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Show Soldiers Learn Gaiety Is Enemy of Fear, and Mirth Antidote to W ars Horrors Grins, Not Tragedy's Imprint, Noted on Faces of Men in Trenches, and Gloom Is Routed by Joke or Prank, Despite Peril. R7 -PHILIP GIBBS. VIII Laughter in the Infernal In-fernal Regions. (Copyright, 1919. bv the McClure Newspaper News-paper Syndicate.) I HAVE written many words about the tragedies of war; not only In this series of articles. In wh'ch I have given without roeervatlon tha black reality of the evils mirrored, by our men, but nil through my dispatches from the front during four years of war, when I never let the world Imagine that modern mod-ern warfare ia a pleasant and romantic thins. Yet there Is another side to te picture, which must be written, because If that were left out the picture wou'd be as false as if the horrors were left out, That side !h the gaietv of men, the cheerfulness of men, the laughter of men, in the ugly places where thev dwelt in war, and in their hours of peril, To any man coming out to the front for the first time that waa always astonishing. aston-ishing. He expected to eee the Imprint of tragedy on the faces of the soldiers in the trenches. Instead, he saw men grinning at some private joke of theirs, and heard, now and then, gusts of lane-h-ter coming out of their dugouts. This spirit was so general, such an estahilnhed I law, that we used to say: "The further . away from the front, the more gloom; i the nearest to the line, th most op-; op-; timlsm." And that was absolute! v true, . in spite of ghastly losses and frightful sights. Smile Necessity ; Aid to Morale. It was really a necesitv of the minds of men. They knew, unconsciousl v, that laughter was the best medicine of fear, and -th.pt those who kept smiling kept their courage: so that the funny man of a company alwave had a responsive audience au-dience to his oulps and pranks, and anv slight excuse for mirth was seized upon for a roar of laughter. The comradeship of boys for our soldiers were mostlv bovs helped this spirit along. Thev forgot the misery of yenterdav, as bovs forget, and did not think of the troubles of tomorrow. to-morrow. They made the' most of todav and looked around for any jest which would raise a smile or a gust of mlrtb. Danger itself, unless it were too deadlv and damnable, was a constant source of merriment to men of strong nerve and I have otten seen men laughing at the freakish tricks of shellfire. when some comrade, or group of pals, had to run like rabbits from shells that came bursting behind them. I remember hearing such gusts of laughter go up from a little party of men working behind a ledge near the ruined village of Vermclles, and I was startled by their shouts of mirth when two five-point-nines nearly caught them as they ran toward an old French chateau which was in brigade headquarters. 1 had been invited to that headquarters to tea and wished T had not been when I walked across the grass, where sheep were browsing under a fieecy sky, just as the enemy was searching for the chateau with several batteries of heavy guns. As T arrived there, three of our own gunners were killed in the back yard, and when I entered the chateau I found the headquarters staff assembled in the hall, while the brigadier and a visiting general were seeking cover in the ceilar. All of these young officers, about eight of them, knew that they were the target of the German guns, and that it was Just a question of luck, and the skill of the German gunners (who were I very skilful), whether they would be blown to rags of flesh and bone in the next few minutes. Boy Tells Jokes As Shells Burst. They did not like the idea, but they hid their fear by a running fire of jokes. The general's A. D. C, a boy of 20, told some very funny stories about a little actress girl, and everybody laughed exceedingly, ex-ceedingly, almost excessively, with Just a moment or two of cold silence when there was a great crash close to the back door of the hall, followed by the collapse of some outhouses in the courtyard. court-yard. The "strafe" lasted half an hour, and the strain of It became long to bear, but the boy was not fried up In his flow of funny stories, although now and again there was a queer catch of breath in his laughter. In the trenches there was always some joke afoot, and the men Invented many games and pranks to keep merry and j bright, though the heavens should fall. One of their little ways of gamhling was to bet on who should be lilt first, and In a certain section of trenches near La Bassee a funny thing happened to a young private who had just come out with a new draft. The enemy began to bombard, that part of the trench line heavily, and every now and then a ser- (Continued on Page 3, Column 1.) j f IS IB! THE lllli PHILOSOPHY in Trenches Rout Gloom by Jokes and Pranks. (Continued from Page One.) . nmi to the dugout where the new '.."at with a croup of comrades, 'pdvare Smith all right?" shouted JrSfe answer came up from the dug- sergeant, 'e's all rlcht!" this had happened three times. i. Smith became rather emotional. ,,, there sergeant is a very kind he said in a meditative way. 