Postscript To War

THE WHISTLERS' ROOM--Paul Alverdes --Covici-Friede ($1.50).

In a German hospital overlooking the Rhine was one ward known as the Whistlers' Room. Here were four men who had been shot through the throat; each had a silver tube set ingeniously into his neck to serve as a windpipe. "When they breathed quickly or laughed, a soft piping note, like the squeaking of mice, came from the silver mouth. Hence they were called the neck whistlers, or simply the whistlers."

One was a peasant's son from Bavaria. One was a Prussiafi volunteer, who always made it a point of pride to stand the painful treatments a little longer than any of his comrades; he was also invincible at chess. One was a boy from Westphalia; the fourth was an English prisoner. Once they were joined by a fifth, Fuerlein, who had no wound but had lost his voice and could hardly breathe. Suspicious of him at first, the Whistlers soon made him one of them, and were overjoyed when the time came for his operation and the insertion of the silver tube. But the doctor did not operate, instead gave Fuerlein an electric shock which cured him. When he came apologetically to say goodbye to the Whistlers, their congratulations were forced; they never afterward spoke of him. The Bavarian died, very slowly. The Prussian died quickly, during an operation. The Westphalian boy and the Englishman were healed; by the time the Englishman was exchanged they did not want to leave each other.

Author Paul Alverdes, 33, writes from his own experience. The son of a German army officer, he volunteered at 17, served with the German artillery, early in the War was shot through the throat. After a year and a half in the hospital he was discharged as unfit for further service. He lives in Munich, whose university gave him his doctorate in philosophy; has written a book of verse, several novelettes and short stories, a tragedy based on the Ruhr Occupation. The Whistlers' Room was originally written (1928) as a contribution to a commemorative volume in honor of Poet Hans Carossa's 50th birthday.

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