The Carmarthen Journal and South Wales Weekly Advertiser

I. HIS GUN. [BY CAPTAIN R. F. W. REES.] He had gone out at sundown with his Lewis gun and tlire2 men of his team to find a convenient shell-hole from which to worry Bcches working on the wire. He had only just been promoted Number Oit, and he was very proud of his gun. He found a shell-hole that seemed to offer a good field of fire, mounted the gun, and waited. Then a shell pitched into the hcle—a short," that had been meant for (lIr front line—and he ceased to take an 11) O*S. interest in things. When he came to himself again it was daylight. His three men were- lying dead about him. A fragment of the shell had struck th3 body of his precious gun and put it out of action. It was not seriously cam-aged. An armourer could have put it to rights in a couple of hours; but to him, out there, it was useless. That was all he realised for the moment. It was only afterwards that he felt a dull pain in his left side, and discovered that he had been wounded. He felt strong enough to crawl to the trench. There was nothing to stay for. He peeped cauti- ously over the lip of the sliell-bole-lie saw a German sentry not a hundred yards away looking straight in his direction—he drew back. It was not that it was impossible to have got in. In all probability, creeping from hole to hole, he would have managed it. In any case, the risk was small enough to tak? confidently so far as his personal safety was concerned. But he had thought suddenly of his gun. If he happened to be seen creeping away from that hole the Bnch9 would become suspicious, would want to know what had taken him there. Then it would simply be a matter of a small patrol, and his gun—the gun he had been in charge of for such a Jit tie time— would be taken. The thought of that he could not bear. On the other hand, if he waited until dark they would send out to look for him and the gun would be safe. He slipped back to the bottom of the hole. The sun rose high, without a cloud to mask it. The day became hot and oppres- sive. He had lost a lot of blood, and he was parched with thirst. He had no water- bottle-for small parties creeping out at night leave their noisy equipment behind them. By noon he was in a high fever- delirious. Once his mother stood on the edge cf the shell-hole and held out her arms to him, and he wanted to go to her; but just in time he remembered the gun, and simply smiled at her and shook his head. Then many people came to him. He could not hear them speak, yet every- one seemed to be telling him that he could crawl away to safety, to water but always he remembered the gun, and always he smiled and shook his head. Once, when the thirst had almost overpowered him, and when the One Girl was calling him, he scrambled almost out of the pit, when his foot caught in the butt, and he dropped down again. Nothing should drag him from the gun. It was his gun—and it would be dark at seven o'clock. If he could not hang out till then he was not fit to be a Number One, nor was he fit to be mats of the One Girl. Thus lie argued in his delirium; and he smiled and shook his head. As soon as it was dusk the search party came out. In the shell-hole they found four dead men and a damaged Lewis gun. He who had been the Number One had pillowed his head on the barrel casing, and his eyes were closed. And he was smiling.

II. SALVAGE. LITTLE SAYINGS IN THE BATTLE ZONE. [BY AN OFFICER.] There is a cry everywhere for the sup- pression of waste. It is pointed out that nearly everything can be made use of. Newspapers publish articles showing how hitherto despised things can be turned to some good. Housewives vie with each other in matters of domestic economy. Yet the most thrifty housewife, the most zealous waste-not" expert, might take lessens from the Army in this matter of unconsidered trifles. Salvage is a very big thing in the war. Every day the salvage dumps He added to, and every day things that the casual observer would describe as absolutely useless are being sent to the base 'to be made useful again. Not an odd bit of equipment, not the tongue of a belt or the buckle of a cross-strap, is allowed to lie about the trenches. Every N.C.O. is held responsible that his own particular part of the line is free from salvage stuff. Sandbags are hung about the trenches, and every man is perforce turned into a mimic Autolycus. As the sandbags become full they are emptied into a local dump, and every man who goes down the line empty-handed carries something from that dump—which is Irish, perhaps, but. true. Water parties going down for the day's supply, ration fatigues, orderlies, carrying parties—all these go to the dump first and load themselves up with salvage. In a new line, after a push, it is amaz- ing what all amount of salvage is to be found, both British and German. Rifles, bayonets, equipment, haversacks—every- thing- is there more or less in profusion. That is inevitable. But every bit is salved, and sent back to be fashioned into new pear. Ammunition, too, is picked up, cleaned, put into clips, and issued again to the troops. There is no waste. Alone the roads behind the line you will see box-es labelled old nails," "cop- per," and the like. No man passes an odd (ContinUfd at foot of flcxt column.)