'B . w love me like a lather!' LT of laughter greeted those words. , poor blithering fool.' said the des of the youngr private, "the nt has drawn you in a lottery! i Ed 'ave won seventeen and six-, six-, f you'd been 'it!" itkians See ilistic Fight. e of the most remarkable battles on front was fought by a battalion of esters for the benefit of two En-niembers En-niembers of parliament. .It was not a-y big battle, but most dramatic i it lasted. The colonel (who had a i of humor), arranged it after a i hone message to his dugout, telling that two politicians were about to t his battalion in the line and asking : to show them something interesting. r .teresting?" said the colonel. "Do think this blasted war Is a peepshow oliticinns? Do they want me to ar- a massacre to make a London hol-'" hol-'" Then his voice changed, and he led "Show them something inter-5? inter-5? Oh, all right, I daresay 1 can '. lat." did. When the two SI. P.'s arrived, rentiv at Lhe front-line trenches, were informed by the colonel that, I I to his regret, for their sake, the t y was just attacking, and that his j were defending their position des-ely. des-ely. 'e hope for the best," he said, "and , nk there is just a chance that you escape with your lives if you stay quite quietly." I real God!" said one of the M. P.'s, the other was silent, but pale. I inly there was all the noise of a ' .ttack. The Worcesters were stand- , a on the firestep, firing rifle gre- "v s and throwing bombs with terrific ry Every i)uv ana then a man L,. and the stretcher bearers pounced 1 :1m, tied him up in bandages, and ed him away to the field dressing an. whistling as they went, "We tt go home till morning," in a most c wav. The battle lasted twen-linutes, twen-linutes, at the end of which time : :olonel announced to his visitors: he attack is repulsed, and you gen- : sn have nothing more to fear." e of the M. P.'s was thrilled with ement. "The valor of your men was reious!" he said. "What impressed most was the cheerfulness of the ided. They were actually grinning . ley came down on the stretchers." e colonel grinned, too. In fact, he id a fit of laughing. "Funny devils," aid. "They are so glad to be going s." e members of parliament went away mously impressed, but they had not yed themselves nearly as well as the cesters who had fought a sham bat-not bat-not in the front-line trenches, but in support trenches two miles back. I laughed for a week afterward. ihters Merry Real Battle. real battles, as well as in sham !es, there was laughter. I remember :erry group of Grigs w.th whom 1 t a day beyond the ruins of Gomme-t, Gomme-t, one of heil s gardens, irf the spring 117, when we were chas.ng the enemy . to the Hindenburg line during his i big retreat on the British front. A gunner officer guided me through chaos of Gommecourt park and was : I with laughing excitement at the ! Af t of his trench mortars, and espe-t espe-t at the work of Charlie Lowndes, commanding oficer of the 9.2 trench ar battery. Every now and then he led before an enormous shell crater said. "Do you see that hole? That made by dear old Charlie. His 9.2 d blow a cathedral to bits In about ity rounds. We gave the boche merry He ins!sted that I should make acquaintance of "Dear old Charlie," at that very moment was preparing Sreatest stunt of his life about three I further on in an advanced out-far out-far in advance of the infantry. With team of gunners, he had rushed up , big trench mortars to a little place aV a Pigeon Wood and was about to the enemy out of Kite Copse. a thing has never been done be-said be-said the young officer. "Dear old 'He will give the boches the surprise leir lives. He's a wonder!" walked three miles or more, with a shells whirling about us, and we to P.geon Wood, where I met T old Charlie" and his brother offl- who were laughing uproariously in l-man dugout about fifty yards from enemy s outposts. "This