fatherland is being eagerly and gladly offered.

SOLDIER'S MIDNIGHT CAROL. "A story runs that on Christmas Eve, while Prussian and French lay, entrenched against each other in the war that lost France the two fair provinces she may recover by and by, a ■Fren,ch| qoldier stepped out of his trench, and, covered by the rifles of the enemyj sang a carol of Christmas—the age-old song of peace and goodwill. And the war stayed its bloody purpose while he sang. I "It did not affect the issue; but just' for that brief space, suddenly, the vials' of wrath were sealed, and men sawl visions and dreamed dreams. "Nothing in the whole carnival of the ■war's horror would live in the memory as that simple song lived. It was of no Talue; yet it* was precious as pearls. It did not affect the war, but it affected men. It was fine to sing that song, and it was fine that the song was sung," says the Ford Times Christmas Number.

!i THE KING IN FLANDERS. 1 . —. ■ ', "His Majesty the King has returned to London," says the Times, "after a -. week spent amid his gallant troops at | the front in Flanders and in Northern France. The simple and informal char- ) actor of the King's visit, as well as the { quietness of his departure and return, ] were in exact accordance with the feel-

ing of his subjects. We are engaged in a tremendous struggle, and the nation prefers to show its sense of the gravity of the situation by restraint and simplicity upon all occasions.

"The country rejoices that His Majesty had the opportunity of meeting the President of the French Eepublic on the soil of France, which we hope to assist in freeing from invasion; and that lie was aule to greet General Joffre,

■ whose handling of the 'Allied, forces , is regarded in this country with implicit faith and entire admiration. Even more do we rejoice that His Majesty was able to review the brave Belgian army upon the still unconquered territory of Belgium, and that he conferred upon the King of the heroic Belgians the most exalted decoration in his gift."