(M A w IT TS a war to make the nations and peoples of the W J[ vorld sccure against every such Power as the XX German autocracy represents. It is a war of M W emancipation. Not until it is won can -men anywhere Vy rM live 'free from core-slant fear, or breathe freely wtiile A\ XK they go about their daily tasks, and know that Gov- W W ernments are their servants, not their masters. Wf «M Thi-s is, therefore, a war of ail wars which Labour lb\ W should support, ajad support with ail its concentrated W WW pover." \0) IAI PRESIDENT WILSON, /jX ,>é

SNIPI'NG A SNIPER. [British Official A British soldier stalking a German sniper In the ruins of Albert.

(8 IfH COAL FOR VICTORY! Jk |T was a moment of grave peril. The Germans had A) J almost separated the British and Trench Armies. W The French coalfields were overrun. Would the (Q) next push get through ? Could the Allied Armies stand W the strain till American help arrived ? The Supreme (Q) Army Commanders saw the only way to save the M situation. They had to take the men. They had to (w take the coal. 75,000 more miners were called to the A\ colours. Our winter coal reserves were sacrificed to \V/ save the Armies and to bring the Americans to the IK\ front. That decision, grave as it was, has been splen- w didly justified. A dangerous retreat has been turned (M into a glorious advance. The Americans are pouring W over. Victory is on the way. The saving of the Armies (ft', has meant a shortage of coal. Still more coal is W required. Discomfort is inevitable. Everyone must lb) use less coal. W over. Victory is on the way. The saving of the Armies (ft', has meant a shortage of coal. Still more coal is W required. Discomfort is inevitable. Everyone must lb) use less coal. W

FOOD TOPICS. Items about Production and Rationing, f i lBy SMAixnoLQEQ,] Count Your Blessings." A year ago the Kaiser Iried to comfort his people by-tolling them that the U-boats would starve out Great Britain xn six months and bring heri"k> her knees. We are now infinitely better off -than when that foolish boast was uttered. The most bounrafiil harvest we have had for a generation is now being gathered." --AIR. J. R. CLY-NES, M P. The Deaner Jam. The generally disappointing fruit crop this year has led to the fixing of a new series of jam prices, the general level of which will be found to (be somewhat higher than those pre- viously in-force. An inspection of the Order, which came into force -on September 2nd, shows th. mixed jaiiis are mainly contem- plated. The fruits most prolific this year are strawberries and gooseberries, while :he black- berry ercp is a real bumper. Considerable quantities of jam of varying kinds are lying ready for shipment in the United States, Aus- tralia and -itjuth Africa, and these will be drawn upon as opportunity offers, but it will be readily understood that tonnage is with difficulty made available, while transport is required for American soldiers, with all their equipment, at the rate of over 10,000 a day. i, As these troops arrive in the Mersey, the j; Thames or elsewhere, their appearance is welcomed with the most heartfelt cheers. 'Those cheers mu-frt be hacked up by a willing- ness to put up with the very small share of inconvenience which has been visited upon rtEiis country as a consequence of the war. A Useful Pamphlet. the National Kitchens Division of the Ministry of Food has issued an illustrated pamphlet on its own particular subject, which may be commended to everyone who is inter- ested in the movement. National Kitchens, as is pointed out in a fore ward by the late Lord Rhondda, were instituted as a war measure but are rapidly becoming part of our social organisation. In that sense they are increasingly attracting the careful and sympathetic consideration of Local Authori- ties all over the kingdom. Numerous pitfalls exist for the unwary or uninitiated in the establishment and working of National Kitchens and Restaurants, but the pamphlet ni w issued is compiled by the extorts of the Minstry of Food, and shows how diiffculties may be avoided or overcome. Communal cooking, such as is here advocated, is calcu- lated to iff'jct a remarkable saving of fuel, amongst other things, and it might be com- mended on that account alone even were its other numerous advantages wanting. The Ministry of Food is prepared to lend to any Local Authority desirous of setting up National Kitchens and Restaurants the necessary capital sum, free of interest and repayable in ten equal annual instalments. The first edition of jthe Handbook is already exhaust'd, but the secI nd dition wi'l be at once available, and may be obtained free at the National Kitchens Division, E.C.4. A Note on Whisky. Some criticisms have lately been levelled at Mr. Clynes, the Food Controller, on the score oi his orders regarding the sale of spirits, and it has even been urged that the effect of his provisions is to drive spirit drinkers into the public-houses rather than permit them to purchase by the bottle and consume their spirits at home. It is a fact that a publican prefers to sell his spirits by the tot" because by so doing he can make a considerably larger profit than by selling by the bottle. This was the deliberate intention of the Food Con- troller, who desired to see the stocks of spirits distributed over as large a number of con- sume s as possible. Had the publican enjoyed no advantage in selling by "tots he would have saved himself the trouble by selling by bottle. The stocks would then have got into a few private hands, and the vast majority of the public would have gone without altogether. A publican, it may be observed, if he has spirits to sell, must sell in the public bar as well as in the saloon bar, though in the latter he is entitled to charge a higher price in respect of the éxtra comfort and pri- vacy involved. The present stocks of spirits on the market are only 50 per cent. of those of 1916, and no spirits are now being distilled.