is a great said Charlie Lowndes. "The good, Wmans have left behind them ' ten thousand bottles of sparkling 'ater, and, better still, several bot-most bot-most excellent brandv. We will a love feast before blowing them Jje map over there at Kite Copse." orank German brandy and German w:,l'er ut of German mugs, and old Charlie" proposed a toast to oeauties of England, the damnation w Kaiser, and the health of his, nine-en0 nine-en0 ?' He was a man of infinite stimulated by brandy and water, a we drank not wisely, but too well. JS on the edge of Pigeon Wood -Ping Kite Copse off the map. Ev- a ,3-2 trench mortar sent a -trous shell crashing into the little , , 1" .th,e wa'. all the gunner of-f', of-f', snouted with laughter. "We're i; j . it wo miles ahead of the lnfanti-v," ' t,,"a6 Lowndes. "We're f'ghting aS i . .me in our own way. The situation . of humor!" "' t" leave that merrv group of 'I,.',."? wnn I walked back on the c:'' La. ,mmourt park. I hated to see, ept looking back, that the German ", ,'0uild out Pigeon Wood and ANS ,.n (raflng" it unmercifully. I never ' i'il v .,oW Charlie" again, nor any , is brother officers, but I shall al-J al-J remember their laughter on that .. Prided Among Mest Jesters. ; ' of rT r? 'ncorrlgible jesters, thoso r ' who "ed in such preat nmn- ' "-..,;." when they lay wounded and y :.h.,son" of them had courage to tnv,rt 1 the kids will have with S" )Kls" saitl a fellow who lav , rtiw,,- lch,'r 'hop" at Corbie after ;j, '-ration which had take:, h's riant of. the hip-bone. When I was -'EJIW1 fevor for a time in a mlli-.' mlli-.' r our. '. at Amiens, the ward was full ' "hi? Llcers who had passed through , ?. B.Md bath of the Somme" Some of n'1' Ut, 3 to sleep because of their , tiirh." implored lhe little New Zeal-nurse Zeal-nurse to wake t-iem up when " M In" off' were bombed three i;; L week and It was not pleasant :" "k L kon ln nerves by all they hod i-V: i E'1- But that did not prevent -twT,Jan,nK 'n 'ove. In a playful ito-' fhe "ttle night nurse, so that .-. who looked a mere child in his T " iif-tent his time writing poems i:, "h'ch 1-e read out to the mirth-;i:''j mirth-;i:''j vc the ward. They plaed a.l! kinds of pranks, which reached their limit when one :f the officers borrowed the costume of the chief matron, and came on a visit of inspection to each bed, mim-ickirg mim-ickirg her starchy ways to perfection, so that we laughed exceedingly. The boy-poet was killed a few months later, poor child, and what happened to the others I do not know, but gLiess. knowing the law of averages in modern warfare. There were professional laughter makers mak-ers at the front, and they were worth an army corps to the spirit of the army. They were the theatrical companies to each division, entirely composed of soldiers sol-diers who had dramatic talent and who in time of battle acted as stretcher bearers or transport drivers, or in time .of aire need as riflemen, but otherwise were kept out of the line. They sot up their stages in the ruins behind the trenches, and advertised their performance? by sign boards bearing the names of "The Follies," Fol-lies," or "The Freaks," or "The Very Lights." or "The Brass Hats." or whatever what-ever they might be. They were amazingly talented, and there was always some weli-shaped weli-shaped young fellow among them who could make up perfectly as a saucy girl with all the tricks t.nd oglings of the music-hall siren, and with neat ankles or a skirt dance. The leading funny man was always a droll fellow who could get a mountain of mirth out of army life ( in war time, with a casual reference to i the sergeants who "pinched" the rum j rations, and to the heraldic arms of "two sergeant-majors rampant on a field of as-you-were." Men Are Renewed by Entertainment. j It was interesting to watch the effect of these entertainments on the fighting ' men just back from a spell in the trenches, or from a battle in which casualties cas-ualties had not been light Sometimes for a quarter of an hour or so the men sat in a dazed way, without any response to the jokes. Then presently there was a' guffaw from the back, and the brooding brood-ing look left the men's eyes and they brightened up, until presently there were roars of laughter. It was the best cure for men suffering from the horrors of war. Generally these entertainment were given in tents, but now and again the strolling players found a theater not too damaged. There was one in Arras, and, ln spite of the ruins of that old c.ty, ! which was under shellfire for nearly four