The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1906-05-18

| along the line fleiSchmann had fallen
back, slipping on a loose stone. Now he
sweeping down a row of bayUnets as a
scythe IN rye wheat The French stood
In pit dug around the brow Of the hill
and fought like demons There seemed to
be thousands Of them. Our revolvers were
emptied Immediately and it was then a
primitive fight-hand TO hand, face TO face.
shoulder to shoulder. / struck out te right
and left with but one idea-self -preserva-
ton. AS In a dream | heard the deadly
clash Of metal the putting and granting
Of strainlng men. the blasphemy; the
shrek OF the wounded
Farther around the hill top our men
We're failing back ana farther yet they
were clear inside the line. driving the
French before them. A few OF our men
gathered about us, and. almost surrounded
by the infuriated French we held our
own, lighting with the absolute despera-
tlon that comes into mans heart but
once In a lifetime. We were fairly walled
in with the dead; yet as fast as they Went
down Others came forward. There seemed
to be no end to the cut and slash, the
eyes looking into our own with murderous
hate. Lowenberg was on my right; at his
right Fleischmann, welding his sabre like
again, STEADY. wei have them On TIE tie
run But in my heart ] knew that it
could not be So that we must go Gown in
blood and dust, victims of misguided
principle
Then an ugly, squat Frenchman. who
had been felled some time before BY one
of Lowenbergs lightning strokes, wrfggled
up through the heap of dead, and with a
desperate thrust sent his bayonet into
Lowenbergs vitals. All, God, how it sick
ened me. My beloved friend sank with
gasp. mist obScured my sight: for a
moment / weakened and my sword wa
vered, Before l could recover the BUTT Of
a musket appeared in the air Immediately
before me and descended upon my head |
My ears rang Ike a foundry. The whole |
world seemed suddenly to be whirling like |
a Fourth Of July pinwheel with multi |
tudes of sparks flying l tottered back 1
ward and fell heavily upon the pile Of I
dead in the trench. As / went down I 1
looked at Fieischmann. He stood erect
with feet well spread, like some great
war-god, sabre in each hand, hewing, I
cutting, his lips compressed, his
laws set with determination. He had
thrown away his coat long before his hat
blood trickle down over his bronzed
sheeks. Into my heart came a great love
or this mighty fighter. Then my light
went out and the horrid noise OF war
AIDED away into the great silence.
1t was Fleischmanns voice in my ears
hat Weakened me. / lay upon the grass
a a small, open shed, He was bathing ,
ny head with cool water. Quickly reco-
ection came back to me, and stung into ,
cuvlty by my supposed danger rose to :
ny feet But the danger was past Save |
or the dead and wounded there was not
Frenchman in sight F'leischmann was 6
$ calm as before the fight began. He ,
old me that just as he was about to give
p, his comrades came to the rescue We '
5ere in full possession, but at what V
earful cost! Out OF ten thousand men r
aIrely FIVE hundred to answer the call.
traw. his light pickering. his mind wan b
ering. At intervals he gave orders. cried n
ut to his wife. or sang snatches OF Ger /
IAN ballads; One Of his under officers. q
no was physician, sat near. He shook &
Is head in answer 60 my inquiry. There n
as no hope.
Presently my friend turned his head and t
oked at me with eyes suddenly grown q
ear. Adams" he said family, "tell
le boys 1t was a good fight. They were !,
ne Prussians. And tell--tel his Majes- q
it'll clenched fist for God and tie :.
IA fell back dead. h
We turned the French guns IN the direc- 81
N Of the river and prepared to hold our
tie fort for the expected assault For
Veral hours there had been little or m
, firing to the east. where the main Al
on now. The sky was becoming over !"
SC, and the wind was rising. nf
presently the sound OF firing rose again
me- n o sans on " ne ro wora seemed en g b
ion we could see far out on the plain. w
,icked up a glass from dead officer and dc
II e my eyes There lay the, PIANO. nc
ma of war Like moving patches Of q
ad. grass appeared the opposing forces WI
g brown khaki OF the Germans and the
u gray Sea-1Slanu-GI0th or the French ~
We distinction enough. There was no ~
oke, for this Is the day of smokeiess lil
wder. The center of fighting appeared "a
be well down the bend of the Marne n
4 as 1 watched / could see that the nc
ter was full of black specks. The mi
anch were being forced into the river
large body OF the gray -hurrying uD
!, river bank, making for the Monte ne
lfer crossing. And we with but half q ac
'usand men to defend 1T! lb;r
ne wind increased in force. The skies III
w dark. And now, coming from the lze
Iths appeared shoal Of small airships to
4 new, dirigible type, with fans and
ders. They circied above us, hardly a
trter Of q mile away, and swung down hp
yard the battlefield, heading into the me
9 In regular formation And as uyh
tched strange thing happened. The "
ps We're poised directly over the vic no
ous Germans. Suddenly a series OF col
uitar popping reports came to my ears
aw the Germans breaking, scattering
ming away from the French. The loVC
und beneath them, behind them, In ME
Mt OF them, sparkled, like the phos-
resent ocean. 1 saw the whole army =
Ting north, struggling, disOrganized init
de, They left behind them a brown Ioo
TX, and as the sky lightened for q 49,
nent I saw that The track was hui TIT
1.-THE bodies of men prone upon the
III. / called Fleischmann Cook I m
d. THE army Is retreatfng. See the i. !,
ks, around them. What does 1t ui.is