1 THE WOMAN'S PART. Make the Best of the Coal Ration BY MARGARET OSBORNE. There is no doubt that the coming winter with its coal ration will severely try the tempers of a good many people who have a taste for sitting tip late, for solitary reading, and for a blazing fire from breakfast t) bed-time. But it need not result in real hardship. It has been said that many pe T.la will have used up their allowance of fire and light by January, but unless C-irlyl? wa* right when he said that we We1'2 mostly f. ols we need not take glo<•vny a view of our provpects. What tha Ration is. What exactly d-< t'he rations allow ? The tenant If a s-i-von-voomed house will 1 e entitled to six tons a year: which should work out at a kÙcllèn tire from seven to frCitii all the year round, and a sitting-room fire for the same hours for seven months in t h year. 1 sav should work out to this fairly comfortable result, but if the kitchener rr the sitting-room grate is wasteful, if very large tires are kept, if the boiler dampers aie constantly pulled out to provide a supply • f hot water, or if the coal burned is of an in- ferior quality, the two large scuttles of coal I have estimated as sufficient for the kitclv n fire, and rather less for the sitting-room, will be exceeded. The wasteful (haracter of our grates is not our fault but our misfortune, fur which we must biame our landlord, our builder, or our ancestors. They cannot be remedied now except to a small extent by putting in false bottoms or cheeks of firebrick. There is always a risk that additions oi this kind may make a fire draw badly, in which case it will refuse to burn the slack or cinders which must be its portion for some hours of every day. If the firebrick additions seem unsatisfactory a trial should be made of movable balls of firebrick. about as large as. a man's fist, which may be put into the when the fire is well established and re- moved with tongs when necessary. Some Contingencies to Think of. If the household we are considering in- habits a house with large cold rooms, or bakes and washes at home, or catches cold and requires an occasional bedroom fIre. or exceeds its lighting allowance and has t, forfeit some coal to make up. there will be a good many days or parts of days when it must content itself with one fire, and either sit in the kitchen or cook in the sitting-room. In case of prolonged illness, or of jhe presence in the household of elderly persons or young children, an extra allowance of coal may be obtained, but it is evident that extra allow- ances will not be lightly given, nor can we expect to get very prompt delivery of them from our coal merchants. It is wise also not to rely too much upon a supply of oil for- either fuel or lighting purposes. Our Allies Were Pinched Last Year. Still, if the woist comes to the worst, every seven-roomed house can have one fire all day all through the winter. Com pan- this with Paris last winter, where well-off- !),eli)le allowc,(-[ themselves a fire to sit by for an hour a. day, had a hot bath once a week, and either cooked their food over gas or charcoal or dined at restaurants to save fuel. Compare it with Italy, where even the hospitals were tireless except for cooking, a utI. where to-day they keep their workshop fires alight with wood from their olive orchards. Olive oil is their food and their wealth, yet they