years, the Theater Royal had only two holes through its roof Dur.ng the battles of Arras in April and May of 1917, when high velocities were still coming into the city and smashing into the houses, there were many variety shows g ven in. this theater, and it seemed to us a wonderful won-derful thing to sit on plush-covered chairs, rather tattered, but very grand, and to walk upstairs to real boxes. To give additional grandeur to one gala night of "The Jocks," the presence of ladies was earnestly desired. It was not easy to find the fair sex so close to the battle lines, but in Arras there were many women w-ho had lived in the deep, vaulted vault-ed cellars behind the city all through the war. Some of them were invited, and. having donned their best black gowns, sat like dowager duchesses in the royal box, to the huge delight of the soldiers. Some of the jokes were not quite adapted adapt-ed to royal ladies, but their know!edge of English was limited, and their presence stimulated roars of laughter, ring ng ln gusts and storms. Seeing the mass of men below the stage, an officer whispered to me, "It's a bit risky. There would be a nasty mess If a shell came through the roof." Under Fire, but Show Is Enjoyed. But the men themselves did not seem to think of that, and, whether they thought of it or not, they enjoyed two hours of glorious mirth and risked the chance of death. All these men kept their sense of humor hu-mor unless they lost their nerve. Even in the heat of battle they had a spirit of irony. "Mercy, mercy, kamerad!" cried a Ger-. Ger-. man, with his hands up in surrender. "Not so much of that 'Mercy,' kamerad,' kam-erad,' " said a cockney soldier. "Hand us over your blinkin' ticker." And he took the 'German's watch as a souvenir. "Can vou speak English?" asked a sergeant ser-geant outside a dugout in a newly captured cap-tured trench of a. German "unterof ri-zler." ri-zler." who had just surrendered. "N'ein, nein!" said the German. "Well, you've got to learn bally quick." said our sergeant. "Go down and tell your pals to come up 'toute suite' or something will happen to them something some-thing nasty." The German "unterofrizier" learned English torn the look in the sergeant's eyes, and, after he had shouted down the entrance of the dugout, a big batch of men came up and surrendered. Some of the funniest scenes at the front were caused by a division, called "the Bantams." They were little men. under 5 feet, 1 inch high, who had been rejected bv the recruiting agents because be-cause of their size, but had volunteered for service and had been formed Into a division. Most of them were about 4Va feet tall, and it was a comical sight to see one of them strutting up and down with a bayonet high above his head, doing do-ing "sentry-go" outside his headquarters. headquar-ters. Tiny Fighters Good for Laugh. In the middle of a battle on the Somme there were shouts of laughter rising to a prolonged roar when a battalion of the Bantams was seen coming tack as escort of German prisoners w-ho happened to be the Prussian guards tall men over six-feet six-feet hih, who looked like giants in the hands "of pigmies, and much disgusted at being led back by those little men, who threw out their chests and shouldered shoul-dered their rifles with an air of immense pride. One story about a Bantam soldier sol-dier weiit the rounds of the trenches and caused a great mirth, though it was a grim subject. A Bantam died in his billet and was "laid out" by an old Belgian woman on - the bed upstairs. A pal of his came to visit him and before he went upstairs to see poor Bill the old woman with some gravity told him to be sure to shut the door when ho came out. "rerme. la Porte " she said, with a wng-ging forefinger fore-finger When the man came downstairs after his farewell, the old woman asked him "Did vou shut the door?" "What's all this about fermez la porte?" said the man The old woman leaned forward and whispered to him: "The door must be shut, monsieur. The cat did take your friend out on the landing three times al- That story Is good, but untrue. But any storv was good enough if it made men laugh in a life where laughter was the best cure for a sick headache, and for men who. in spite of cheerfulness, had to fight alwavs against the . devils of despair de-spair and the horrors around them. Many of their joiies were grim and frightful, mocking at death and the ways of death, but in their hearts always they kept the spirit of bovhood and the love of laughter, by which at least they helped to win the war. |