The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1889-03-07
DID HE DO RIGHT !?
Trying Experience Of an American
War Correspondent

! have all my life been accustomed
70 act upon my own judgment, but !
an not going SO much to tell you a
story as to ask you whether did right
on one trying occasion.
Tho life OF a war correspondent is,
rs you fellows very well know, in
many respects hard one, but the corr
respondent Of a paper not unfrequently
sees more OF what is going on in
campaign than the soldier himself, and,
being comparatively unattached and
able at nearly all times to search Q
fruitful field for stirring incidents.
his mind rapidly becomes stored
with q vast collection of incidents,
tragic and comic. humorous and seri-
Gus, dramatic and Insignificant, which
too often crowd one another out OF his
mind and only recur to him when
some special circumstance arises to
suggest them. The campaign Of the
autumn and winter of 1885 in the
Balkan Peninsula, though short, was
not devoid Of such incidents, and there
was one which has brandedi it indelibly
upon my mind. l had been in Paris
when the war began and was engaged
by number OF American newspapers
to go to the front as their correspond
ent.
We were a merry crew in the corre-
spondent's tent, but there is something
singularly callous about correspond
ent after he has been through = CAM
paign or two-they seldom get killed,
though the fate of Saint-Leger Her.
bert, Power and Donovan, who fell at
my side in the Soudan. are exemplifi-
cations OF the proverb that 1.-The excep-
ton proves the rule" Still, when the
days fighting is over. when the cur
tain of night has fallen upon the drama
Of war and the treble of the infantry
and the bass of the artillery are at
rest, it Is not without certain grim
humor that the correspondents look
round for each other to count noses.
OF all the bright, joyous little fell
lows that | ever met in the field or
elsewhere, Maxine Durand was the
brightest example. He was the spec
ial correspondent in the Balkan PENN
sula OF Qet US say the La France, his
real name as also that Of the paper for
which he correspopded, together with
certain other identificatory particu-
las, | have suppressed for reasons
which will appear. He was the hap
piest fellow in our mess. He came
from Douai. and on the most gloomy
days and in the most deadly snow he
would sing to US snatches Of his Breton
folk songs, echoes OF the Champs
Elysees and "reminiscences of the Fol.
les Bcrgeres. He and l had made
friends before We met any of the rest
of the boys. One night when we were
encamped before Tirnova and / had
been sitting up writing some letters
to leave at headquarters, for we cx-
pected q hot day on the morrow and it
was just a ..toss up" which OF us
''boys" would be alive to dine on the
following evening, ! went to the head
quarter lines and left my dispatches,
and as l got back to the correspond
cnt's tent saw dark form standing
ut its entrance and the pale face of
Maxine Durand turned up to the moon
light
"Cheer up l said, humping him
on the shoulder, you're losing your
beauty sleep and then what will all
those damsels at Douai say when you
get back2"
Instead Of turning round and chaff-
ing me in execrable Breton slang rs
usual, Maxine took me by the hand
and said:
oh, Ned" q had taught him to
use the contraction of my name), II
feel that l shall never see Douai
again"
In vain ! expostulated with him,
walking up and down in the snow; in
vain pointed out to him the fact that
throughout the campaign no corre-
spondent had been SO much as touched,
for answer he took me to the top OF q
mound and showed me the lights of
Tirnova in the distance and said:
strh &c hol To- soo H.