must now cut down their dive trees to burn. Imagine what this means to a people who use oil where we use butter, margarine, meat, or bacon, and who pay their rent with the fruit of a couple of olive trees. Hints Worth Following. Evidently we shall have no right to grumble. Just as evidently we shall have to use our wits if we are to have a measure of comfort. Here are a few ways of making a. little firing go a long way: — 0 Keep the flues well swept. Keep pots and kettles free from soot, so that they boil quickly. Instead of using the saucepan lid boil another pan of water on the top of it. I -r Bake your cakc", in shallow tins, boil tv,) small puddings instead of one large one. bake potatoes under the sitting-room grate. Boil water whenever there is a place to spare on the fire and keep it hot in a hay-box. When the oven is hot bake as many things ns it will hold and make-them hot as required the next day. Use cold water soap for at least part of Uk washing. The very worst way of economising in fuel is to let the fire out early and go to bet o-TI. Co to bed warm even if you have to do vrim- out a fire in the middle of the daw Tii j:^ are no fires in the trenches, and very few on French he a r t h s to ne s. CUT THIS OFT. MISCELLANEOUS RECIPES. Yorkshire Beef Loaf.—INGREDIENTS.—1| :1,. lean stewing beef, 1 oz. cooking fat. 1 1 onion, 1 teaspoonful mixed herbs, sa t, pepper, 3 oz. cooked maize, I gill stock or gravy. METHOD.— Free the meat from skin and gristle and pass through a mincer with the onions, peeled and sliced. Put in a basin and add the fat, melted, the beaten eg seasoning, herbs, and enough stock to bind. Shape it and put it in a greased oblong cake tin, coves with paper and bake in a moderate oven for 11 hour or rather longer. Serve hot with gra\y or cold wdh salad. Potato Toast.—INGREDIENTS.—4 oz. pota- toes, 4 oz. flour, ] teaspoonful salt, 1 tea-spoon- ful baking powder, ] gill water. METHOD.—Scrub the potatoes, boil and peel them, and rub. through a sieve. Mix thoroughly with the flour, self, and baking powder, add the water and mix to a stiff, smooth dough. Roll out very thin, cut into squares and put on a wetted baking tin. Bake in a moderate oven till brown. Apple and Rice Pudding. — INGREDIENTS.— 1 oz. rice, 4 eookinig apples, 2 oz. ugar, a small piece of cinnamon, 1 pint milk. METHOD.—Soak the rice over-night, drain and cook slowly in the milk with cinnamon (or a strip of lemon). Slice the apples and cook them in a covered dish or jam-pot in the oven with a very little water and the sugar. Remove the cinnamon from the riee, mix with the apple pulp. Sprinkle with a little ground cinnamon, and bake in a moderate oven for half an hour. Rice Dumplings with Blackberries.-INGRE- DIENTS.—4 oz. rice, 2 oz. sugar, 1 lb. black- berries. METHOD.—Wash the rice, boil for ten minutes, then divide and tie up in small cloths to four dumplings-I-eave- room for the riee to continue swelling. Wasli the blackberries, picking out any leaves or eores, and stew with the sugar and a little water till quite soft. Rub through a wire sieve to remove most of the pips. Drop thod rice dumplings in boiling water and boil quickly for 45 minutes, re-heat the blackberry puroo and pour round them on the dish. Remember to keep the rice water for stock; it can also be used to stiffen lace or linen, like ordinary starch water. tiC

