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Show WlTER TORTURE TO . MENIN'WJIRZONE Hardships Borne by Trench Fighter Described by Irish Officer. ENDURANCE ON TEST 0 Only Strong Men Escape Unusually Severe Suffering Suf-fering and Illness. ! LONDON, March 24. Writing to a local newspaper, an Irish officer in the JPdfa army describes the -winter hard-i-6hips of the troops on the battle front as follows: "If the severe cold has been felt in London, where there is at least some measure of shelter and warmth for most people, what must be the experience of those who have to face the rigors of this unusual weather in the open air, not by day alone, but through the night as well? ''Each season presents its special difficulties dif-ficulties to the men who hold the line. In summer the flies are a veritable plague, and the mud in rainy weather is an everlasting source of inconvenience, inconveni-ence, to, say the least. It is, however, in the depth of winter that the test of endurance is most stringently applied ap-plied to the men -who hold the line. Prove Real Heroes. "On they gol Past the church upon which the snow lies thick, past the graveyard where all, the mounds are covered with spotless walls of white, and where the little memorial crosses glitter with the frost and ice; on past the village street, on and on into the open country march the. boys who are for the line. Their pipers are at their head, but it is impossible almost to play, so intense is .the cold! On and on the boys stride through the countryside, country-side, and now at length they reach the crossroads near which is the entrance to the long communication trench leading lead-ing to the line. "Into this trench the men gof and in single file trudge along to their destination, desti-nation, the very front. As they enter the trench and disappear it has an uncanny un-canny effect. It is as though the snow had swallowed them up! For the rest of tbfir journey they are shadowed mcrijT by the trench. A '"When you who read these lines turn i to a warm bed at night, let your mind it travel to the line and picture if you f Nbw-s.d the men who are defending you in uir home the men who through the i ' lonVhours of the night in the frost and snowtand under the blazing stars on the fire step peering with never flagging flag-ging attention out over the sandbags toward the enemy! Says Men Are Marvels. "It takes men to hold the long line in these winter conditions, and the amazing part of it is that these particular par-ticular men in many, many cases never i were inured to hardships before. Men 1 who worked in offices, men who knew the good comforts of home life, men who were always protected from cold and damp men of all sorts who had but little experience of rough conditions ! these are the men who, new soldiers ss thev are, hold the long line this bit- j i ter winter. "And if the men are marvelous the ! officers indeed are no less. Little more i than school boys, thousands of them - just boys with all the spirit and joy of i life Oj. dots straight, many of them, I from schools and homes of luxury, even, and there they are tonight patrolling the ' frozen trenches, heartening their men, j and proving, in spite of cold and bhow and mnd and hardship, that there is in I their veins blood which will keep on L 'telling' all the time." |