BY THE WAY. Random Jottings about Men and Things. The record of a Devon Seeing the territorial, a tailor in private World. life, is remarkable. He went to India in November. 1914, proceeded to Egypt, and was within six miles of Jerusalem in April, 1917, reached France eariy this year, was wounded July 28th, arrived in Germany as a prisoner August 14th. and left Germany for internment in Switzerland August 30th. The invention of "tanks" Tank? Save h;¡s been one of the most valu- Seldiers' able of the war. There is Lives. nothing like the tank for clear- ing out nests of enemy machine- guns, and they have been the direct means of savins the lives of many thousands of British soldiers. Cühnd Se-el v, M.P., declares that he and many hundreds of man with whom he was in action one day would certainly have been killed but for the tanks, and he says that one day the work of the tanks undoubtedly prevented the enemy from taking the city of Amiens! Some of our men recently Cermany's liberated from Germany ar- Paper Suits, rived in Switzerland wearing paper clothes. One man had a purple brocade coat" made of paper. Other men wore civilian suits of papercloth, which being lined were warmer than the brocade, but the texture was hard and re- pulsive and the patterns of unimaginable squalor. Others wore boots with paper uppers and wooden soles, with or without a hinge under the aich of the foot. These, they said. wore out very quickly, but the Germans issued fresh ones to men engaged in work. It all shows how short Germany is falling of wool and of tii(I of leather. Ill the lighting front the We Must Alli-ed Armies now have no Save Coal. fear as to the final result. The gravest danger both to our fighting nun and to our civilian population at home in Great Britain is the shortage of coal. Great Britain must not only serve her own people but also the people of France and Italy with coal. She must furnish the coal for the ships to bring American troops and American supplies to this country and to her Allies Every ton of coal mined in addition to that normally produced is one of the most effective blows to Kaiserism and the militar- ism of Germany. Every pound of coal which can be saved in the homes of the people will help so much sooner to win the war for free- dom, justice, and democracy, and give us all the opportunity of a permanent peace.Mr. Sa m uel <><> m p<: vs. A Canadian newspaper, the Bully for Montreal Gazette," has a King George, warm appreciation of King George's work during the great war. "The King," the writer says. "has met a larje and tragic situation in the spirt of adaptation. It is said of his august father that he had a genius for mixing, and that his bonhomie did more to make desired treaties than all the diplomats of Europe. It was feared that King George, who took up his position with a fine sense of responsibility, would perhaps not get as close to the hearts of his people as King Edward; but in the bigness of the war, in the needs it created, in the awful issues at stake, in the. broadening effects of various contracts, in the immense racial unification accomplished in the crucible of unexampled circumstances, our beloved King has risen to the gr.a.ness < f the moment, has made contact with every interest, has won the love and admiration of the Allies and of the whole world by his manly but modest attitude, his quiet courage, which disdained boasting, but, above all, by his cordial wel- come to every co-operating agency consecrated to the supreme purpose of liberating the world." Standard boots have been Standard on sale for many months; Clothes. many boot dealers stock and display them. A quantity of the standard cloth for made-to-measure suits at £ 4 17s. 6d. is now in the hands of the woollen merchants, and the suits should be obtainable from the tailors by the end of this month. Limited supplies of ready-made standard suits at j22 17s. 6d. for men and at lower prices for youths and boys are shown by clothiers and tailors in various parte of the country. The better-grade ready-made suits in worsted serge at E4 4s. for men. should shortly be available. The delay in the appearance of standard suits and other standard articles of wear .s due entirely ta unexpected and exceptionally heavy military demands on production. Supplies of cloth- ing for Army purposes were on a satisfactory level generally until the development of the great German offensive in the spring. Among the results of that offensive were the raising of the military age, the calling of many thousands more men to the Colours, and the pouring of over a million American troops across the Atlantic in four months. The equipment of our expanding armies, the needs of various Allies, and the fact that all the clothing required for the American Armies in Europe, beyond the outfits in which the men arrive, is to be furnished by this country, have necessarily thrown a tremendous strain upon all branches of the clothing industry.

(Continued from last column.) fragment without putting it into the box, and these boxes are systematically cleared. Fat is collected rigorously, and is delivered by the quartermaster once a month to the nearest railhead. Old boots, bits of harness, discarded clothing, even the solder from empty bully" tins is added to the general pile. All old news- papers are carefully kept, and either sent to England or used to fill bayonet-fighting sacks. Boche rifles and equipment, cloth- ing, and harness are also garnered in. Nothing that can by any possible stretch of the imagination be turned into some- thing useful is allowed to lie about. It has become second nature with our men to pick things up. Nothing they know is so badly damaged or worn as to be absolutely worthless. The Army, for all its critics have said, is the home of saving. Its salvage system is one of the most highly organised of its services. It can teach a real lesson in that direction to most civil authorities. It has accepted absolutely, as a commercial rather than a scientific fact, the dictum that Nature is indestructible.